l'hopital's rule

um, wow. "In calculus, l'Hôpital's rule (also called Bernoulli's rule; and which is sometimes spelled l'Hospital due to the rule for ô in French writing) uses derivatives to help compute limits with indeterminate forms. Application (or repeated application) of the rule often converts an indeterminate form to a determinate form, allowing easy computation of the limit."

I used to know how to use this. Like, in real life.

so, I'm blogging from the hospital. (hopital, hospital, get it? right.). matt is getting an IV. Right. This. Minute. and since I get queasy with that whole piercing the skin thing...yeah.

hopefully they will be able to help him out. it's probably a virus, they say. so, there are some tests and then there's some waiting, and anyway...poor poor matt. :( He will be fine and I'm glad we're here, but yikes. At least we got seen within an hour!

break me off a piece of that kit-kat bar

aka--gimme a break.

and not in the sarcastic, rude way, in the boy-this-has-been-an-exhausting-few-days kind of way.

let's see...
got home a little after 10 last night. oh and by the way, about 4 minutes into our trip my che check engine light came on. rock. watched TV for a few, matt showered and then started to get REAL bad. I will spare you the hairy details, but his fever got up to 103.5, and that is never good.

I was waking up every four hours to check his temp and give him tylenol. Hazel and Gobi were ready for me every time, meowing like crazy kitties every time they heard the phone alarm. Eventually I let them in. At 10 this morning I woke up with one kitty on my pillow, paw outstretched so it was touching my cheek and the other on my tummy. I think they missed me. :)

anyway. so, after that 103.5 and after a visit to the pharmacist I took Matt to urgent care. THANK GOODNESS I called ahead to see how long the wait was--they had quite a long one and told me there was also a place a little ways away that just opened 3 weeks ago and nobody knew about. The wait was deffo shorter there--though still long since Matt last went to a doctor like 3 and a half years ago and they had to get all sorts of data from him. Ugh.

well, now it might be a lot of things. appendicitis is pretty high on the list, though it's been going on for a while. or maybe an infection near the appendix. or maybe, or maybe, or maybe. so, he's sleeping, I FINALLY found my notebook full of stuff for my paper and I am just about to get started. I also decided to take a little break and change my layout (thanks to maria, kara and melissa who have all done it recently) but I'm not loving this one. might have to do more playing. we'll see.

to sum up:
matt is still sick and if his fever spikes again we get to visit the emergency room.
I am VERY tired.
and I have a paper to write.
and I am not sure if I like this layout even a little.

the. end.

i'll update you when I know more.

thanks-mas ho-hos!

wednesday after working, packing, kitty prep and getting my oil changed, we headed to augusta with a quick stop for sonic and another for hobby lobby. (we're still having trouble deciding on stockings, so let me know if you've got suggestions of where we could look!)

we got in, hung out and went to bed at a not-at-all-reasonable hour. It was good to be here, and even better to be asleep. :)

thursday morning began our thanksmas day. first: an 830 wakeup call to come open stockings from Santa's special trip to visit us. The little girls both got lots of fun (and noisy!) gifts, and the adults all came away with useful, yummy and wanted things--I got tea, socks, a book and money to go buy myself something special. TOO fun!

the girls also LOVE nesting dolls, and Katlyn got a set of snowmen ones. see?

after breakfast together pretty much everyone took a nap, and then the cooking began. a lot of it was just heating things up, but we had A TON of food--there were ten of us, so that's not too surprising!! and it was GOOD. the only thing I missed was sweet potatoes, but the stuffing, potatoes and mac and cheese made up for that. :)

that night we watched Wall-E, which everyone enjoyed but not as much as we thought we would, and played on the Wii. And giggled with the girls. Bridget had me read her a book (pictures to come!) and Katlyn put a pacifier right into Matt's mouth! Too funny!

Friday we got up and guess who made a special early visit? SANTA himself! (seriously, folks, that beard is REAL!) Santa knows my name but prefers to call me "paparazzi" which is pretty funny. We managed to get some cute pictures even though both girls were scared of "ho-ho." I'll be putting a few up on my business site, so keep an eye out! Matt and I briefly ventured out to buy some shoes (a birthday pair for him, and a pair for me too) and to go to the liquor store for wine for the night and alcohol for his sister and brother-in-law to take back to canada.

and then it happened. :( Matt was sick. Like, 102.5 fever sick. And guess what happens when Matt gets sick? He becomes EXTRA sarcastic and EXTRA difficult and sometimes downright mean. Good thing I love him AND I had backup--his family has seen this side of him and knew what to do. :) His fever went down a bit while we watched The Polar Express, but this morning it was high again. I'm actually about to go wake him up and see how he's doing so we can decide for sure if we're heading back tonight--the other kids are already on their way home, and I realized I left my paper stuff at our place, so going tonight would be ideal as long as Matt is feeling okay. Guess i'll find out soon!

things I am thankful for:
-my family.
-and matt's family. and how I feel like one of the gang. :)
-silly senses of humor.
-my friends. all of 'em.
-little kiddles. they are SO much fun. so.
-my ability to read. books, music, math, you name it.
-sunshine. orange juice. laughter. photographs. memories. songs. comfy pajamas. my grandma mae's pumpkin pie. root beer. hugs. and fun. etc.

hope you guys all had a wonderful turkey day!

it's here!

so, I spent most of the weekend battling a sinus infection. and yes, for those of you who are muttering to yourself about how I've had sinus surgery twice, yes, indeedy, I can get a sinus infection. still. it's just not nearrrrrrrly as bad. less pressure, less awfulness, much better.

this weekend included:
-two photo shoots (one that seriously lasted 20 minutes!)
-sleeeep
-adopt-a-highway with the youth, where I insisted that anything we found that was recyclable be recycled (and I took it home to recycle it myself!)
-studying for tomorrow's test
-cuddling with the kitties (and matt!)--that picture, by the way, is of two kitties cuddled up against me while I edited photos--the lavender part is me!
-and delivery of the new fridge!!

we've already started filling it and this morning there was actual ice in the freezer! and ice crystals inside something frozen! it was working!!! it will still take some getting used to, well, the freezer part anyway, but I already LOVE the convenience of the top part. TOTALLY worth it.

let's see, what else...

-we will be in oklahoma december the 23rd-27th. we are going to take a brief trip to texas to see the richardson side of the family--we'll leave at lunch-ish on the 25th and drive back on the 26th. yes, really. well, weather permitting, anyway. my family doesn't really *do* anything the afternoon of Christmas day and I haven't been with my dad's side of the family since...um...wow. Maybe I was 17 or younger? so if it works out, it's time. Plus Matt needs to meet them. We're over a year and a half here...
-I don't think I ever made a big deal of this, but I think that's because I was hedging and waiting for my balloon of awesomeness to pop or something. (by no fault of leanne, mind you!) anyway, Leanne asked me to photograph her wedding in JULY!!!! Wowzers! This means that come that weekend, over the course of 14 months I will have had a published photo in a well-established magazine, expanded my photography business and gone into business with a good friend of mine AND photographed a wedding?!? Who knew? I am PUMPED!
-I am having a hard time telling my mom what I want for Christmas. right now my list mostly involves gift cards (although the plastic card itself is NOT eco-friendly, I don't want to spend more money shipping presents home from OK). other things I want: a better tripod, aveda and origins products, underwear, a NOT pink thermos, tea, a massage and the twilight books. you can thank jackie for that last one, by the way.
-tomorrow is test #2 for my class. I didn't do so hot on test #2. I feel better prepared for this one but it is also based on a lot more difficult material. we shall see.
-and last but not least...I have decided that I am going to go ahead and eliminate one of my current obligations. I'm being cryptic because I don't know who reads the blog. But I can tell you this--it will be a HUGE help time wise and stress wise, and although there are other motivations, one that is also having a big impact on my decision to quit is that I just don't have the time to focus on school. I need to LEARN. not just do the homework. and that isn't what is happening

okay, time to work on this dry cleaning stuff. I got upset the other day because my green puffy coat specifically states it is only to be drycleaned with perchloroethylene. serious. that's RIDIC.

toodles.

well this is a first.

I'm in Williamsburg. At the conference. About to get in bed.

I just was getting ready to go to sleep and guess what I forgot? My toothpaste. So like any hotel patron I called the front desk and ask and do you know what they said?

"No. The front desk opens at eight. Have a nice night."

In a pinch a tiny tiny bit of Burt's Bees' citrus spice, orange peel whatever bar soap (which I don't think they make anymore) isn't that bad.

I can't believe I'm staying in a hotel that doesn't have toothpaste in case their guests forget it. yeesh.

I probably need to get some new music.

because now is the time I would usually break out a song reference.

so, I am not feeling well. I believe I have a fever. this does not make me happy. I am hoping I just need a nap. I am not going to choir today, though.

nicole and I launched our website today, HOORAY! well, okay, that's not totally accurate. we actually went live last friday, but now it's all up and pretty and up-to-date. go check it out! we are EXCITED!

I have some green things to rate for you, but there's no time for that right now. all in good time though! instead, I'd like to tell you about our fridge.

on monday I spent, essentially, a mortgage payment on our fridge. CRAZY stuff. but it'll be good in the long run.

so, we went in to buy a fridge. 21 ft3 whirlpool. with a top-mount freezer. so, your standard fridge. black, energy star, adjustable shelves and the like. and a whirlpool, which apparently has been the least repaired brand of fridge for the past eleven years. so, um, that's a plus.

I reaaaalllly wanted a bottom mount freezer though. for convenience sake. and because I tend to kind of lose things in fridges. so if I could SEE them I figured that would be better, right?

But, bottom mount refrigerators, for one, are MUCH more expensive. Probably due to demand, I would guess. And typically they are also more expensive/use more energy to operate. Not a ton more, maybe $10 a year, but still. Waste not want not, right? And green=use less energy. So because of the money and more importantly the energy, I had decided no bottom mount freezer for me.

Until...

so, I'd been looking on Lowes.com and trying to see what I could find (I had some gift cards there and a coupon) and came across the one you see here. It's a bottom mount, clearly. But I knew it was more energy and more money, and yeah. so, while we were there Matt and I talked about it, and realized they had one IN the store. and of course it was energy star and he checked the tag and~lo! and behold!~it took exactly the same amount of energy to run as the other model we were going to buy. exactly. More money, but more convenience...AND it was what I wanted. AND it wasn't any more energy. AND it was even a whole cubic foot bigger!!!

so now we'll have a 22ft3 bottom mount whirlpool gold fridge. that should not break or thaw on us, and we have a warranty that includes spoilage. :) the fridge should arrive next week, they think on Wednesday. so, coolers until then. but for now, we have a glorified cooler (aka our old fridge) and something coming SOON, thank goodness!

okay, time to go home, lay down and rest before doing more homework and packing. I'll be in Williamburg thursday and friday at a conference--have fun without me!

yay for me!

so, without further adieu...the picture is this:

it's an award from my group! I got it for my above and beyond effort on the refinery project that sucked away so much of my life...And (brag alert) if I hadn't gotten it for my refinery work? The people who worked on the greenhouse gas project got it too--and I worked on that as well! You can only get one award and it comes with a pretty little check that was bigger than I expected (I was thinking you'd get, what, fifty bucks?) I saw it and thought "thank you, place of work, for your contribution to my fridge purpose. ha!"

But all refrigerator jokes aside, the fact that my work in the past six months is enough to warrant an award makes me so, SO SO SO SO glad I switched groups. I'd been working for them for two and a half years and I was never put on a project that was even considered for an award, I am damn certain. Yet here, I am right in the thick of it, and they're even training me to be "the knowledgeable person" for some reg rule stuff since our current "knowledgeable person" will be retiring in December. I am SUPER lucky, I know, but I am also SUPER glad I changed groups!!

long spoons

I want to post about all sorts of other things, but there seems to be NO time. ugh. instead, here's a story. I thought of it today. sometimes it makes me realize I need to be happy for what I have, you know? anyway...


Long Spoons in Heaven and Hell

A holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said, "Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like." The Lord led the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water. The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths. The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. The Lord said, "You have seen Hell".

They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The holy man said, "I don't understand." "It is simple," said the Lord, "it requires but one skill. You see, they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves."

four. five. five. four.

that's my weekend in a nutshell. you could probably add another four into it. honestly.

there was four hours of refrigerator shopping, including a very not helpful one month subscription to consumer reports. normally you can use that as gospel in the appliance-buying world, but not this time. I cannot believe they were like "well, it's not energy star, but...."icks. as a matter of fact there was an obvious lack of energy star appliances, which does not make for a happy Carrie. Or Matt.

there was also four hours of fun with Olivia and Adam. a trip to Jaymes Joyce and The Federal in Durham. I hadn't been to either of those places. And we talked about all the things you're not supposed to talk about, y'know, religion, money and politics? And though our opinions were not the same we all walked away having had some yummy beer, some deelish food, and with a horrid case of garlic fry breath. Oh, and we learned about each other too. :) Olivia and I had some fabulous eco-friendly information exchange going on, I will be researching and sharing with you soon!

we also spent four hours downtown. Nicole posted pictures that she took--my point and shoot has been draining batteries again and didn't want to flash. We had a good time though. And got to hang out with Matt's friend Shayne, who is one of my favorites, and also with Taylor and Katie, more of my favorites. There were many more of my favorites at the bar, but I get to see them much more frequently. Shayne was there for Matt and my second date of doom, and that was, of course, recounted. Anyway, we had a good time and it was very nice to be on the other side of the rope, but honestly I am so over going to places where I have to yell to hear my friends talk and pay too much for drinks! I could hear a good portion of the time and it was a really neat atmosphere so I'm glad we made it, but I don't think it will be somewhere I frequent! maybe I am just lazy. :)

sunday we did FOUR photo shoots. FOUR. which lasted about four hours. three were planned for that day, one was a rain-out from Saturday (which was totally a bummer--stupid sunny sky and wet, wet ground!) Nicole and I switched off for all of them and managed to get a lot of good pictures! I am very glad we've decided not to operate like that whenever possible--it is no fun and it wears me out! Plus, sometimes you REALLY need another person. We'll be putting pictures up on our Lux blog and our website very soon!

and then after that? I went to Nicole's for a little bit and had some yummy pizza and cherry seven-up (mmmm!) and we talked shop, and then I headed to NCState to work with my friends from class. We spent FIVE hours doing the homework. FIVE. and we have completed or figured out how to complete only 60% worth of the assignment (point wise). Holy. Crap. Grad school is kicking my ass.

So from 1230-1130 yesterday I was taking photos, at Nicole's talking about photos or working on homework. I am a tired girl. But a tired girl who saved the best for last--on Friday after I got to work once Jennifer was settled (I took her to get her wisdom teeth out) I got something exciting! I took a picture and need to download it so you'll just have to be patient. :)

hope your monday went by quickly and painlessly!

four hours of refrigerators

so, let's clear up a few things, shall we?

1) the fridge DID come with the house.
2) the fridge is NOT new. it is ~3 years old (built in 2005, the same year the house was built)
3) to the best of my knowledge it is not covered under the home warranty. I will double check this tonight after the photos and the homework-completion.

yesterday Matt and I spent FOUR hours visiting Lowes, Sears and Home Depot. We've eliminated any options at Sears, mostly because with all this fridge bullshit we've decided to get the warranty. Sears is $229 for three years, home depot and lowes cover 5 years for $99. The difference in service is that Sears does an annual inspection/preventative maintenance thing, which is cool and all, but honestly I don't want to have to take the time off work to have someone come poke around in my fridge. And pay them more for it. Oh, and a cool thing? (pun not intended!) all of them have food spoilage clauses. like $250 per time, and it even kicks in when, say, there's an icestorm in the area and it knocks out the power. I think that's pretty rad.

but yeah. the fridge isn't just clogged up or anything--it was cleaned in June by a professional and we had to have it serviced again in, what, September or something? it sat unplugged for a while after this place was foreclosed upon and the guy who sold it to me bought it. which makes sense 'cause why bother running a fridge you don't use, but it can also ruin the appliance.

and that's your refrigerator lesson for the day. :)

other things
-yay to all of you who have used or are using VOC-free paint. your respiratory system thanks you.
-home depot isn't the only one who carries VOC-free paint. Lowes does too. I know this 'cause that's what we painted our house with. Maybe they're the only ones to carry that particular brand of it?
-ha, not a tofurky box! but I do like tofu! That's a breakfast sandwich thingy.
-high five to all of you again for your greenness! :D

i feel like a very bizarre country song...

because my fridge is broken and I am so tired and I got a ticket for running a stop sign. which, incidentally, is a)the first ticket I've gotten in eight years and b)is why I did not pass my driver's test the first time I took it.

also? I was in a neighborhood (not justifying, just saying there are WAY more important places to stake out) and the dude followed me for three blocks before turning on his lights. what?? anyway. I think the fact that I got a $171 ticket for not totally stopping is ridiculous. !!! I mean, a warning, fine, but it wasn't like I breezed right through it. I did stop moving forward. I started rocking back. Yes, I definitely did not fullyfullyfully stop, but seriously? crazytown and cows. especially because the part where I actually broke the law? that cost me $50. the remainder is for court costs. seriously?!? ugh.

yeah, I am soooooo a criminal. whatever.

Also, our fridge is not in good shape. Even our freezer isn't cold enough to keep meat from spoiling. I stopped at the store on my way home last night to get some ingredients for chicken tortilla soup and southwestern chicken skillet and came home and cooked them, only to decide that the chicken was actually not good. thank goodness I didn't put any chicken in the tortilla soup, so that's still good. but yeah. not fun. see that little fridge thermometer I bought? the picture is kind of blurry, but basically you want the needle to be further left on the circle in that little black area. that's for "food." the freezer should be well below that.

however, as jennifer said yesterday, at least there will be a "green lining" on this sitch--the fridge I have is--gasp!--not energy star rated. but it's better to use something you have than get new like 90% of the time, so we kept it. I will definitely be buying an energy star fridge, I can tell you that!

So, I saw this tuesday and it yet again alarmed me. Why, Sherman Williams, WHY? I was already bothered by your logo once--this is evidence that you have modernized it. couldn't you have made it green or yellow or anything other than red??? yeesh.

oh and class is kicking my ass. I think it is kicking everyone's ass. The homework was HORRENDOUS and then for this one he specifically writes "you may not work in groups of more than three people." WHAT? Oh my god, let it go man. Stop being a control freak and let us do our work, okay? Geez. I am very annoyed and I find that the homework problems are getting more and more unnecessarily difficult, and anyway. Ugh.

okay, time to go back to having my pity party. I have already cried twice today. I am stresssssssssed out and I need a day off. Or a week. Is it the end of the semester yet? Or holidays? Or anything? yeesh.

is my refrigerator running?

if it were I'd be happy to catch it.

uggggh. this morning I woke up, got ready and was walking around in my only-wear-with-heels dress pants and my tank top for under my sweater when lo! and behold! while getting out my coffee to grind from the freezer I noticed--huh. that looks like...HOLY CRAP THAT'S LIQUID IN THE FREEZER.

turns out my fridge and freezer weren't working. like, at all. the light in the freezer went on and off, flickering, while the door was open. everything was still cool/cold, but nothing was frozen.

we've been having a little trouble for a couple of weeks now--the icemaker stopped making ice. but, y'know, icemakers break, right? so we were making it in trays. whatever, fine, it worked. but the ice would sometimes get a little melty and then harden when we put it in the bucket to start making more ice. hmm...

and now, it's not working. my milk and oj are barely cool, the meat is all almost thawed and yeah. no good.

fortunately, however, I tried some things. I decided that it must be electrical because of the light, and because the fridge would be more likely to stop cooling and still blow air than to go dead. So I flipped the breaker and it turned on, but the light was still flickering. So I slooooowly got the fridge out of the little nook for it and managed to squeeze back in there to re-plug it in (it was in, but maybe loose?)

right now it seems to be cooling. I am going back at lunch to check. This is totally annoying. Maybe the fridge has bad karma??? Maybe. And THANK GOODNESS I have been remiss in my grocery-purchasing duties, or a whole lot more food would have potentially been ruined. yikes.

I'll stick with my blue moon, thanks!

Um, wow. So, bio-beer. Genetically engineered beer. Yikes. It's a neat concept and in veryvery specific cases genetic engineering isn't as scary as it seems, but still. And did you know that people actually own the patents to the seeds? Like, if you are corn farmer A and your corn gets pollinated by GM (genetically modified) corn pollen from corn farmer B's field (who would have to have bought that corn special, by the way) since you, A, now have corn with the GM characteristics, you cannot sell it and you cannot save the seeds. Seriously.

So, I've been reading this book. I haven't finished the other book but I had to cheat. And it is DANGEROUS. Seriously. I read it before I sleep and when I say "wow!" Matt often asks "so, what are we going to do differently this time?" It's by Barbara Kingsolver and I loveloveLOVED Poisonwood Bible, and Olivia suggested this. And crap, I'm learning more about being green. Like, how American's intake of HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) has increased ONE THOUSAND PERCENT since the 70s. About how bad the HFCS is for the environment. About how I will never again eat asparagus in the US except in April and May, unless it would be rude not to. It is CRAZY.

fret not, I'm not moving to a farm and tilling my own land and growing potatoes. but any hesitation I had about doing community supported agriculture is GONE. yikes.

also, exciting thing!! I visited a local restaurant today with my friend Tom. I have noticed every time I've gone there how they have art for sale, and I've thought about asking how I could put mine up, but never have. Well, today with Tom's encouragement, I did. And the owner, Piper, was very enthusiastic and told me I should just come by one afternoon next week and she'd be happy to put it up! She doesn't take a cut but she does donate 10% to the local animal rescue.

I am EXCITED! Look at me, all branching out and stuff. :)

Next step: decide what photos I'll sell! Someone else has photos that are really good, but are primarily of birds and a few landscapes. I've already decided my metro picture, the brightleaf square or fowler's sign and the one of nick's dad's mustang's dashboard are going. And the one of the pink orange and yellow daisies. And of the pink rose. And two of my leaf pictures. Any other suggestions?

in the middle of the city of samaria, there was a well.

~the sentence said over and over and over.

I had a good time this weekend but came home waaaaaay tired. And with a new scarf and coat. A shiny quarter to whomever can guess the price of the pink coat first--within $3 either way. It was kind of awesome--Chelsea wanted a coat, we ended up going to a store that we made fun of the first time we passed it (seriously hoochie) and we ended up both getting them! AND while we were looking a girl brought us a coupon book that had a 10% off coupon, and we were able to make someone else happy by giving them the book after we used the one we wanted since it was only good for that mall.

By the way, we went to the mall between the lunch and evening sessions. We do this every year.

The event was good but MAN--the speaker had some excellent things to say but she was sooooo not appropriate for 6-12th graders. She bored me and used words that made me think "ooh, good word!" which means that level of vocab is going to soar over a 12 year old's head. Yikes. We averaged about, oh 6 hours of sleep a night and we were go-go-go. But that's okay, they had fun, and that's what made it worth it.

Yesterday while I waited around at church I took a few pictures. See? PS I almost lost my little point and shoot--it wasn't in my purse, it was on the floor by my purse, and I walked off without it.

I came home, took a three hour nap, watched an ep of House and went to work on our homework with a girl from Portugal, a guy from South America and another guy from the Middle East. It was kind of cool AND we're halfway done with our homework. :)

I am FINALLY getting to edit my balloon festival pictures. expect to see them soon!

fun but exhausting.

that's how this weekend is going to be! I'm going to fayetteville (nc, not ar) with my youth group. I had a good time last year but came home SO. TIRED.

at least this year I will share a room with chelsea and that's it. no youth talking until the wee hours of the morning. and only two people who have to shower!

so, other things I haven't shared with y'all. there are more here and here, BUT...I took family pictures of the Andersons and engagement pictures for Derek and Courtney. I am almost caught up on photos by the way, just have to process the balloon festival pictures!

But here are some of the Andersons...

and some of Derek and Courtney.

Also, Nicole and I should have our website up very, VERY soon!

other things...Patty gave me this fabulous bag and I've kind of been carrying it with me everywhere. School is kicking my ass and I'm re-evaluating what I want to do about that. I'm thinking school is more important than some other things, so maybe I need to drop them. No more pres of panhell, perhaps? and maybe no more something else, not sure yet. working on it. Don't worry, rock climbing (my pretty much only form of exercise), photography, friends and my boyfriend aren't going anywhere. :) I just find that I'm always playing catch-up, and it's getting OLD.

additionally, I think I need to have an ergonomist come visit me at work. this desk setup is making for a very unhappy right elbow and wrist.

wish me luck (and sleep) this weekend!

next week I'll share nicole's photos of matt and me with you, we did that last weekend as well!

blue, blue, blue

after climbing we had a little election party, see? complete with blue wine, obama brownies and champagne once all the west coast states turned blue. we had to wait for fox news to declare Obama president-elect and then we knew it was time. :)

dear land of the free, home of the brave,

(and the people of it) I am really proud of you. I think you elected a really qualified man on Tuesday, one who will do great things, or at least get us heading in the right direction. (I'd also like to give a shout-out to North Carolina, who today declared itself a blue state by a 13k margin.) It pleases me. A LOT. And honestly, I shouldn't be so surprised by how much he won. I mean, lookie here. We the people, in order to stop being such a bullying, floundering, about-to-turtle-our-boat mess, want something different than what you've been feeding us the past eight years. No wonder we didn't elect a Republican. (one who, by the way, was quite qualified and could do a lot of good things too, I must admit. not my #1 choice of course, but could have been a reasonable #2)

But, see, here's the thing...

I don't really think I get you. When we started our journey here we were all "yayayayayay us!" and "thank goodness we're not under their crazytown and cows thumb anymore." And it seems to me that that's what we're doing now. We're doing just what made us want to leave in the first place. We're pushing our beliefs and values onto other people just 'cause we can, and that? THAT. IS. WRONG.

So, you, lady in the car in front of me, you think abortion is wrong. You would NEVER have one yourself, even if you were raped or would die for carrying the baby. You know what? I think I maybe agree with you, I don't know that I could ever make that choice either. It's why I take the pill every day like a good girl. (which, of course, in some people's minds is abortion too, but that's a topic for another day) And maybe you don't understand how someone could make that choice...but all I know is it has to be a really hard one to make, and if someone IS going to logically examine their life and their belief and choose that? Then I hope it's as safe and sterile and painless as possible. And that you don't judge her for doing what was best for her.

And you, great state of California, WHAT GIVES? Okay, okay, Bible thumpers, there are definitely some verses that talk about homosexuality being not-so-good (see:leviticus). Show of hands: how many of you eat bacon or pork chops? or have your ears pierced? or have a tattoo? Um, yeah, that kind of stuff is in the same chapter as the man-with-a-man beeswax. God was protecting his people from death and disease and the like at the time, k? I think we're more than a little past the whole oh-no-we-might-die-off-as-a-human-race phase of our development.

But okay, fine, fine, it's unnatural or marriage is only between a person with a boypart and a person with a girlpart, you say...and that's fine with me, because for you, it is. But go tell me that being a lesbian is the result of a disease. Or something being wrong with you, like, genetically. That it is wrong and they need to be fixed and that you are going to shun them and deny them the rights to, oh, I don't know, EVERYTHING YOU HAVE RIGHTS TO, just because of that.

Now go tell that to the handicapped child in the wheelchair or using braces. You go ahead. Tell them they aren't a real person either, aren't worthy of all that you get. Nice.

Oh, and yeah, because there are people in this world who are abusive to one another the intergrity and sanctity of matt and my boyfriend/girlfriend-hood is totally in question. Just FYI.

I'm not saying everyone should be homosexuals. (although, I must admit, if more of us were there would be fewer babies born and the earth could use that kind of a respite, but I digress...) but California, with your "We're a bellweather" policies and your trendsetter environmental ways, how? HOW?

don't you have a world to save? regulations to write? or at least a continent from which to separate? aren't there bigger fish to fry? Just because you opt to let people have rights doesn't mean you like what they're doing, that you condone it. It just means that you see that they're people too. just as much as you are.

On Tuesday we made history. In SO many ways. In amount of votes cast, in who we elected. We chose our proverbial fork in the road, and I am glad of it. But it's just one fork. There are SO SO many more. On the same day we had a chance to go another way on the issue of equality, and it is very sad to me that while we elected our first African American President we also slighted a signficiant group in our population. If we'd said that latinos or redheads or people with hazel eyes couldn't marry or visit their loved ones in a hospital? We'd say that was preposterous, who would think such a thing?! and yet...

I think one day people will look back on this and think "what were they THINKING?" Just like now I find myself wondering "what ever brought someone to think a woman didn't have the right, the entitlement, to vote?" And I think some day people will look to the 90s when we started realizing all of our enviro-troubles and just pumped more gas into cars, and say "why didn't it just end, right then right there?"

Anyway, America. I don't always understand parts of you, but I support you. And I am looking forward to seeing what happens to you in the next year.

your devoted citizen (who really wouldn't've moved to canada even though she joked about it)
~Carrie

very interestink.

(sic)

so, right now in the gonna-give-you-barley, carrots-and-pertaters state of oklahoma midtown's republican polling places have no wait. and the democratic polling places have lines going out the door. now, granted tulsa is arguably the most liberal city in the whole state (I mean, we DO have the second highest number of gays per capita in all of america, and we're okay with that). so it might not be indicitave of the whole state. but really?!? yowza.

matt is in line to vote right now. north carolina's polls close in an hour and forty minutes. by the time tomorrow we will hopefully have a new candidate, and personally I'm hoping to be drinking champagne instead of packing to move to canada.

but do you know what, to me, is even more exciting than speculating who will or won't win? it's the number of people who are exercising their right to vote. women and men, young and old, they are going OUT. and some of them are even looking past party lines to decide who they want based on their values, not the color of their tie. or, for that matter, their skin. or whether or not they do or don't have boy parts.

wow. just wow.

anyway, I hope you voted today, or if not, I hope you took part in early voting. and if you did neither (except for one exception, but he knows who he is) then shame on you big time! :)

ps? I hope we find out tonight. I do not want to sit and wonder while people bicker.

busy birthday broccoli blogging

first, I forgot to tell you that matt bought me a birthday cake. I'm not actually sure if I talked a lot about the rest of my birthday at all...let's see...nope. I went shopping, Matt and I went to dinner at Johnny Carino's (with a coupon!) and my present was a dvd of the season of Firefly and a copy of Serenity as well! YAY! And Matt gave me an IOU for an opal ring. He said he went to look for one and the people told him there were no other kinds of opals other than white opals, and that he probably shouldn't be buying me gemstones anyway because he might get me something I didn't like. WHAT?!? stupid jewelers. But he decided he'd just let me pick it out. So I'm gonna. Suggestions welcome. And here is my cake. :)

I spent friday night passing out candy and cleaning like a crazy person. I called myself "the cleaning fairy." to myself. and made the trick or treaters tell jokes (just for you, kat!) they did for the most part.

by the way, I was cleaning because the maids didn't. and by didn't I mean "didn't have time." so like, actually really didn't. there is more to the story, but this is plenty of info. no, I did not pay them and yes, I was livid. joy of all joys. I had been counting on NOT scrubbing toilets.

we managed to get our house to be clean. like actually clean. except for the guest room of doom, but we don't have to go there. also, take a gander at our garage. seriously. it used to look like this, and that was after a significant amount of cleaning!

saturday morning gobi and hazel and I went to the vet. I have never seen hazel behave so well--she was practically angelic. a little bit of freaking out but mostly she just wanted to be able to look at the other kitties on the other side of the glass door. she was even good in the car! very little meowing. she HATES riding in the car.

usually Gobi loveloveloveloveLOVES riding in the car. And doesn't enjoy the vet, per se, but tolerates everything but the blood pressure test rather well (he has a heart condition). Such was not the case. Despite hanging out in the kitty comfort room and all he was still awful. Poor little boy. We couldn't even DO the blood pressure test and it took four people to keep him still long enough to give him his rabies shot. IT WAS CRAZY. poor dude was pissed. thank goodness he perked up over the course of the day!

while preparing for the party I had to stop and take a picture of this broccoli. It made me happy. don't ask, just let me have my delusions. :)

party was a goooooooooood time. I will tell you about it when I have my three pictures I took during and my ones I took of the house after. there were quite a few people there (and we missed those who didn't make it!) and all of the mulled wine and spiked cider was consumed, which made me happy. beer pong, food, laughing and who knows what else. pictures later. work must be done. and I am still tired--jennifer and I stayed up talking until nearly 3, like 3 with the time change, and I slept poorly and had a busy day yesterday. nicole took pictures of matt and me and then nicole and I took pictures of the andersons. and then matt and I hung out there for a while before getting pizza from mellowmushroom. we ate and I fell asleep on the couch at 930. I am totally a night owl so this is actually quite remarkable.

more later.