Thoughts and Stuff

Note:  all pictures taken with my silly space-phone...because (a) I'm too lazy to lug my big cam around and (b) I want to share these pictures with you.  

Yesterday was a success.  Until 3 pm.  Then I got real bored.  I mean real bored.  Part of the problem was that when I woke up with the hubs at 6:30 am, I didn't go back to bed.  I love mornings.  And I loved yesterday morning.  But because I started the day so early, I ran out of stuff to do.  Ho hum. 

So today I ran errands.  Target - purchased all gifts for upcoming weddings.  Boom.  And purchased this for one of the quasi-6 nephews:

 He's having a camo-themed 4th birthday party this weekend and he needed swim trunks.  I think I scored.  Typically I'm vehemently against sleeveless shirts, but his mama wanted such shirts, so I obliged.  It's a cute one too, doncha think?  Yes.

Then check this.  The following mini-story should impress you.  Especially if you have Mennonite (or Hutterite like me) roots.  While shopping at the local grocery establishment (Dillon's), I was in the market for frozen hash browns for a classic potato casserole.  I knew that the name brand would have the recipe on the back that I so desired, but as I closely examined the label, I also realized that the name brand was about $2 more.  What!?  It can't be!  But it was.  And it is.  And it will forever be...  SO, I quickly whipped out my space-phone, took this picture:

...purchased the store-brand frozen hash browns (that didn't have the recipe on the back), and darted for the dairy department.  It's okay to think I'm cheap, strange, quirky, etc.  I don't even understand myself sometimes.

Moving on...

At one point, I promised additional pictures of my classroom. Here is one that I took about an hour before I left for the summa, for the summa:

 Oh sweet classroom.  I don't really miss you right now.  Ask me again in about a month.  Or two. 

FINALLY, here is a picture I took with my space-phone just after a funnel cloud passed over SW Topeka:

Thank goodness we have loving family just a few miles away.  We (I mean the hubs) may have run a red light on our way to shelter.  It was intense, people.  Then we went to our regularly scheduled movie because the storm was over NE Topeka.  A good eve. 

I will leave you, my faithful readers, with a thought about marriage or relationships or compromise or whatever most relates to you.  I think Daniel is a picky eater.  He knows I think this.  He does not think the same.  He hates the following food items:  cream cheese, Rotel (don't even get me started on this one), green chilies, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and pulled chicken.  For awhile (and by "awhile," I mean close to 10 months of our marriage), I ignored his hatred of the aforementioned foods and pouted each time he gently told me of his distaste. 

Then one day the following thought occurred to me:  perhaps I need to make some culinary changes instead of expecting the hubs to choke down his least favorite foods on a regular basis.  So I put my brain to work a decided that instead of using Rotel, I will use salsa.  Instead of green chilies, I will use pepper-jack cheese when apropo. Instead of pulled chicken, I will learn to bake chicken breasts and then cut it into chunks (still need some advice on this one - how do I bake chicken without it getting dry??).  Instead of putting small pieces of onions in various entrees, I leave huge chunks that I can easily remove right before serving. Instead of tomatoes in the entire dish, I only put tomatoes in one half.  Etc. 

I don't have all the kinks removed, but I'm happy to say that I've learned a lesson in all this. 

Sometimes life is less about changing the other person and more about you being the one to change. 

And now, to quote Thornton Wilder from the beautiful play Our Town:  "Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you. Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it -- every, every minute?"

Oh life, you're a funny thing.