on Church and Politics

On Church.
Let me say this. Church can be the greatest burden and the greatest blessing and I don't speak often enough of the immense joy I receive from having the opportunity to serve my God and serve my fellow beings. I fret about the large time commitments asked of me but fail to realize that sometimes true service comes at a cost, and for me it is time. I never feel worse off after having done what I perceive as something for the Lord. My weekend is very busy but hopefully it will be time well spent.
On politics.
I have studied political science for the better part of seven years, with a few more to go. The more I understand the topic, the less I know. Without exaggeration, I have probably read nearing a million pages on politics (most of which I feel like have been since starting graduate school, ugh). But it is daily that I hear a completely ignorant political opinion that I am almost baffled by. For example, my dear vacuum salesmen from last night. He asked me what I was studying and given his not-so-firm grasp of English I told him 'government'. He told me that the President was screwing everything up and we need to get Reagan back. I found this interesting given that 1. Reagan would likely not have sought your vote as much as Obama, 2. Obama would do a whole lot more for Hispanics than Reagan, 3. Reagan's views on border control, and 4. Obama nominated the first Hispanic to the Supreme Court. Now I'm not saying this as a Reagan or an Obama supporter. I'm saying this as objectively. I said 'you like Reagan huh?' and he told me that he liked the old cowboy movies. Awesome.
I understand not everyone has had the same opportunity to study this subject as me so I don't ever say anything. If someone has an opinion on a topic on which I think they are ill-informed, its still their opinion and they're entitled to it. This, however, often places me in a position of listening to really stupid banter on politics that makes me want smack people on the heads. What a snob, right? It gets worse. Pretty much the only time I will correct someone or call them out on their ignorant opinions is if they are in my grad program, espousing an unfounded opinion and thinking they can get away with it because they can hide behind their degree. Nope, not in this house! If you are this far in school and don't even know the governmental system of Afghanistan and start going off on how Bush tried to push our form of government on their country and it backfired, you best believe I will ask you- really? and he did that by forcing them to have the same form of government as us, is that it? Yeah? Well they have a parlimentary system, friend, which they jointly elected to have and perhaps you are unaware that is actually not the same as our government. Thanks though. Stupid.
OK. Enough ranting. The fingers are flowing and its time to start this daunting paper.
Sorry if these posts have been all over the place. Next week begins the 30 day countdown till Europe. DUN DUN DUN. So I'll be mostly posting about that. WOOT!

Also thanks to everyone who reads this and comments and makes me feel good. I love you and it means a lot to me and it makes me feel really happy. so thanks.

!(*&@HD*#4#$*%^@)$!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
So today is the one day ONE DAY in the entire week that I have that I don't have something in the evenings. I got out of class. Came home. Picked up the house and started dinner in the crockpot. Doug got home and went to go change out of work clothes then someone knocks on my door. Its a cute girl about my age and height and she says that her family just moved here and her dad is starting a business right down the road cleaning carpets. She says they have a special going right now where they will clean two rooms carpets for free to hopefully do some repeat business. Sure, I said, just so happens we only have two rooms that have carpet. Great! When can we come over, she asks. How about tonight? How long does the cleaning take? OH only a few minutes she says. So not less than an hour later two guys and a cleaning truck come to the door. Dinner is about half done and I have 3 pages written of the 14 pages I need to get done TONIGHT and thats not including the other homework I need to get done tonight. So now its THREE !(*&$#^#$%# HOURS LATER!!! And no I don't want to buy a $2000 vacuum. I don't care how amazing it is (and truthfully it was amazing, I'll give them that).
Now dinner is ruined and I'm fricken hungry. My night is shot and I will now spend Friday night doing homework instead of seeing my husband because Saturday and Sunday I have church stuff all day.
AHHHHHHh I'm so mad right now.
You're thinking, why in the world did you let them stay for 3 hours?
Let me tell you how sales works people. First, the person doing the cleaning gets dropped off. They don't have a way to leave your house. Second, they do the cleaning as they show you the product. If you say leave before its done then its only part of the way done. Third, I might just be the NICEST DAMN PERSON IN THE WORLD. I'm not joking. I'm polite to a fault. To a serious fault. 3hrs later no homework, no dinner, and no Friday night date type of fault. Won't tell the waitress the food is bad type of fault. Won't tell you I think you're a fricken idiot and you don't understand anything about politics type of fault. I draw the line but only at sacred things (family, dear friends, God, church).
PISSED OOOOOFFFFFF!!!!

answers and questions

Its easier to answer the questions in a post so here it is:
Do I love the haircut?
I'm pretty neutral on hair. I change it up when I want a change. This haircut isn't my favorite but I like it still. It saves me time, which is left for wanting in my life at the moment. 20 more minutes in the morning makes me love this cut.
What product am I using?
Spray wax. Yeah. Its cool. Its by Paul Mitchell (i'm not a fancy product girl so yes, I do feel pretty glamorous). I like it because it goes on aerosole style but has enough weight that you can shape your hair. Two thumbs up.
What are the numbers on the wall in the bathroom?
The numbers on the wall in the bathroom actually are 08 13 05 and they are actually the date of our mawage. I'm not sure what I think of them. They could just be a place holder until I find something I like even more.
Why do your ovaries hurt?
ok so nobody actually asked this but this is my question. Lately my ovaries have been hurting. Its not cramps. Its not where cramps happen (lower stomach area) , but its right where my ovaries are located. Is this weird? Does this happen to anyone else? Its not unbearable but it doesn't feel wonderful. It doesn't happen all the time. Any ideas?
Why have you completely glossed over the fact that its St. Patrick's Day?
You're right. Whoops. Let me make it up to you by linking to a few of my favorite irish bands that I'm listening to today in addition to some pictures of green things. Ok. Good.

http://popup.lala.com/popup/1585548588480725514

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1ZTrPIM5bU






This is where we lived in Virginia. This is the Shenandoah.


This is my office at home. Its bright because I work in there late at night and need to stay awake. I hope to tone it down sometime post grad school.

This is a beautiful picture I stole because I felt enamored by it.

This is the front of my house in the summer.

A beautiful and original flower arrangement.


A fantastical and fancy wedding reception for people I think I want to be friends with...

hair today gone tomorrow

Your wish is my command. Here are some hair pics. Before and after. I am close to the least photogenic person in the world so theres that. The last pic is from tonight and I am tired and have no makeup on. Also insert other excuses here too.

before

after

no idea what I'm doing with my mouth here...

this week

Got through mid-terms.

Convinced myself I will fail out of grad school. then did ok on my mid term. ha.

Threw up close to a billion times Tuesday night.

Ate weird purple rice from my fabulous friend Suzie.

Secured people to stay with in Paris and Rome.

Fought with my cat.*

Went to a 7-11 where, no joke, a man named Apu worked behind the counter.

Cut off all my hair. very fast. very dramatic.

Learned about spray wax for hair. who knew?

Bought some polish and painted my nails. pink. more like clear pink.

Had soup at a sports bar. watched AZ v UCLA. by myself.

Doing a 5k tomorrow.

Playing piano at a womens event for my church tomorrow.

*one of the many things she decided to do was to swat my brownie off the table onto the floor. when I bent over to pick it up and place it in the kitchen, she then laid down right on top of my mid-term review, and when I tried to get it out from under her she decided to swipe at me. She is normally sweet and wonderful...

sorry posts have been a little sparse. they'll get more frequent now that school as slowed back down a little bit.

isn't this a pretty picture?

Changin'

It was time for a change of the main blog picture. Isn't this faucet picture cool? I stole it from One Lucky Fish blog. I could make up something about how its a symbol of all the gushing I do on this blog or something but its not. Its just a cool picture that captures my eye, sort of like this funny kitty picture.



I'm in the mood for change I guess. I like to think of other people's lives and wonder what it would be like to be them. Not celebrities or anything, I like to think of people I know or want to know. I have some good friends who eat all things organic. They only use fresh everything and go to the market about every other day. I feel really fancy and chef-like when I use fresh stuff. When I drive by huge amazing houses I wonder about the people inside. What are they like? What do they do for a living? I think the same thing when I see someone with a lot of property or someone who lives far from town. My husband and I play this game when we go out. We choose someone and watch them for a little while and then guess what they do for a living and where they live and what their family situation is like. "She is a director of marketing for a big travel agency. She is divorced and has two grown children and she lives outside of New York City." Most times we will go ask them after we explain our game. Turns out she was the regional head of sales for Honey Baked Ham and she was married and had one teenage son and lived in Denver. We have a bit of improvement I suppose but sometimes we are spot on. (by sometimes I mean, twice we were right about more than one thing...ha). Anyway, sometimes I just crave change. I think I'd like to be a bit more spontaneous. Yeah, spontaneous sounds nice.

good list bad list

Things I'm not doing well:

1. keeping my car out of the automotive shop

2. getting appropriate amounts of sleep

3. remembering details and dates and names

4. keeping my goals

5. couchsurfing in Europe

6. getting cat's collar back on

7. putting away my clothes

8. being motivated in school right now

9. helping plan our Europe trip

10. losing some chub

11. gardening

12. getting my camera fixed

Things I'm doing well:

1. procrastinating

2. eating chocolate

3. coming up with excuses to avoid all responsibilities in my life but then doing them anyway at the last moment

Hey but on a truly exciting and happy note, my first crocus bloomed yesterday! That little bloom gives me so much hope. Spring! Please Spring come quick!