A New Year and some of Sarah's reflections.

Okay, so my Merry Christmas was a little belated and my Happy New Year is a few hours too early but what they hey! I'm in a good mood. Today is a great day and I'm looking forward to the new year! Why am I in such a good mood? Several reasons, in no particular order...

1.) I don't work today because I'm on a 4 days on, 3 days off schedule right now. I'm hold up in my house because it's snowing again! Yipee! And it's absolutely gorgeous outside. Here's what it looks like.2.) Also, when I went outside to take pictures, I also snapped this one: And it made me stop and realize, once again, what a wonderful husband I have. Because you see, somewhere pile deep beneath that pile of white is the truck that he drives. And here is the car, which I generally drive: So my considerate hubby, without a second thought, parks his vehicle outside to be buried by each new snow storm while mine remains warm, free of snow, and ready to drive at a moments notice. Isn't he great?

3.) Furthermore, I took these picture with the new camera we got for Christmas, which we are thoroughly enjoying. I feel like we've moved into the 21st century as far as electronics go. We got a new camera, I got an Ipod and Jason got a nice new GPS. It's been fun learning how to use them and I'm sure we'll continue learning long into the new year. Thinking about these gizmos and all of the other wonderful gifts we received (like the super soft sheets we enjoy each night) just makes me stop and marvel at how fortunate we are to have the luxury and comfort of all of these things. It's so easy to think about what we don't have. But seriously. We have SOOOOO much! Especially compared to so many people around the world. I'm awe struck when I stop to think about it. So that puts me in a good mood as well and makes me so grateful!

4.) But mostly, as this Christmas season winds down and the new year gears up, I don't want to forget the one gift that brings meaning to this life amidst all of the material posessions. And of course I mean the gift of our Savior! Seriously...what good would that digital camera be if God's creations was not there to have it's beauty captured in a picture? How much sweeter are the songs on my Ipod because most of them are ones that I can lift my voice and praise Jesus with. And what good would any sheets, even the most luxurious ones, be to fall asleep on at night if I couldn't go to sleep knowing that I'm forgiven and can rest in God's grace and wake up to a purposeful life the next day? Today has been a good day to reflect and I pray that this persepective does not dwindle in my heart tomorrow or ever!

So here's to your new year! Wishing you, not necessarily prosperity, but the peace and purpose of not only knowing who God is or that He exists, but having a relationship with Him!

Merry Christmas to All!

A little belated, but Merry Christmas! Hope Everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We did Christmas Eve at our house with my family. Jen and Chad's furnace broke and they thought they might not even make it! But never fear, crisis averted. It was a minor carbon build up. They were soon on their way to our home, better late than never. We ended up missing the Christmas service, but I had cooked up a creative way to get everyone involved in reading the Christmas Story from Luke Chapter Two in order to start our night off remembering and reflecting on the real meaning of Christmas. We had a nice meal, opened presents and visited.

Christmas Day was spent with Jason's family. It was great to visit with them, and especially see Adam who we haven't seen in a very very long time. Although it was a bit hard to pull him away from his video game :) We ate food, opened presents...opened presents...opened presents, ate food, played cards, ate food and then returned home. Hunter was thoroughly impressed with the whole ordeal ;)

I went back to work the next day, but all is well because I really enjoy my new work. It's much more relaxed. I love the clients and the co-workers. There is little to no stress involved, I don't take work home, and if I work overtime I choose if I do and I get paid time and a half. Jason likes me new job a lot too. He's on break until the 2nd and has been a busy little bee getting things done around the house and also taking multiple days to fish. The Christmas Tree has already come down in order to move the couch back to it's normal position and make room for the elliptical to come upstairs. Time to work of all those goodies we ate :)

5 things

My momma tagged me. So now I get to write five things about myself. This is good because I was having a hard time thinking of something to post. You see, I love my new job and life is quite relaxed and uneventful these days. Which is great, but makes for kind of boring posts. So....I'm trying to decide if I want to go for 5 normalish things, or 5 things that may shock you a little and leave you going HUH? Maybe I'll do a little of both.

1.) I was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I then lived in Texas, Maine, Michigan, Maine, Michigan, and Maine all before the second grade. But Maine is where I landed, where I live and I LOVE IT!

2.)I have been a ski instructor, waitress, convenience store clerk, cocktail waitress, missionary, and social worker (support worker, case manager, child protective worker, in home family therapist,). My friend's favorite stories are from my time as a convenience store clerk where I also got to tag and weigh dear. Maybe I'll share that with you sometime.

3.)I met my husband in a geology class at the University of Maine. He waited all semester to ask me out. It's a really cute story but I'm sure glad he finally got up the nerve! We've been married for 4 years.

4.)My immediate family consists of my mother Cheryl, sister Jen, brother in law Chad and my hubby. And then on Jason's side is his mother, father, sister and brother.

5.) Oh, and I once dated a male gigalo. (Let me explain! I think it was our second date that we got to discussing previous jobs and that's when I found out that he used to be a male escort. Upon digging a little deeper with some questions I determined that he was not just a male escort but actually a male...ahem...we'll say gigalo.) Shortly thereafter he called and asked me out on another date. I told him I didn't think it was going to work and oddly he seemed shocked!

Jason's Birthday!

I know it's been a while. I thought I'd update you on what I did for Jason's Birthday in attempts to make it as special as he made mine. I started the day off by getting up and making him coffee (he's usually first out of bed) and gave it to him in a new starbucks coffee mug....the kind that you can put your own pictures in. I had put pictures of him an I in it to replace the one I made him a while ago. (It was his favorite mug but it broke.) So he really like the replacement.

Next we headed off to church. He teaches a Sunday school class. I had sneakily given a Birthday Basket of sorts to a friend of ours a few days before. The basket included a loaf of his favorite lemon blueberry poppysead breakfast bread, happy birthday napkins, forks, candles and a lighter. The instructions said that it was Jason's birthday and to put candles in the bread and sing him happy birthday and enjoy the treat together. She dropped it off in his Sunday school room and it had instructions for anyone but Jason to open and follow. His class did just that and he was suprised and couldn't figure out how I got the goodies there without him knowing.

I took him out to soup salad and breadsticks lunch at Olive Garden and then headed home and let him open his card and present, which was a new LLBean rain jacket that he needed. Then we just relaxed together until his mom, dad and sister came up to visit. We went out to dinner at the Sea Dog and then back to the house for White Chocolate Raspberry cake that I made. (I think next time I'll make it with chocolate cake, but he must have liked it because that's all that's left:) It was a good day! Happy 29th!

Deck the Halls!...and other odds and ends.

We've decorated the inside and outside of our house and I certainly am now living in that winter wonderland I was hoping for! Here's what she looks like like all dolled up!
In other news...I did not sleep all day as I told you all I had planned. I was actually rather productive on my two days off. I cleaned and ran errands and took Hunter for a nice long walk (He just LOVES the snow!). We had a long overdue dinner with some friends of ours. And I also planned/shopped/baked up a storm for Jason's Birthday which is tomorrow. I've cooked up some good stuff (no pun intended) to make his day special. I'm not sure it tops or potentially even matches what he did for me but it'll be a great day and he'll love it! Now I'm off to Portland to try on bridesmaids dresses as I am a bridesmaid in two of my best friends upcoming weddings!

Puppy Love

A lot of my friends have blogs with tons of pictures of their babies. This will have to do for now.

But seriously...how CUTE is this animal!? Our babies will have to be like little gerber models if they want to be able to steal our attention away from this guy!

Free at Last!

Yesterday was my last day at work! Wahoooo! It was not what I expected.

You see, Sunday morning I came down with the worst sickness I have had since 11th grade mononucleosis! I'm not even kidding....there were multiple times that I wondered if this was the end! I had a 103 degree temperature, knife-like stabbing pain in my throat every time I even thought about swallowing, pounding headache, alternating chills and sweating spells, and so much pain in my joints and mucsles each time I moved an inch that it brought tears to my eyes. Seriously, Jason wouldn't even sleep in the same bed as me because I was so sick and he was so afraid of getting it! But at my work, you only get 1 sick day in your first six months and I had already been sick once so I had no sick time to use. But it doesn't even matter because you can't use any of your sick time in the last 30 days you are there. Crazy I know!

To add to that, we got a monster snowstorm Monday morning. (Which I would usually love, but not in this case.) You see, at our job we travel to our cases. Some are up to two hours away...in Northern Maine. And we don't get snow days! If you don't want to risk your life on the roads you can just go in to the office and do paper work but you have to use vacation time to cover the case time. Which wasn't even an option for me because you don't get vacation time in your first six months and even if I did, I can't use it in my last 30 days! Crazy I know!

So my only other option was to stay home with no pay. Yeah, we probably could have swung it fiinancially. But then we're talking about not getting to see the families and children that I told would see me one last time and have some closure. And we're also talking about leaving the already understaffed team high and dry trying to get people to cover for me. And not to mention the fact that I was afraid of what people would think of me and if they would make me work an extra day or two to leave in good standing. So I took pain killers and fever reducers. I numbed the pain in my throat with a bottle of cepacol spray, armed myself with kleenex, cough drops and fluids and inched my way along the ridiculous roads at turtle-like speeds. All the while only getting through it by praying for strength and telling myself, "Three more days, Two more days, Last day!" And......I MADE IT!

It was such a whirlwind of a last three days that I haven't really stopped to process it all yet. I'm definitely relieved and feel a huge sense of freedom. But I am sad at the same time. I will miss my co-workers. I will miss some of the families. And it will be very hard not to know how some of the situations in some of those cases turned out. I guess this way I can at least make up my own ending and pretend that it's happy. (I know that sounds cinical but it's realistic in the situations I'm thinking of...believe me!)

Needless to say I was/am exhausted and plan on staying in my pajamas and not leaving the house all day while intermittently eating and sleeping...okay, maybe I'll take a couple bathroom breaks too!

Winter Weekend Update

It's time for another weekend update. It seems as if there is a lot of information from our ever changing lives that I've not written about. So here are some odds and ends.

Jason has not gotten a deer. Despite getting a bow and being able to hunt in the expanded archery zone, hunting as much as he could with his schedule in the regular season, and now using the muzzleloader that be begged off of a friend...still no deer. Here's hopin' for one today so he can happy, we can have deer meat and I can be reminded of what my husband's face looks like :)

Jason is loving his classes. He's begun his thesis early and has a great topic. (Don't ask me what it is...I can't remember) He retook his GRE's to get a better score on the Verbal part and scored higher than he even needed to! That means that come January, he'll have an assistantship. Sadly, he will no longer get to roam the halls of the high school looking for trouble makers and he'll be teaching college math courses! Whoah! Way to go honey! Those highschool girls are going to cry into their pillows at night when they learn you won't be back after Christmas break!

I, on the other hand, am continuing along my career path with yet more change. (translation: I'm not really sure what the heck I want to do) I am transitioning to a new job. I'll end my current job next Wednesday and start my new job the following Monday. I will be working with adults with mental health issues, helping them to gain the skills and then be connected with the resourses they need in order to live successfuly on their own. The pay will be hourly not salary, and I will have a set, predictable schedule. I like predictable. I'll keep you updated! I am also considering going back to school for my master's degree come June because re-entering the workforce I've discovered that a bachelor's degree is the new highschool diploma.

The inside of our house is decorated for Christmas and we'll be decorating the outside and getting a tree this weekend. Yay! I'll be happily listening to Christmas Carols and sipping hot cocoa in my winter wonderland by Sunday evening! God must have planned this big snow storm just for me! So I could have real snow to go along with all the other Christmas goodness!

VIBEin'

WE BOUGHT A NEW CAR!!! Okay, so it's not brand new. I don't think we'll ever buy a brand new car. But this is new to me and probably the newest car I've ever bought. What kind of car is it that your little heart desires you ask? A trendy sedan? A rugged SUV? Ummm, no. A station wagon! Yup, that's what I REALLY wanted! But this thang is cute! It's a 2004 Pontiac Vibe and it's BLUE! (The color is really the most important thing don't cha know?) It was on the Darlings wholesale lot because it needs brake pads and two tires. And I won't discuss details, but let me tell you...it was a GRRREAT price! We're talking like 3,000 under what it usually retails for! This is what the super cute little thing looks like! True to form I did not attack this in a spur of the moment, haphazard kind of way. Oh no, there was research, there was planning...there were spread sheets comparing mgp's and safety ratings people! We started considering a new car when the old Saturn starting needing maintenence more frequently. We did our research and asked around and decided on a Pontiac Vibe as our next car about 6 months ago. Then we just kept our eye out for the right one (right milage, year, price etc.) Why did we choose the Vibe you ask? Let me tell you. It's between a sedan and an SUV. It gets great gas milage. It's quite roomy. It's kind of sporty and it's a little utilitarian with the hard plasitc backing on the fold down seats. So whether we're going camping or hiking, sequestering a muddy dog in the back, carting cargo around or packing up a few chitlins and their stuff (see previous baby post http://lifeafterstaff.blogspot.com/2007/10/expecting-baby.html) it's perfect! Can you tell I'm a little excited!?

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love this comic! I stole it from my mother's blog. I thought it would give my friends a good chuckle and particularly thought it was humor Steve would enjoy.

Hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving no matter where you were or who you were with! Jason and I slept in, which is 7am for me these days! (That's just so wrong! I used to be a champion sleeper but I've been having sleep issues with this new job so 5am is normal, 6am is great, and 7am is sleeping in! Ask Jason how he likes that!) I baked a cream cheese filled pumpkin roll for desert because I don't like pumkin pie, then we had a leisurely breakfast, I threw together some candied sweet potatoes and headed over to my sister's house where we were all gathering. We had great time together cooking and talking, laughing and of course eating. Then Jason ate and ran as he headed out to hunt (no luck yet...bummer).

Then I went with my sister to three horse barns to do her rounds with her. She's so talented with horses! We visited one place to check out a horses swollen leg and she sweat wrapped it. Then we went to a barn to feed, water and hay 6 horses and on to the big 'un to feed, water and hay, I don't know, 30 or more horses. I love tagging along and helping her out. We even took a peek a few horses that I may get to start riding because they need to be excercized and I might go for a ride with her Saturday! I can't wait! She dropped me back off at my mothers where I met Jason after his unsuccessful hunt and we hung out there a bit before we headed home. I was a lovely day!

Raise the Bar High!

First I would like to formally apologize to all of the husbands/boyfriends for any expectations your women may now have of you. Blame it on my husband, because much like the whole ballroom dancing lessons thing, Jason has once again raised the bar high!

To begin with, he stayed up late into the night on Thursday, in order to secretly bake me my all time favorite cake (german chocolate) and then he hid it until yesterday. Yes, that's how out of it I was. Even though our bedroom is two feet from the kitchen I had NO idea that he had baked a cake. Apparently when he tried to sneak quietly into bed that night, I groggily woke up and said, "Did you bake banana bread?" To which he responded, "No. I mean, yes. Yes I had a craving for banana bread so I stayed up and made some." However, I have no recolection of this conversation.

Then he cleaned the house for me on Friday and told me I would get 26 birthday kisses on my birthday. So I woke up Saturday morning to find the house scattered with 26 balloons. I also found an envelope with a tac in it, and instructions that told me to pop the balloons every time I wanted a birthday kiss. Inside each balloon was a chocolate hershey kiss and a note with a different reason for why he loves me! Yeah. He's wonderful. (I still haven't popped them all. I'm drawing it out:)

And lastly he took me out to a birthday dinner at my favorite restaurant and then to a movie that we both wanted to see. Dan in Real Life. Which, by the way, was one of the BEST movies either of us have seen in a really long time. We were intermittently cracking up and crying through the whole thing. GO SEE IT! What a great day! What an amazing guy! Oh man. What am I gonna do for his birthday!? Quick people, I need some ideas!

Quarterlife Crisis

Don't worry. I'm not going to go buy a red sports car and run out and pierce something...but today's my birthday and it didn't start out like I had planned. I was very excited leading up to it but for some reason I'm in a pensive, life examining, mood. You see, we're in a phase of life right now that has a lot of change and transition and I think that has a lot to do with it. It's got me thinking about who I am, what I like, what I want in life, what my priorities are....etc.

I guess I feel like I've been a sort of jack of all trades, master of none. I'm outdoorsy, I rock climb, I love photography, I scrapbook, I knit, I work out (sometimes), I'd like to still ride horses, I was in ministry, I want to be in social work (but at what job I don't know!). I guess I feel a little ADD with all my stuff. It's like I do all these things but don't really devote a ton of time to any. And for that, I am being quite hard on myself.

I guess I think I SHOULD decidedly pick the certain activities that will help to define who I am. And that, if I'm going to claim to be something (crafter, photographer, rock climber) I SHOULD do those activities on a regular basis and devote a ton of time to them or else I have no right associating myself with them. That's very works based sounding isn't it?

So what is the cut off of apropriate time spent in order to consider one's self a crafter or what not? So what if I like a ton of things? So what if I have very little extra time in my weeks to do those activities and can only fit a few in here and there? And so what if some weeks I'm just so dang tired I want to veg out instead? I can still associate myself with all of my likes/passions! I can logically tell myself this is silly, but I'll still be hard on myslef the second after. Thanks for listening to my ramblings of my quarterlife crisis!

He Makes a Great Cowgirl!

Oh my! I still chuckle out loud as I remember last night....It all started so innocently. I went shopping with my mother-in-law Diane, my sister-in-law Erin and Erin's roommate. Actually...I didn't shop. Diane shopped, for Erin and I for my birthday and Christmas. (It's usually the same scenario. She really enjoys buying gifts for others so she keeps telling you to find something else you like, and you keep telling her you don't need anything because she's already spent way too much on you and she doesn't take no for an answer.) She's quite generous that way! Anyhoo, the day of shopping was tiring but fun and we all had a good time together. The men folk stayed home and watched manly football. But they joined us that night for Dinner at the Texas Roadhouse, (again a treat from J's mom and dad.)

This is where the real fun began. At the end of dinner the waitress comes over (I think she's coming to give the check.) and I hear her say, "I hear it's your birthday." Now...I was literally thinking she was talking to Diane at first because Diane's birthday is shortly after mine...it took a minute to register...she was talking to me. When I realized that, I immediately began trying to disapear into the corner of the booth, my face turned 10 shades of red and I practically yelled, "NO!" as I strongly and viamently denied that it was my birthday because #1) It was NOT my birthday and #2) I know what they do to birthday boys and girls at Texas Roadhouse. "No really," I pleaded with the waitress, "it's not my birtday! My birthday is next Saturday, I'll show you my liscence. I swear!" And she was like, "Oh, but you're celebrating this weekend." as the whole table urged me to get up onto the western saddle in front of the whole restaurant.

Now... I have never, ever been the "like to be the center of attention" kind of girl (unless it was for doing extremely well in school or on a soccer field or in a ski race) There was no way I was getting on that saddle. Seriously...no chace in you know what! In fact, I said, "No. I'm NOT getting on it." To which the waitress replied, "Is there anyone who wants to ride in her place?" And that I was all for. I looked to the person nearest to me on the left (which was Jason) pointed to him and quickly said, "Yeah, YOU do it." It took a little coaxing from me and his family, but he did it. He got up there... on that saddle... for me! (Oh, I love this man!)

And then it happened. The waitress turned the lights on him, and began announcing to the whole restaurant, "WE HAVE A VERY SPECIAL COWGIRL HERE TONIGHT, with someone riding in her place." Our entire table erupted in laughter and I turned 10 more shades of red and tried to squeeze further in to the corner of the booth. "HER NAME IS SARAH AND SHE'S TURNING 26 YEARS OLD," the waitress continued, "EVERYONE SAY 'HI SARAH!'" The whole restaurant yells, "Hi Sarah!" to my husband...sitting on a western saddle...at the head of our table. "ON THE COUNT OF THREE, EVERYONE GIVE HER YOUR BEST 'YEE HAAW'" The entire restaurant yells, "Yee Haaw" and I am completely mortified for my husband, yet crying in laughter at the same time. And that my friends is how amazing Jason is. WOW! Do I owe him....for like the rest of our life!

Genetics Shmenetics

Some of you may wonder where I got this affinity for organization and ridiculously planned out shopping. Well, it's not genetic I'll tell ya that....at least from my mom anyway. My mom HATES shopping and waits until the absolute last minute to do it. And she has a REALLY hard time deciding what to buy because she worries way too much about whether or not the person will like it. (Me...if I see two things a person might like, I take five seconds to decide and if I haven't made my decision by then, I eenie meenie minee mo it and get a gift receipt in case they want to take it back.)

Well, all of that to say that my mom's aversion to shopping actually works out great. Because on my whirlwind of a shopping day yesterday I saw a sweater that I ADORE! I tried it on and loved it even more! My birthday is in a week and knowing my mom had not gotten me anything yet (since it was not the day of my birth or the 24 hours preceding it) I hopped on my cell phone in the dressing room...still wearing the sweater...and gave her a ring. It went like this:

Me: Hey mom. I'm at Old Navy wearing a sweater that I really love! (Then I went into a lengthy description of what it looks like) It's 30 bucks. Want me to buy it and you can pay me back and that can be my birthday present?

Mom: Sure! This is great! I could shop like this all day!

Me: Sweet! Thanks...I'll show it to you sometime!

Mom: Great! I can't wait to see what I bought.

And there you have it. Mom doesn't have to brave the ridiculous crowds or fret about if I'll like something. I get exactly what I want without having to return anything or make a list or try to describe what I like! It's a win win situation. And now...for your viewing pleasure (and so my mom can see what she got me for my birthday)....ME! In my B-E-A-UTIFUL new sweater!

Oh, and P.S. I changed the user name on my blog to just "Sarah" and put a picture of just me up because let's face it, Jason hates writing, and It's really just my blog.

You might hate me...just a little

...when you're finished reading this post. "How could I ever hate Sarah, even a little!?" you ask shocked. Well, it's because I am done with my Christmas shopping! Yep, you read right. In fact all of my presents were bought by 12:40pm this afternoon and now, they are all sitting in my guest room....wrapped!...with color coordinated bows!... and gift tags! Oh what a wondrous thing!

Here's how it went down. Now, consider yourself warned...this kind of shopping is not for the faint of heart. It takes skill, it takes organization...it takes planning baby! This morning was like a finely tuned military operation. The list was made detailing what present would be bought for each person. Then it was decided which stores said presents would be purchased at. Driving routes in town were taken into consideration so as not to have to make any left hand turns and in order to help avoid the most congested areas as much as possible. Then, a plan for which stores would be visited in what order (I'm not kidding people. I wrote this down!) was put in place. And the result, out the door by 8:30 am, in and out of stores efficiently before the large crowds began to swarm, and all of my shopping done, with a pumkin latte from Dunkin' Donuts in hand by 12:40 pm.

It was a beautiful thing. I even had time to visit a friend, wrap all my presents (btw I LOVE wrapping presents a ridiculous, perhaps even unhealthy, amount! If you have anything you want wrapped, give me a ring, you'll make my day!) and bathe and groom my dog! Now I'm gonna relax, visit with Jason's family tomorrow afternoon and enjoy my Monday off!

Halloween and R.O.U.S's

If you are a fan of the movie Princess Bride (a.k.a. one of the best movies ever!) then you know what an R.O.U.S. is. If you have not seen the movie, then I'll let you in on what they are...Rodants of Unusual Size. Well, we have R.O.U.S's here at our home. I'll get to that later.

Halloween was fun. I tried to start a new tradition where we carve elaborate pumkins (because I am incapable of doing things half way). With much convincing and putting up with so much whining I thought I had spontaneously had a 2 year old, Jason and I carved pumkins together. (I made him smile for this picture.) We handed out candy to the 9 trick or treaters that came by and then we headed out to dancing. We're still really awesome. The teacher used us as an example again and then the other people clapped for us. It was a little embarrassing but inside, secretly I was loving it. We have now added a behind the back turn, leaders underarm turn, leaders return turn, a travel step, and my personal favorite....a cuddles to our swing repatoir. Additonally, we have added a contra step, crossbrace to our waltz ensamble. We demonstrated some of our mad dancing skills for our friends at a friday game night, and Esther took a picture of us. So y'all may get to see us dancin' after all.

Now back to the R.O.U.S's. After skillfuly and painstakingly carving our pumkins, (Mine was a cat and a pumkin in a window. Jason's was a bat.) I set them out on the stoop, only to return home the following day to find that the GINORMOUS gray squirels around our home and been gnawing away at our creations! These are no average squirels. They are huge and they are viscious! These are the same R.O.U.S's that I watched last year as they literally wrapped their fury little arms around the gords we had set out and knock them off the porch steps and roll them away. I should have remembered the bold little buggers and kept our pumkins protected! But alas, I did not. So I had a half-headed cat and Jason had a deforme bat glowing away on Halloween night. We've tried to teach Hunter to chase the little critters down, but they're too darn fast for him. Perhaps we'll have to resort to trying to stab them with knives attatched to the end of broom sticks. (Oh, I haven't told you that story about Jason yet have I? I'll save that one for another day :)

Jason and Keys don't mix

After 4 years of being married to a man with the short memory that rivals Dori from Finding Nemo, this stuff shouldn't phase me...but it does.

Last night I transferred all of my work stuff from the car to the truck (so that I could tranport that new changing table of mine home). I carefully made sure that I had everythign I needed for the next days work so that I could have an organized, relaxed morning. I placed my planner, files, cell phone, games, activities, wallet and jacket in the truck and then asked Jason to lock it all up because he had the keys and there's confidential stuff that needs to be locked up. He did so and when he came in the house I asked him to leave me the key to the truck. And he said sure. Do you see where this is going?....

Jason left at 6:30 am in order to be at school by 7. But me, I didn't have to be anywhere until 9am so I slept in a little because I pulled a 12 hour day the day before and gosh darnit, I'm worth it! Once dressed and ready I planned to eat a leisurely breakfast, do some devotions and then head off. I decided to double check my planner (because I'm always paranoid that I'm forgetting something and the morning seemed to be going just too darn smoothly!) That's when I realized it. No key on the table, no key on the key hanger, nope, no key anywhere! Sure I have tons of friends I could have called and borrowed their cars to get to work, but there's not a lot of work I can do without ANY of my stuff!!!! Oh I was freakin' out and pretty darn mad!My apologies to the receptionists at Bangor Highschool. They probably think that Jason's wife or close relative suffered a large medical emergency because the call went a little something like this:

ME: Yes Hello!? Yes, I REALLY need to get a hold of my husband, it's VERY important and he's not answering his phone! Can you page him to the office or find him or something!?

RECEPTIONIST: Umm, sure. What is his name?

ME: Oh, right, Jason York.

RECEPTIONIST: I'll try to get him up here, who is this?

ME: Oh, right, this is his wife. PLEASE have him call me at home immediately!

Jason called. He said the moment he heard that he needed to call his wife at home he was like, "What could that be abou...OH CRAP! I took the truck key AND I'VE NEVER EVER REMEMBERED TO GO GET A COPY MADE!" (Okay so maybe I added that last part but it's totally true.)

I will hand it to him. He was very apologetic and rushed right home to give me the key. And I have to hand it to myself. I took that 25 minutes that it took him to get home and told myself, "There's nothing you can do about this, so you may as well not stress. Just keep busy and he'll be here soon enough." Then I proceeded to make the bed, wash the dishes and have breakfast. And I didn't even chew Jason out when he got home!!! I told him I knew he didn't do it on purpose and I wasn't mad at him. So I guess I should give myself a little credit ;) I have made progress in the 4 years of marriage!

You'll never guess what just happened (I'm not making this up). My husband, bless his forgetful little heart, just walked in the door and said, "Guess where the car is? It's at Hanniford because I locked my keys in it." And that, my friends, is Jason and keys.

Expecting a Baby?

NOPE! (Ha! I knew that title would reel you in!) But if you visited the oil room in my basement, you might think so. You see, I'm quite the bargain hunter. I love getting things really cheap. The only thing I love more that that is getting things for free!

It all started about a year ago when I saw a (Kelty brand) baby hiking carrier for super duper cheap! (They retail for 100 big ones or more!) I thought to myself, whenever we do have a baby I know we'll be hiking with it and we'll need a pack like this. Who knows if there will be a deal this awesome when that time comes! I just have to snatch it up! I was unsure of how Jason would react to the proposed purchase, not wanting him to think the baby pressure was comin' on. Suprisingly he concurred with my frugel reasoning and agreed. And thus it began...

Since then I've racked up a baby bathtub, a baby bjorn carrier, some toys and a few clothing items (at no cost to me whatsoever!). "Having a baby is a major financial endeavor!" I proclaim in my head each time I'm tempted...."The more I can get now, the less we will have to spend when the time actually comes! How freeing it will be to already have stored up so much!" It seems so justified when I put it this way!

Well folks, it may be getting out of hand. It's true. I can hardly resist any baby related item that's discounted by even 5 dollars! I almost bought a crib the other day at Marden's for 75 bucks. I'm tellin' ya...it was a NICE crib and if I had had $75 dollars to my name at the time you can betcha it would've been in my trunk and headed to my house in 2.2! And today I added a solid maple changing table and a diaper bag (Eddie Bauer diaper bag no less) to my growing collection. They were free! How could I say no!?

Bustin' a Move

I am sorry to inform you that we did not go a dancin' this last Wednesday. Jason and I are both feeling under the weather and needed to rest so that we can get better, still go to our jobs and make money. Okay fine, perhaps we are also turning into a bit of old fogies. Because heaven forbid we be out bustin' a move until the wee hours of 9 o'clock pm! Then we wouldn't get home until 9:30 and surely wouldn't be in bed until 10:00, oh my!

But let me update you on last week. We continue to excel in our dancing. There are no longer two groups. There are three and we are in a group all by ourselves! (I guess that's not really a group then.) But I'm actually serious about this. The last session went like this: The instructor put us in a corner and we danced there by ourselves unless one of two things happened 1)She came over to teach us a new move, or 2)She came over to ask us to demonstrate steps for another couple so that they could advance to the next step (which is SO like...at least 2 steps behind where we are).

So the illness and break from dancing for a week will be good for all. It will give others a chance to catch up and make us not so bored at the sessions. I guess the one downfall is that there will be no one to demonstrate :)

Here is a list of the skills that we now know: a ladies underarm turn, a return (which we can do like a gazillion in a row of) and and an around the waist. In the waltz we know how to do the basic box, how to turn in the box, and how to do a hesitation. It's beautiful, we float around like butterflies (that occasionally step on each other's toes). It's quite fun and, besides the times that Jason has to take a break because he's getting motion sickness, we have a blast!

And lastly, the instructor told Jason that if she ever teaches a salsa or cha-cha dancing lesson he should come. (Now, I'm assuming she meant that he should come WITH me, but that was most definitely not verbalized.) I'll gave her the benefit of the doubt and chalked it up to a compliment not a come on. But then he explained that he didn't think he'd be good at that because of the whole thing where he can't move his lower body independently of his upper body and it looks as if his hips are fused in place. And she told him that he should come to one of her belly dancing classes! HA! Can you picture that! Wow, cracks my right up! Not that Jason would ever do that, but she better back off! ;)

I'm sorry that I do not have a picture of us dancing. I don't think that I'm brave enough to take a camera to class but perhaps we will cut a rug at home and have one of our friends snap one for y'all.

Columbus Day Weekend

We decided to take a little getaway because we both had a long weekend and it felt like forever since we'd spent any quality time together. We found a cheap little cabin in Rockwood, right on Moosehead Lake that allowed dogs and we were off to relax and do a little leaf peeping.

Well, it turns out that the cabin was cheap because it ended up being right on Rt. 15, BUT it WAS adorable, right on the water and had a gorgeous view of Mt. Kineo! It was also quite fun to watch the float planes swoop down around Mt. Kineo to give tourists a good view on their sight seeing rides.

The cabin also had cable TV. And anyone who knows me, knows I LOVE cable TV and since we don't have it at home (for the simple reason that I have no self restraint and would certainly sit in front of it all day long in a semi-comatose state) it is always a treat that I enjoy indulging in whenever we go somewhere that has it. And indulge I did. As it turns out there was an all day marathon on A&E of Designed to Sell and Flip This House. It was raining outside so I felt completely justified in sitting my little hiney in front of that TV from 1:00pm until AT LEAST 5:30pm, only getting up to go to the bathroom or get some more Mt. Dew. (Another guiltly pleasure that I feel free to drink unlimited amounts of when I go away on camping trips or vacations.) It was wonderful! (Above: The little couch my hiney sat on for 4 1/2 hours straight)

The next morning we rode into Greenville to have breakfast with our friends Sam and Tara and the cutest little diner around, Auntie M's. Jason and I were going hiking later and carbs don't agree with my stomach so I just had eggs and meat...getting in the protein. But I convinced Tara to get the Pumpkin French Toast because that's what I would have ordered had I not been going hiking. Sorry Tara! (Note to Reader: Reasons you should never get the pumkin french toast at Auntie M's diner: #1 They give you like 2 ittie bittie pieces of bread. #2 It really does not taste like pumpkin. And most importantly #3 They do not serve it sprinkled with powdered sugar.) Other than that it was a lovely breakfast and you'll be happy to hear that Tara's morning was salvaged when Jason told her that there was hazlenut capuccino on the menu and she ordered that with a heaping topping of whip cream.

Also at this meal, we discussed which trail to hike that day. It came down to Big Moose Mt. or Little Moose Mt. We did not want to take our whole day up with hiking so we were leaning toward Little Moose but weren't sure there was going to be a view from the top. But alas, our handy friend Sam, who is a forest ranger up that way, assured us that there was a view from Little Moose Mt. and so off we went.

Note to Reader: There IS NO view from Little Moose Mt. (Above: Pretty little slate steps at the beginning of the trail and Jason and Sarah in happier times, prior to aforementioned discovery.) Perhaps one handy little forest ranger, who shall remain nameless, should re-familliarize himself with Little Moose Mt. We hiked... and hiked... and hiked. We went up and down numerous little mountains and around one big old pond until we reached the peak of Little Moose, but alas, there was no view....only very tall trees. Perhaps it is just over that next peak we reasoned and hiked on....nope. Maybe it's just the next one and we trudged along....uh huh. We finally decided there was no view.

I was exasperated. I stomped my foot, planted myself in the middle of the trail and announced, "I am NOT hiking back on this ridiculously long, no end-reward, poopy view trail!"

"Where are you going to go then?" Jason asked.

"Right down the side of this mountain, to that pond I can see and then along the edge of the pond wich should bring us back to the trail." I declared with a huff. (I think I expected him to treat me like the tantruming little child that I was being and reasonably tell me that we could not do that.)

But instead he said, "I'm game. Let's go!"

And so we did. We bushwacked it right down the side of Little Moose and down to the pond. But when we got to the banks of the pond that we wanted to walk around we sank into quicksand like mud up to our knees and that mud almost stole my hiking shoe! So we back tracked to the woods and followed what seemed to be a nicely beaten down game trail until we saw huge footprints that Jason said was either bear or moose. Visions of accidentally startling a blackbear danced through my head and I made him stop as I thoroughly investigated the print. It was a Moose, a big one so we kept going. Then the game trail became too muddy so we veered away from that which left me being hit in the face with branches every two seconds adn finally, I got freaked out that we would get lost because we couldn't see the pond anymore. I kept having to ask Jason to wait for me. (I think he might have been TRYING to lose me in the woods at that point. But his concience got the best of him and he ended up waiting for me.) He brought us back to the water's edge which was now a little less muddy and, well, you all know we got out safely because I wouldn't be writing this if I had died in the quicksand in the woods being eaten by a bear!

This picture, I very much did NOT take. As you can see, this picture is of the sun rising behind the beautiful misty river. I am not usually awake for sunrises. My guess is that this picture is of Tuesday's sunrise. You see, I went home on Monday afternoon and spent some time that evening hanging out with my friends Tara and Steph while my hubby stayed until Tuesday (because he didn't have to be back to work until Wednesday) to fish with his friend Kevin. I don't really do fishing in the fall unless it's really warm. Otherwise, it's really cold to stand in that water adn my hands go numb after about 15 minutes. But as you can see, my man is tough and he cought fish! A little time together, a little veggin', a little hikin', a little girl time, and a little guy time. It was grand!

This picture is for my mom! (And by the way Noelle, maybe you don't care about Greenville, but this is all your gettin' until you put another post on your blog. Maybe then I'll tell you about the amazingness that was our second dancing class! :)

Move Over Fred Astaire!

Wednesday night Jason met me at the highschool where our dancing lessons are taking place with a contorted face that looked like a cross between a deer caught in the headlights and a person getting ready to go for a root canal. It was kind of pitiful....I felt a little bad...I actually thought about telling him we didn't have to do it...naaaahhhh! This opportunity would surely never arise again. He was here, and...er...willing. Carpe Diem baby!

You could tell that nervousness was growing in him as each second passed and he watched the previous class finish up. But alas, and amazing thing happened...you might even say wondrous! The lesson got under way and the instructor began with teaching the guys only. As she went through the basic swing step of slow-slow-backstep-slow-slow-backstep, a clear frontrunner emerged out of the 5 fumbling, waddling, rocking men.....and it was MY husband! Sure he was stiffer than a 6 foot pine board and he is incababple of moving his lower body independently of his upper body, but he was keeping up with the instructor, stepping with the correct feet and able to increase in speed as she did while the other men essential fell all over thesmeselves.

When the women joined the mix, I was the clear frontrunner as well. (It must be due to that tap and ballet I took in the third grade and always quit before the final show.) I'll admit, there is a spunky, curly haired woman that's not bad herself and nippin' at my heals to take over as best female dancer of the adult ed beginners class. I'll have to do some serious practice this week to fend her off, but if I do, I'm confident I can stay one step ahead of her! (Pun intended! And if you haven't noticed yet...I'm a competative person. I have a clear need to be the best at everything I do and WILL find a way to turn pretty much anything into a competition inside my own twisted little mind.)

And when we finally got to dance together! WATCH OUT GINGER ROGERS AND FRED ASTAIRE! Here we come! Sure it takes Jason 5 minutes to find the beat in the song and he has to concentrate so hard to keep it that he looks like he's constipated all the time...but I wait for him to lead....and bi-golly when he finally puts that left foot forward we're off and runnin'!

The teacher saw that she clearly had some stand outs and had to move the class into two groups. (She told the slow group not to feel bad and that everybody moves at their own pace, but we all know that she's just being nice!) It was us and this other couple (the one with the cute lady that's threatening my dancing status) that got put in the advanced group. (The teacher did not call it the advanced group, but I do.) She taught us women how to do a spin and the guys how to send us out. And then she taught us a return! And then we did a double return! And then Jason spun at the same time that I did when we were doing the return (which was a clear result of utter confusion and had nothing to do with trying new moves or attempting to spice it up) But apparently it turned out to be a really advanced move and she told him to slow down, because he was like 4 steps ahead of her! Oh! Music to my ears! The instructor even used Jason as an example (the good kind) once and she used me as an example MULTIPLE times! Yeah, the other people in the class may end up hating us and dropping out because of sheer frusration, but it sure is boosting my self-esteem up like 1,000 notches! And we still have 6 more weeks! My head will be so big I'll be floating like a hot air balloon!

But in all seriousness. It went really well. Jason said he had a much better time that he ever expected and was quite pleased with how well he did. We went into it expecting to be the worst and being fine with that and were pleasently suprised by how good we were. Jason and I were laughing and smiling and hugging through the whole thing. It gave me lots of opportunities to tell him how good he was doing and how proud of him I was and we left feeling more connected than I think we have in a while...plus it's great excercize and a super stress reliever! We had a blast. Y'all should try it!

Minor Detail...

Umm yeah, I forgot to let you all in on a minor detail....I'm not looking for other employment anymore....right now. Why? Because the situation at work has resolved itself, quite abrupltly and unexpectedly. I know, I know I sound so secretive! But I'm just trying to protect the innocent and not be gossipy. If you know me well, you probably know what I'm talking about. If you don't know then you can ask me and I'll fill ya in. But needless to say...YAY!

That's all for now...I'm bordering on being late for Ugly Betty! Yikes!

Stay tuned for details about how the dancin' went last night. I have a feeling I'll have a blog for you after EVERY Wednesday night! :)

Braggin' Rights

Yup, I'm gonna take some time to brag right now. Not about me...but about my husband.

A few weeks ago he asked me what the odds were that I could be in Bangor every Wednesday night by 7:30pm. I told him I could do my best to schedule sessions around that and inquired as to why. "Because," he said, "there is a ballroom dancing class at that time every wednesday and I wanted to know if you wanted to go with me to it." I'm pretty sure my jaw hit the floor and then my legs gave way and I fainted. It's all a blur.

You see, I've wanted to take dancing lessons with Jason from the time were were engaged, which is almost 5 years ago now, but I haven't mentioned in the last few years because he has always FLAT out refused. Now, don't hold it against him. He legitimately HATES dancing. He has no rythm... and I'm not just saying that. This is the man who cannot sing and clap at the same time. (So if you ever see him not clapping along to a worship song in church, it's not because he's not enthusiastic, it's because he'd rather sing the words and he physically cannot do both.) So now you get a small glimpse of what a huge deal this was for him to take the initiative and offer for us to go. My heart melted! How sweet!

So that settles it. I jumped at the chance and, starting this wednesday, we will be learning the basics of swing and waltz.

PS: Before you go writing him down in your book of saints, let me fill you in on this last little tid bit of info. He sheepishly admitted later, that his offer was in response to my going flyfishing with him and my new committment to do so several times a season :) But I'm sure not complaining! A little give and take, a little compromise, that's what marriage is all about!

The Smell of Sweet Success...

...smells something like apple jelly. Okay, so it did take two attempts to successfuly can my hommade apple jelly. And I did end up having to unseal and recan all 20 jars. And it did cause a fight that threatened the very fiber of my marriage...but I did it none the less!

Let me explain....First, I want you to know that I followed the recipe TO a T and that there is no reason, other than error on the reciper writers part, that anything should have gone wrong. I made 20....count them 20....jars of apple jelly. I also successfully sealed them all on the first go round! 'Canning shmanning! There's nothin' to it! Couldn't be simpler!' I gloated to myself as stood back to admire my handy work. After all, it had only taken all afternoon, dirtied every dish in my house, steamed up my windows and used enough water for a small country and enough sugar to keep every toddler in the world awake for an entire week. I kicked back to relax, but as the concoction inside the jars cooled, it seemed as if something was amiss. You see, it did not look like jelly. It looked more like applesauce colored liquid. It just needs more time. I tried to convince myself. HA! Wishful thinking! By the next morning when the "jelly" still sloshed around like juice, I could no longer deny the inevitable conclusion...the "jelly" was NOT going to gel!

Breathing deeply, trying to remain optomisitc and not get violent with the "jelly", I thought, I'll just have to redo it. But when I learned that you cannot reuse to lids and I would have to go buy more, that was the last straw. Believe you me, domestic, softspoken, patient little suzie hommaker is the LAST thing I felt like as visions of smashing those 20 jars to smitherines danced through my head.

Enter Jason....oh, poor, sweet, unsuspecting Jason. He innocently walks in. I explain what happened and the conversation went a little like this:

Jason: Ya know what I'm thinking?

Sarah (thinking to herself sarcastically): No, no I do not. Please enlighten me.

Jason: It would have been a good idea to try it in one jar before you did all of these. (And of course I heard, "You stupid idiot, why didn't try it out just using one jar since you're obviously incapable of making something that turns out right.")

Sarah (defending a non-attacking comment as well as defending why I did not take this very common sense precaution): I can't even believe that's the first think you said to me! Can't you see how upset I am about this! There was no reason for me to do that! I followed the recipe to a T! I know how to follow a recipe! It should have turned out right! I hate canning! That recipe is stupid! I'm going to throw them all away and never do this again!

Later that day....with some coaxing from Jason and my mother as well as some cool down time and a few apologies to my hubby, I regained my suzie homemaker composure and gave it another whirl. Jason helped by unsealing all the jars and washing them, while I got to fixing the jelly. It only needed a little more fruit pectin and a little more boiling. Then I resterilized them, resealed them and I'm happy to anounce that, after cooling, they are very jelly like!

A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into these jars. (Okay, no blood, but the sweat and tears are for real.) So if you get one of these babies for Christmas, know that you must be a VERY important person, and be warned that you better love every last bit of it!

Uninspired

I'm feeling rather uninspired these days. It's because things are generally status quo with us, so don't expect to laugh your heads off on this post, but here's what we've been up to:

We are both still working at the same jobs. Jason has caught some people steeling and is loving his classes. I'm actively searching/praying for new employment (because of the circumstances that I cannot blog about just yet). Shhh work doesn't know yet, I'll tell them soon enough.

We went to my friend's wedding yesterday...actually I was in her wedding...actually I married them! Yes, I became a notary public and married them. It was quite wonderful! (Ooooo, that reminds me, I should mail their marriage certificate in soon :)

Sunday School has started up at church and I am helping teach the 4 and 5 year olds while Jason is helping to teach an adult class.

We went apple picking today after church with my mom at Maine-ly Apples in Dixmont on Rt. 7. They are a great orchard with great prices and super friendly helpful people...although all their cortlands are gone right now, just so you know. Apple picking means fall is here and that is my favorite season! I've got a killer apple pie, Jason makes a mean apple crisp and, hold on to your seats ladies and gentlement, I'm planning to do (make that try) a whole bunch of canning this year. Wish me luck!

AND I'm about to reach 500 hits on my blog! So exciting! That about does it. See, that's all it took to catch you up on two weeks worth of our life!

Mr. Quinn's Kitty Diagnosis

Well, you've heard a lot about our dog, but I'm not sure you've been introduced to my kitty. I say "my" because I had Mr. Quinn before we were married. Sure Jason loves him, but whenever he does anything bad he's "my" cat. And so for the purposes of this post he's "my" cat.

So as not to unduly prejudice you against Mr. Quinn, I am going to share some of his finer qualities with you before I move on to the actual story I wanted to tell you about him. He is an amazing animal...more like a dog or a human than a cat.

1.) He has no "off mechanism" when it comes to the eating. If he was given food 24 hours a day, he would sit there and eat until his stomach swelled and exploded into a meow mix mess all over the kitchen. As a result of this quality he used to weigh 18.7 pounds. Mmmm, that's not a typo 18.7 pounds.

2.) He had to go on a veterinarian mandated diet...only 1/4 cup of food a day. Now he weighs 14 pounds! Yeah buddy! As a result of the lack of food though he's developed some other behaviors.

3.) When we eat, he sits aproximately 2 inches from your plate and begs. If you give him ANYTHING, he will eat it. He has eaten beans, chips, corn and yes, even a jalepeno!

4.) Also, when he gets hungry, you'll know it. How? Because he will walk over to our (quivering) 65 lb. golden retreiver and hit him, yes strike the dog with his paw while hissing and making a weird gutteral meowing sound. He does this because it's the one thing he's found that will get us to pay attention and give in and feed him. (As a result, our golden retreiver never walks within a 10 foot radius of Mr. Quinn and NEVER makes eye contact with him.) And some other wonderful qualities...

5.) He gives kisses.

6.) He lets me clip his toe nails and hold him in my arms like a baby.

7.) When he hears someone in the driveway or at the door, he bristles his hair and runs to the door to protect me.

8.) He crawls under the covers with us and often wakes me up in the morning by grooming my hair.

Okay, so do you love him? Good. Then I can tell you this story and you won't hold it against him... The other day I made a trip down to our (partially finished) basement to do a little creative memories at my fold out table, when, all of a sudden my sniffer caught a wiffer of a foul odor. Musty basement, I thought at first, but no. I continued to follow the old nose and alas, it led me to the source....a virtual LAKE of cat pee on our futon. (Don't worry Jen, not yours, the other one.) This was not a one-time pee. This was Quinn's "I've found a new litter box that I'm going to pee in EVERY TIME I HAVE TO GO" pee. And by my aproximation it was at least several weeks worth.

Needless to say, the futon is at the dump now. Also, we took Mr. Quinn to the vet to see if he had a urinary tract infection. No. NO he did not. Our vet, Dr. Richie (who by the way is an AMAZING vet) did a thorough job asking lots of questions and finally pinpointed the problem. He tracked the beginning of the issue to about the time I started my new job. And the diagnosis? Mr. Quinn has Kitty Anxiety! Yes, that's right. The change in my schedule and me being gone so much more had thrown Mr. Quinn into the depths of anxiety. He loves me and doesn't know what to do without me! And why, you ask, does this explain the pee? Cat's like the smell of their own urine. It is comforting to them. Mr. Quinn is stressed and feeling upset and smelling his own pee makes him feel better. Yup. Awesome!