it never hurts to ask...

okay, well sometimes it does. but not in this case.

however, my newfound source of glee-for-the-day makes me also super lame. because I am excited--nay, thrilled--that my professor has agreed to let homework be due on mondays instead of fridays. meaning that I can work on it over the weekend, if I so choose. this makes me extremely pleased. and lame. plame? lased? pleamed? right.

anyhoo.

additionally, new camera complete with working memory chip? spectacular. i heart it.

This weekend I did hardly anything, which was nice. Helped Mary Alise get Sampson, bought new sunglasses, went to a party, slept and FINISHED SEASON 2 OF LOST. Holy smokes, people, that show is crazy sh*t. I am soooo looking forward to the first ep of season 3--which is less than a month away. Seriously, good stuff. And I am soooo mad at Michael. Sooooo mad.

Ooh, and shopped for couches. I have a few that I like, and one that I love, except I can't find fabric that I love. And then I also (gasp!) looked at leather couches. Which is soooo something I never thought I'd want, but actually, they're kind of nice. And they aren't all eleventy-billion dollars. Hmm. Otto and I went to, let's see...four places...and came out with a lot of "maybes." Hopefully I'll decide on something soonish.

and, uh, other than that I'm trying to figure out when, exactly, to go to Tulsa for Christmas. Which is harder to decide than you might think. I was hoping priceline would decide for me, but it's in a bad mood, so that ain't happening. Eh, whatev. There's lots of time, I just don't want the plane ticket prices to skyrocket.

Ooh, and? Finished Water for Elephants. I really enjoyed this book. Really really. It's about a circus and a vet and his life and wow. Well written and engaging and I could absolutely picture it all, which I like. I recommend it.

lessons learned in the bathroom.

Never, ever, EVER walk around the public bathroom/locker-room at work completely naked.  It's just a bad idea.*

So, like five minutes ago I'm in the bathroom at the sink, flossing and brushing my teeth.  I do this pretty much every afternoon (I am trying to avoid more of those miserable, miserable root canals and roof-of-the-mouth shots).  So, I'm in there, and I realize that someone is using one of the stalls.  I think, "oh, dammit, someone's in here.  and now I'm going to get that who-brushes-their-teeth-in-the-middle-of-the-day look.  great." I wait for the person to exit and provide me with their look of confusion/disgust/disdain, when lo! and behold!, I see a naked woman with not a spec of clothing on, save for sneakers and an insulin pump attached to her.  She goes to pick up her clothes from the bench, and then goes to take a shower.

Now, here's the thing.  If we were at, say, a gym, or a spa, or an athletic club of some type, I'd understand.  It's okay to be naked, y'know?  But not somewhere where a superior of your same gender could see you in your bare-assed glory.  Or at least not at work, and not when you could potentially have to sit across from them during a meeting forty-five minutes later.  If you and your boss worked out at the same gym, the situation could be semi-understandable.  And I do believe that woman had just been working out—lots of people do during their lunch here.  But really, it's friggin Annie put your clothes on, as Carrie Bradshaw would say. 

But at least it made my oral health regimen not nearly as weird. Exposing your floss at work is not nearly as awkward as exposing your flesh, methinks.

*unless, of course, you've spilled chemicals all over yourself and had to strip down naked under the safety shower.  but even then, at least cover up your not-g-rated bits.

sampson.

aaawwwww....

this little guy is a cute. His name is Sampson, and Mary Alise adopted him on Saturday. She got him yesterday, and he's CUTE and PLAYFUL! And he cuddles too. Clearly I could not resist the urge to take pictures of this guy.

oh, and the cat ladies? nutso. seriously.

Friday night the Cat Lady with bfpa called me to thank me for recommending Mary Alise to them. She left a message telling me that they'd been talking, and that there was a pair of older boy kitties that she was interested in. I thought, "huh, this is weird. Mary Alise wants one kitten, and she wants a kitten, not a cat. Hmm."


Saturday morning before we go to Petsmart she explains that the lady tried to force it on her, and we conclude that the Cat Lady was trying to coerce us--if I bit, I'd try to convince Mary Alise to get the two kitties who were older, thinking that was what she would want.

She finds Sampson, and he's great! Cat Lady is a bit reluctant though, and Mary Alise is kind of worried they aren't going to let he have him. We go and buy kitty stuff, and come to say goodbye to Sampson. With a sigh and a hint of disappointment, Cat Lady says someone will bring Sampson to Mary Alise on Sunday.

Sunday a Sane Cat Lady shows up with the spectacular Sampson. She explains that Cat Lady called Sane Cat Lady to tell her about Sampson's adoption, and said, "But I have to tell you something..." Sane Cat Lady's thoughts race--does this girl have a record? is she an unfit pet owner? has she done something terrible?..."He's going to be an only cat." Sane Cat Lady almost fell out of her chair she thought this was so ridiculous. For the most part, there's nothing wrong with having an only cat, if you give him/her the attention you need.

Sane Cat Lady also apologized to Mary Alise for Cat Lady's behavior. Because, really. 'Course this is the same lady that almost yelled at me last October when I said I was going to use over-the-counter flea meds on her. I mean, really. Yeesh.

Anyhoo, that's the story of Sampson. He's a cutie!

the letter a.

it occurs to me that all of the state I've lived in the far have ended in the letter "a."

ALL of them

Oklahom a.
Arizona.
North Carolina.

guess that means I should just look at the schools in Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania and Georgia.  Well, if I want to keep the trend going, that is...maybe I should look at those schools in Cali.

and this, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, is what Carrie thinks about on rainy Thursday afternoons when all she wants to do is go home, take a nap and eat Mexican food, and instead she's at work, just finished a conference call and will be finishing her homework before eating the aforementioned Mexican food.  yippe.

lessons learned from molecules

Sometimes it’s more stable to fall apart than to stay together.

Last, after the forty-minute installation of my new printer (since Hazel broke the old one--the cat's curiosity killed the printer?!? riiight. anyhoo) I began watching my lecture. Mostly high school/freshman in college chem about atomic structure, with a bit of orientation stuff thrown in for kicks. And then I learned a lesson from salt--from NaCl being cleaved or smushed. An outside stress or force acting upon it, pretty much out of its control...that sometimes the most rational thing to do is fall completely apart.

Which kind of made sense to me--it hit home. Sometimes I get reaaaallllly annoyed with people telling me to calm down, or be more reserved, or to stop thinking about it. There are times when "take a deep breath" or "sleep on it" make things even worse. I know that sometimes they're right. They ARE. But other times? Othertimes the best thing for Carrie--and probably the best thing for some of you too--is to lose it, just for a little while. Not go-off-the-deep- end lose it, but let those tears out, or rip something only-semi-important-and-definitely-replaceable, or yell, or scream, or eat that icecream or chocolate, or go kick-boxing, or whatever you have to do to make yourself feel better that isn't harmful to yourself or others.

because sometimes, once in a while, that's the smartest, best, most correct thing to do. anyone who tells you differently is selling something. and it's probably mood-altering.

pinata!

so, it's friday night...

stage one.

stage two.



stage three.

everyone should play with pinatas. you just need to hang them higher that we did. oh, and pinatas go best with margaritas. and taco salad. and burnt cinnamon sugar tortillas. i've spared you the videos, but only 'cause I can't figure out how to rotate them ninety degrees.

oh, and a special thanks to audrey for being super enthusiastic! :)

good news, bad news.

good news: I do not have any form of lupus or any disease that is causing my sun allergy.
bad news: because I don't have lupus or any disease causing my sun allergy, they do not know what is causing it.

terrific.

even better news: I'm supposed to wait until it happens again and let them get a biopsy.  i'm tickled pink, let me tell you.

but, at least it's not lupus. that's the bright side!

itsnotfunny.

i'm starting to agree with ryan. and chris. and ben.

 

and anyone else who thinks that maybe instead of insurance we should just have health savings plans.  or whatever it is that's just a chunk of money you save for medical stuff instead of screwing around with this whole in-network/out-of-network mumbo jumbo.

 

because really, it's making me scream.

 

i'm sharing this because, you should know, apparently you can go to an in-network doctor who will send stuff to out-of-network labs.  so, you pay your good old $20 copay and then get hit with a big old bill for the lab sevices. and the rude/smug (smude?) lady on the other end of the phone talks to you like you're an idiot for not thinking to ask. 

 

so, I guess now when I go to the doctor I'll need to see--is this thin piece of paper on the exam bench covered?  what about that tissue I just used?  the toilet paper in the bathroom?  this "free" sample of medicine? is the needle covered, or just the container you'll keep the blood in?

 

Or will I be charged $67 for them to have someone else evaluate my snot? Yikes.

nickname needed.

short, sweet and work-appropriate.

 

I need one to put on the back of my softball shirt.  Else I'm left with just my name. 

 

It's funny to me that I've never had a nickname that stuck for long.  At least, not one that more than a handful of people called me.  Anna calls me Twinx, and Adam calls me Strawberry-Butt.  I've been Kiki and Carrie R and Leg and Care, too.  My mom sometimes calls me Carita.  Yeah, that's it.

 

hmm.  anyhoo.  back to taking hydrogen flux measurements.  yeehaw.

 

 

and now I know why my head hurts.

so, um, yeah. don't challenge me and assume I won't do something. like, uh, put dessert in your face. 'cause I'll get some for me, and I'll get some for you, and then I'm going to get some to smear on your nose. That's just how that works.

this is me removing said dessert from Michael's face. Blogger is being weird or I'd show you the picture of him with a brown nose holding a can of Duff. Good stuff. And PS, the Duff can? Spectacular! Otto got it for me in Vegas--and it has playing cards inside with funny pictures on them. Good stuff.

anyhoo. remember...don't challenge drunk Carrie. She might just do whatever you're expecting her not to.  

a retraction: no, virginia, pluto is not a planet.

"...actually, Virginia, we're really sorry. We know that we gave your dream hope, telling you that this Pluto you believed in so strongly was really a planet. We understand why you questioned it, and we thought we were telling the truth. Turns out we lied. Oops. Also, we'd like to take this opportunity to tell you that we are in no way responsible for distress, emotional or otherwise, caused by this event, nor will we pay for any ramifications of potential distress, now or ever, including but not limited to: therapy, counseling, a degree in astonomy or drug use. But, uh, keep asking those questions, kid. Really, it's important that you know the, uh, truth. Or, uh, whatever is true at the time."

Sincerely,

the guy whose fault it wasn't.

Huh. So we go from nine...to twelve...to eight.

There are now only eight planets. Seriously. At least they came up with a better definition for a planet. “a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.” (PS, I don’t know what’s left out in the …, but rest assured, I’ll tell you if I discover it. No need to lose sleep!)

So, now how do we remember them? I’m sure they’ll come up with something.

Oh, and the best part? The dwarf planets. It’s a big huge umbrella designation for those we’re choosing not to call planets, but are still big. Uh-huh. Riiiight. That’s called sitting comfortably on the fence, boys and girls.

…still shaking my head…

(source)

be a part of the solution.

I heart toothpastefordinner. You should check it out. Adrienne sent me this one a loooong time ago, and I like it!

And I am such a nerd, I know, I know.

Anyhoo, one of my little life-dictums is that if I’m going to point out a problem then I need to try to be part of the solution.

Apparently this mindset is uncommon at best.

Yesterday we’re playing softball, and I’m up to bat. I tip the ball of the top of my bat, and it’s weak/wobbly pop fly a few steps right of the pitcher. I see the pitcher catch it, and I start running myself—and my bat—to our benches.

EVERYONE is yelling my name. Though, I must point out here that a guy named Ricky (which sounds a lot like Carrie when it’s being yelled) was on first when I batted, and has likely made it to second or perhaps beyond. This is what goes through my head in that split second.

Turns out the pitcher made an error and dropped the ball. I wasn’t out after all. And coach starts yelling at me from behind the backstop!

I turn to him and say, “Don’t yell at me. I would have known to keep running if we’d had a first base coach. I thought he caught the ball. Sorry.”

I was pissed.

Sooooo, for most of the rest of the game I was first base coach when everyone else was sitting around yammering or whatever. And more times than not I let them know we needed a third base coach, and someone would go out to do it. But only if I asked. So weird! I definitely got some funny looks/smiles/winks. But hell if I was going to bitch about not having something we needed and then sit idly by while we were still deficient.

Maybe if others thought like this too more things/issues/changes/ideas wouldn’t go by the wayside??? I don’t know. But it sure couldn’t hurt.

this doesn't suck.

(insert groan here)

so, I'm totally excited because yesterday Otto and I got a new vacuum. This may seem to contradict this, but it doesn't.

This vacuum cleaner is AWESOME. It absolutely picked up lots of stuff our old one didn't. And hopefully, hopefully it will mean that when Ariel comes over she won't feel quite as bad :) Poor girl is allergic to cats. I’m very excited about using it! And there’s a stair attachment!

Otto got TWO toys this weekend. One from icky McDonalds and one from Cracker Barrel. Both are trucks. One—the Hummer from Mickey D’s—is technically mine. He got the bigger Jeep-like one, but I don’t have a picture of it. I hadn’t eat at McDonald’s since watching Super Size Me, and I protested about getting a snack there, but Otto had a point—it’s not like fries are better anywhere else!

We went to VA to celebrate Otto’s Maggie’s birthday. She’s in her eighties, and I gave her a picture I’d take last thanksgiving, and she LOVED it. (the middle one) We had lots of fun. And I also took some pretty pictures--here's a taste. I'll put more on my photog blog.

And class starts this week. I'm both excited and nervous! Last year’s fall class brought on an onslaught of migraines and send me to a neurologist. Hopefully I will fare better this time around.

snakes on a mother-effing plane.

it's more than a movie: it's a phrase. and it makes me giggle. and apparently the movie is pretty good, and funny when it should be, and best to see with an audience. it's a good thing to say, I think. and likely less offensive if you don't use the naughty twelve letter word.

Very useful, dontchaknow?

Stuck in traffic? snakes on a plane.

Thirsty in the airport but only have fifteen minutes before your plane boards therefore meaning you'll have to chug that bottle of water you just paid three dollars for? snakes on a plane.

Scratched the paint on your car?snakes on a plane.

Your boyfriend is traveling for the umpteenth week out of umpteen plus one weeks? snakes on a plane.

Digital camera batteries outta juice? snakes on a plane.

Ha!

aaaaannnnnnnddddd.....

why. won't. the. clock. move. faster. ???

I am t-double-i-triple-r-e-d. tiirrred.

mary alise and I stayed up waaaay past our respective bedtimes. we had a lot of fun, but we're sure paying for it now. I cannot wait to nap and then hopefully have dinner with my durham friends! (crosses fingers)

quid est nomen tibi?

Well, most of the planets are named after gods and goddesses, and most of ' em are Roman. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Pluto.

Earth is not named after any god or goddess, and for some reason they chose Uranus instead of Caelus (or Coelus). Uranus is a Greek god, and Caelus is the Roman equivalent.

So, I think Earth's name should be changed, formally, to Terra Mater. It means Mother Earth, so it's basically the same idea. But it won't happen, so guess it has to be scrapped.

And I like Ceres, actually. But they could change it to Demeter, if they keep Uranus, so that both Greek and Roman gods are represented.

So that leaves two others--UB313 (Xena) and Charon. Charon should SO not be a planet name. 1) because it's the Greek name of ferryman across the river Styx (not a god/goddess) and 2)because small children everywhere will have constant exposure to yet another "exception" in the English language--in mythology it's pronounced with a "k" for the "ch," and the scientist who discovered it said it with a "sh" like in his wife's name Charlene. SO, ix-nay on the aron-Chay.

And calling UB313 "Xena" is sooooo letting pop culture into science. Which is bad news bears. Next thing you know we'll have the Gilmore belt, or comet McDreamy. No, no, no. And one source says Lila is a contender--and while I do love the name (though I prefer it with an "h"--Lilah), I don't love it for a planet.

So far we've got Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres/Demeter, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus/Caelus, Neptune, Pluto, _____ and _____.

Personally, I vote for....

Naming UB313 and its moon Castor and Pollux, the twins, or naming it Portunus, after the God of doors, since its discovery "opened the door" for re-defining planets and planetary science as we known it. Yeah, let's go with Portunus.

And then Charon? I think it should be Diana, the goddess of the moon, fertility and hunting. As it IS a moon of Pluto, and the discovery of Charon led to two other planetary discoveries--the other two moons of Pluto, Hydra and Nix.

and let's keep Ceres and Uranus how they are, just for kicks.

So, in Carrie land the names will be:

~drumroll please~

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Diana and Portunus.

come up with a mnemonic for that, I tell ya!

and is it better than: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Charon and Xena? I think so!

and thanks, Jackie, for the fun idea!

i'm feeling very rory gilmore right now.

Looked at some grad schools last night--Cornell, Harvard and MIT.

Cornell is out. No research I want to do, I don't think, and no Ithaca, NY, please.

MIT needs more investigation. I didn't find anything I liked, but the site was a little difficult to navigate. They seemed quite decentralized--borderline disorganized--in their admissions.

Harvard looked good, and I found two profs I might want to work for. Lots of environmental stuff. AND, you can take classes at MIT through Harvard, sometimes. Interesting.

I still have others to look at--NC State, Virginia Tech, Clemson, U of Florida, Penn State, Georgia Tech and who knows where else. And once I pick 'em, then there's applying and references and essays, oh my!

So, since I like Harvard best right now, does that mean I'll end up going to Yale? That's what Sterling thinks.

(though, of course, Yale would require me to leave the Materials Science and Engineering idea and do Environmental Engineering instead, which I'm not totally opposed to. anyhoo.)

my mom spent sunday wondering why she didn't name me alice.

so I told her that maybe, some day, when I have kids, I'll name one of them alice, or make it her middle name. (side note:she may have been wondering this WHILE I was buying my alice in wonderland tshirt. weird.) I told her I'd have to have two girls though. I already have another name in mind. she started talking to me about NOT having only one kid--that at least two are necessary. i totally agree.

but then I started wondering about who would have kids when. I, unlike my good friend Audrey, have no pregnant friends, no friend with babies--at least not really close ones. There's some high school friends--Whitney, Amber and Randi, to name a few, and I know my Big has a little boy, but I don't keep in touch with any of them, and haven't for a while. other than that there's some kaydees with little ones, but that's it!

so, I wonder, when will the baby parade hit for me? my durham friends (I group y'all as that, if you didn't know) are all smug marrieds without the kids (though they aren't smug, I just love that term). Soon (if they aren't already) they'll be DINKS--double income no kids, as my prof Dr. Manning would say. I imagine that I will be the last of them to have kids, but still probably be the first of my family.

and it's SO WEIRD thinking--I'm 25. Almost 26. And I don't want to have kids for years and years. Which seems to fit...

Sterling was telling me about our being the delayed generation. Or the lost generation. Or Gen X. Or maybe Gen Y.

I'm not sure if I'm a young Gen X or an old Gen Y. Dates differ, and apparently I can be considered an XY, as I was born in 1980. There's a seven-to-ten year period of flux, and there's no clear delineation because, well, that's just how it should be if you're an XY. Check it out though--read their list of what has happened in the life of an XYer/MTV Gen-er. It's weird to realize it and see it all in one place.

so, what's with this group of people, Gen X, Gen Y or Gen XY, that are delaying everying? Clearly I'm doing it. And a lot of others are too. Fifty years ago most of the females reading this blog would have had at least one child by now. What has changed so much? Is it all because of women being more liberal? I, as a liberal woman, have to wonder.

And have you seen that preview for the movie where the world is dying and no one is having babies anymore and the oldest person is eighteen? I wonder if this is how it starts. Though, clearly, this part cannot be blamed on liberal women. The conservative men play a part, too. :)

“yes, virginia, pluto is a planet.”

That’s what Richard Binzel of MIT has to say.

So, before, it was like this.

And I believe the Earth must be the stupidest planet, as it is the most dense. ~bah-dum-ching!~

But now they’re recounting, and they’re coming up with more planets than I have fingers.

Twelve planets.
TWELVE planets.

That’s how many planets we may have. TWELVE. They’re debating, don’t you know?

And, did you know there used to be another planet, Ceres? It was demoted, but now they might include it again. And this UB313 may be called Xena, and there’s another called Charon. Interesting that two of the planets up for debate have girl names. And since right now all we have is Venus representing women... But whatev.

It made me think of the mnemonic I learned so long ago—perhaps from Roxi Vincent. I learned “Mother Very Excitedly Made Jelly Sandwiches Under No Protest.”

I couldn’t find that one online, but I did find some others, including a dirty one!

oMooing very eagerly, Mary jogged south under nine planets.
My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas.
Mary Vincent Eats Many Jelly Sandwiches Under Ned's Porch.
Miss Nancy's Elephant Mastered Oilgebra, Not Integral Calculus.
My Very Erotic Mother Just Sucked Uncle Ned's Penis.
Mexican Vultures Enjoy Making Jam Sandwiches Using New Plums.
My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets.

Are there any I’m missing? And how does being ably to show someone nine planets make someone “very educated?” I mean, hullo, they taught me that in grade school. Now, the elephant one, I like it!

And now it’s going to maybe be…

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Charon, UB313 (Xena?)

And they have a new definition of a planet: any round object larger than 800 kilometers (nearly 500 miles) in diameter that orbits the sun and has a mass roughly one-12,000th that of Earth. Moons and asteroids will make the grade if they meet those basic tests.

So, um, by their definition the Earth isn’t a planet, as its mass is not roughly one-12,000^th of, um, its mass. Uh-huh. Brilliant, Spacenerds, friggin brilliant.

~shakes head and sighs...~

Anyhoo, I wonder what they will come up with for the new mnemonic.

Matt’s Vegan Egghead Mindset Causes Jill Stress, Ulcers Necessitating Painful, Costly X-rays? Many Very Excellent Minions Can Justify Singing Uppity Notes Playing Colorful Xylophones?

Riiight.

Aw, science. I heart it.

top ten reasons this was a good weekend.

1. brooke apker knight rules. Thanks for telling me how to re-stretch this bad boy. I also now know how to frame my paintings. I’ve never done that before, and now this one looks awesome, too (didn’t take a new pic though). I didn’t like the amount of sky at the top, and now there’s less. :) See her pretty art here, by the way.

2. Gilmore Girls season 3. Need I say more? I also watched the rest of Big Lebowski and some good eps of Sex and the City. Now that I’ve finished Six Feet Under (man, that last one made me cry!) I need a new tv show addiction.

3. My friend Frances had her baby—Abbey Nicole. She’s so little and already photogenic. Yay for new KD legacies!

4. Mary Alise and I had sushi and went shopping. I now have a pretty rose quartz ring and two super cute tees from delia's on sale! The Alice in Wonderland one is really cool, and the on the dino one the tails wrap around the back. I like it.We had an excellent time, per usual. And I can't wait for beefmasters with her, Michael and Otto.

5. I talked to Sterling and Renee (not at the same time, though). I like it when I get to talk to Sterling. Time differences can make it hard to talk (he’s on the left coast, I’m on the right). So it’s nice when we get to, even if sometimes we have to talk about un-fun stuff. And Renee? I miss her a lot! She’s moved back to Texas and is about to embark on her next big adventure in life. Yay, Renee!

6. I bought two new phones and returned one of 'em. Don’t buy the Pantech 300 one. It sucks. It's cute and little, but it's bad news bears. But the Razr? It’s cool stuff. And now there’s no more weird delays when I place calls OR when they’re answered. I like it. The pink razr is so not cute though. Which was mildly disappointing. It says a lot that all three of the guys working in the store had razrs. And it was cheaper there than online! Yippee!

7. I got hit on when I didn’t feel like I was having a “cute” day. This is always nice. Even if the Target guy was creepy and old. The other was not creepy or old, so that’s good.

8. I saw Otto. It was brief, but I got to see him in-between trips. He is traveling SO MUCH. Double boo. But it was nice to see him even though it was not for very long. He'd been in Canada since Wednesday, and now he's in Connecticut. At least I can call him there.

9. I painted a whole whole lot. I like doing that. I’ll get to do it more this week, I think. I don’t always know what to do with these bad boys. I love painting ‘em, though. And I may have sold my first piece to one of my co-workers. He requested and I painted, and once I finish it we’ll see if he likes it or not. And then I have to figure out how much to charge. Not an easy task, for me at least.

10. I slept and slept. Mmmmm mmmm mmm I love sleep. And tonight I take step one in learning how to quilt! I'm excited!

what does god look like?

this morning I woke up early, and though I'd only slept six hours I couldn't get back to sleep. so I went to the early service for what may be the first time in my adult life.

the minister talked about the many names of God--Stronghold, Lord, Adonai, Yahweh, Father, King, Master, Creator, Mother, Peace, Shepherd, Peace, etc. and then he talked about what God looks like.

and of course we don't know for sure, and there's many times in the Bible where we're told that we aren't able to see Him. But maybe we all have a picture in our heads...and apparently that's something that tells a lot about each of us. Pop culture has given us George Burns, Morgan Freeman and Alanis Morissette as representations of God. When I picture God I only see his hands. just a pair of really, really big hands.

guess I think God is a giant? ;)

seriously, though. how do you picture God?