Dear Mr. Dad

Dear Mr. Dad Who Came in Late,
I know you probably had good intentions when you were taking your small brood to see Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D last Saturday. And your kids looked really cute when they had their over-sized 3D glasses on as they came into the movie theatre. But with a little more planning, you would have realized that this movie just came out, and everyone else and their brood wanted to see it, too (including 2 twenty-somethings, one of whom is writing this blog). So, it was not cool when you shuffled in 2 seconds before the show began and couldn't find 5 seats together. But it was even less cool when you told your children that they wouldn't be seeing it today, as the lights dimmed and previews were playing in the background. Children under the age of 7 don't understand the concept of your error. It was heartbreaking to see the children being pulled down the the stairs and out the door, just as the screen prompted everyone to "please put on your 3D glasses." I'm just wondering how you made it up to them. There better have been a trip to get ice cream or something. I'm telling you... it was heartbreaking.

New Hobby

Randy's band, the Mississippi Mud Ducks, has been on hiatus this month due to their guitar player taking a month-long vacation to Florida... lucky duck (pardon the bad joke). So, while Randy's rockin' days are put on a hold, he's been writing his own acoustic stuff. And, I guess when you start writing all this music, you need a way to record it. Which leads to a very technology-obsessed husband wanting to find THE recorder. I guess we found it. And bought it. And now, we're actually using it. I must admit, it's very cool. We already recorded one of his songs and one of mine. I'm impressed even though we haven't even edited the songs yet.

This is all leading up to the fact that I'm trying to upload his song here, but I don't think blogspot.com really likes you uploading music. But videos are a thumbs-up. Therefore, I'm trying to upload the song as a video on youtube and import it here. Hopefully  I can do it. If not... you might have to wait until Randy gets famous to hear his song. And that may take a while. So....

What will I do with my time off?

Make curtains, of course!

Or anything else this house needs. I've been going around looking at my little house thinking of things I never got to do... like make nice curtains for the kitchen, accent pillows for the bedroom, and hang pictures in empty spaces. In grad school, those frivolous, fun things are on the bottom of the to-do list. But now, what else do I have to do? Nothing... and it's wonderful. For the first time in a million years, I don't have summer school. I don't have to be anywhere at any time. This summer is my summer. And it's off to a great, productive start. This was my afternoon project:

40 Days: Day 7

Internships are complete. Tests have been taken. Job has been obtained. I'm ready to relax. It's time to get back to the Love Challenge.

The challenge for today was this: Get two separate sheets of paper. On one, write down a list of positive characteristics about your spouse. On the other, write a list of negative characteristics about your spouse. Each has its own purpose for the future. At some point in the day, tell your spouse one of the characteristics from the positive list.

This was a pretty easy challenge to get us back into the groove of doing the dares. Glad to say that my positive list for Randy far outweighed the negative list. It's also nice to remind yourself why you love the person you're with... especially since it gets sooo easy to be critical and focus on the negatives. Overall, a good dare.

Signed, sealed, not yet delivered

It's done. We are official iMac owners.

I must admit, yesterday's tests were brutal. After spending the entire afternoon moping around with my forever friend feeling sorry for ourselves, I knew buying the iMac would be just the thing to perk me up. After all, we fell in love with it at Best Buy and knew that the refurbished one would not be on apple.com forever.

So it's ours. In five-day's time. And it will be beautiful.

Happy graduation to me...

I haven't YET graduated.... I actually need to pass an exit exam before I do. BUT, I worked so hard to get my master's degree, I feel like I deserve to do something really nice for myself (and Randy, as he would benefit as well). Here is what I've been obsessed with lately:

Yep, it's an iMac. It has a 20" screen and has more "get-up-and-go" than any computer I've ever owned. Which will be needed, as my husband just bought a music recorder and editing software. The best thing about it? It's not as expensive, because there's a refurbished one on Apple.com that is reasonable. Doable. Ahh... my dream of having a mac is oh so close.

Dear Peck Hall (as inspired by my forever friend),

Dear SIUE's Peck Hall,

When you have a whole bunch of people in your classrooms taking very important tests related to their careers, can you please provide desk tops bigger than 6" by 6"? You see, I want to follow the rules and keep my two ID's, several sharpened #2 pencils, my test booklet, and answer sheet on the desk top, but you make it very challenging and uncomfortable. That would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Jenna