a pinch of spice.

i thought i'd customize my blog a little. just add a pinch of spice to make it feel a bit more like me and mine. still simple, but more personal.

i love saturdays. i slept in until 11:30 (which is still early for some). but i get to relax and just go about my day at my own pace. well at least usually unless we have something specific planned. i have an inkling to bake some fresh oatmeal cookies. saturday nights are usually our game nights where students come over and we play anything from rummy to settlers of cataan. it's a pretty good time actually. it's also nice to have something freshly baked to serve everyone. one of our boys, our desk manager, whom we call "fussy" gave me his mom's pumpkin cookie recipe probably sometime in august. they little babies are fabulous. i make them all the time. they have this great icing on top and they aren't too dry. perfecto! in fact i always keep a can of pumpkin in our pantry just in case i want to make a batch. hm. perhaps i should make those.

in fact here's the recipe:

1 cup shortening/or butter.

1 cup sugar.

1 cup pumpkin.

2 cups flour.

1 tsp. baking soda.

1 tsp cinnamon.

1/2 tsp. salt.

1 egg.

cream shortening/butter, sugar and pumpkin. add egg and mix well. add dry ingredients and spoon on ungreased cookie sheet. bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.

icing ingredients:

3 tbsp. butter

4 tsp. milk

3/4 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

cook butter, milk and brown sugar in a small sauce pan on stove top until it dissovles (no lumps). cool and add powered sugar and vanilla. wire whisk works best. wait for pumpkin cookies to cool and then freshly ice each cookie.

have a lovely weekend all. <3>

we're fated to pretend.

i'm just pretending that foot of snow didn't fall last night.

meetings, conversations, laughter: our boys.

tuesday is the annual business meeting in our apt at 6 pm. which means debo's staff of 7 guys comes over and they cover various RA duties, etc. i'm usually in on most of their meetings, since well it's in our apt and it's not like we have a huge place. i actual don't mind i enjoy listening, discussing, and laughing with them. and with 7 of them plus debo, you can imagine there is a lot of those 3 things going on.

thursday consists of covenant meetings which go from 6-8pm. this "meeting" is really for the staff to hang out with each other, and take a break. usually the guys are over and we play rockband, go out to random spots, eat homemade creations (i've made), discuss, and of course laugh. we've currently been watching Band of Brothers during that time which is awesome, because i haven't seen it all the way through. it's so addicting, it is so well done.

i love our guys a lot. they have made this experience for us just so enjoyable. i've had so many great conversations with these men, and i think in turn debo and i have offered them a peek into what married life looks like. good, bad, silly, honest, and raw. i feel like these guys have become a part of our family here in a way.

so just to give you an idea about these fellows. i'll give you a brief synopsis of each of them, using 3(-ish) adjectives a piece, making it short and sweet.

1. tiki [ARD]. political guru. faithful. a good heart.
2. ben [RA - 3 north]. honest/thoughtful. calming. mischievious.
3. micah [RA - 2 west]. real laid back. punk rocker. easy to chill with.
4. vince [RA - 2 north]. sweet heart. super easy going. intricate thinker. (he's our game night buddy)
5. curt [RA -1 north]. one of a kind. hilarious. opinionated. passionate. (and in his own words, "a good egg.")
6. chris [RA - 3 west]. outgoing. vibrant. lots of energy. my kid brother.
7. ryan. [RA - 1 west]. laid back. gentle spirit. our outdoors guy.

good eggs. good eggs.

real simple.

i like simplicity a lot.

i like it in the way i percieve life.
i like it in my decorating.
i like it in the clothes i wear. etc. etc.

it's not that i don't know that our world is intricate, detailed, and ultimately an organized chaos. it's just that i love to appreciate the little bits of everything, piece by piece. barefeet in fresh grass. the smell after rain. vanilla icecream cones w/ rainbow sprinkles. a kitty in my lap. sleeping in late with my husband.

so it's no surprise to me that i love this piece of handmade jewerly.

it's simple and beautiful. just how i like it.

the noisy plume. her little etsy shop has some beautiful pieces in it. it makes me wish i knew how to do metal work.

i'm going to"nudge-nudge wink-wink" debo about this necklace for valentines day. lol. ;-D

exhausted & reflective.

marion, IN is not exactly a golden place for opportunity in the working world. it has some of the highest unemployment in the entire state. it's a small town, with a lot of factory workers...and not much else.

although indianapolis is only 1 1/2 hours a way, i just found myself with no desire to get a job with such a long commute, esp. since i have no idea what i really want to do with my life.

so, not only are finding jobs tough in the current state of our country's economy, or the fact that i live in a small town, but i also don't know what i want to be doing.

originally when we moved here in july, i tried to find a job on campus, but there were really no open doors whatsoever. so i got a job at the tiny "mall" that marion had. it was a store called maurices and i worked as a sales associate and it was okay. i worked with really nice women but ultimately i worked there for only about 2 1/2 months. evening and weekends were the days i worked, which sucked because that was the time i got to spend time with debo and students. so for the little pay i made, and with the crappy hours and times i had to work it just wasn't worth it. i talked to debo and he agreed. and then for a while i wasn't doing anything...which drove me crazy.

finally, God opened up a small door. it's not this amazing career, or something i want to do for the rest of my life. but He opened a door none the less that gave me a chance to make a little money and do something with my days. what do i do, you ask? well, i babysit. two little ones, a girl named ellie who is 3 and a little boy named keegan who is 1. they keep me super busy and are teaching me a ton about children in general since i didn't have a lot of babysitting experience prior to this. they are the children of another RD on campus, who originally was having various college students watch her kids during the day while she had to work. now that she has me she has a full time sitter (i watch the kids from 9am to 4:30-5pm) during the week.

i will tell you this. it's exhausting. i give kudos to all parents.

i am glad that it's friday and as i sit on the couch watching TLC and typing this i just feel so thankful. i'm glad to be doing something. no it's not my ideal, it's not what i'm going to do forever, but for now its my life, it's good, and i don't mind taking it one day at a time.

hibernation.

okay. so i think i've always known this, but this year in particular i really feel it deeply.

i am not a winter person.

winter to me is that dark abyss time of the year where i can no longer go outside and pleasantly walk around, or rollerblade, or bike ride, or simply sit on a blanket and read a book. instead it's the time of year i feel forced...or trapped rather inside where i end up doing a lot of nothing and quite a considerable amount of sitting. *sigh*

i also have little motivation to wear anything other then sweat pants & hoodies. i just hate being cold... jeans make me feel cold. so i like to think of this period of time hibernation. because i indeed feel like hibernating.

also, i'm not sure why but i really feel like hibernation should be spelled with a "y"...hybernation. yeah random i know but it just looks better to me for some reason.

i'm ready for spring. i'm just hoping IN has less rain during spring time then Western PA.