Holidays

Well, here comes Christmas, and there goes my blog! I haven't meant to ignore you for almost a month... sorry!!

So today, December 22, 2011, is a very special day for at least a couple of reasons...
One year ago today, we got JASPER, the best dog ever! I can't remember what life was like before we got him, and now I can't imagine life without him! :-)
One week from today, I will turn 26 years old! The other day (a couple weeks ago, I think), I was looking at myself in the mirror as I got ready for bed, and I couldn't remember how old I was! I think I've been anticipating my birthday and turning 26, so I couldn't remember if I was already 26 or if I was only 25. That has never really happened to me before!! It was kind of weird.

Anyway... here's another quirk to get you through till my next post (potentially next year, at the rate I'm going!) Because my birthday is at the end of the year, I always like to make a list of things I haven't done "since last year when I was (25, 24, etc)." It can include anything, such as hula hooping, eaten chocolate, or shopping. One time, I was at my mom's for New Year's Eve, and she asked me to run to the grocery store for her, and I said, "I'd rather not," (which I never say), because I hadn't been since before my birthday, and I wanted to be able to say I hadn't been to the grocery store since last year when I was 22 (or whatever age it was). It was too funny, and of course my mom played along with me and didn't have me go! :-) Adam pretends not to like it but really I know he loves it. And it's kind of my thing, so he's stuck with it, since he's stuck with me! :-) Gosh, I love my husband!

Well, in case I don't see you, Merry Christmas and have a great and safe New Year!

Good-bye November...

Hello December, California, Christmas, and my birthday! (and yes, in that order!)

I don't have a lot to update about, I just wanted to say I hadn't forgotten you! They sent out an email about my new position on Monday, so a lot of people have been calling and emailing to tell me congratulations. Apparently this was a highly-sought-after position, so I'm sure not everyone is overjoyed that I got it. Oh well now! And if we end up having kids within the next couple of years, they wouldn't have to wait too long before they could apply for it again! So anyway.

It was about 20 degrees outside when I woke up this morning. And we only keep the house around 50 at night, so it was quite chilly at 7 AM! Here comes winter... wake me when it's over!

Thanks(giving)

First of all, I just wanted to say thanks to anyone who read this and was praying for me (or for anyone who didn't read it and prayed for me anyway!),  because I appreciate it.

Second of all, I wanted to say that I GOT THE JOB!!!!!!!!

I got the phone call and verbal job offer this morning, which I accepted, and a written job offer will follow. I won't start until basically the beginning of next year (Jan 2 or thereabouts) to help cover vacations at our branch. But YAY yay yay I got the job! I'm so excited!!! (I know that comes as a real shock!) I think, to celebrate, I am going to buy some new work shoes soon (I needed some anyway, but now I'll do it celebratorily), and maybe go out to dinner with my wonderful husband. Not tonight or anything, since we're going to get more than enough food tomorrow, but possibly soon.

So, thanks once again, and yay!!

Second Interview Update

Second interview went well. I have a good feeling. Three people in on the interview this time, interviewers A and B from the first interview, as well as one other person (the one I would be assisting). I think they liked me, and from the way they were talking it sounded like they want to offer me the position. They said I would know in the "near future," so hopefully that means soon! I will of course keep you posted.

Here's a difference between Wisconsin and Southern California - in CA, the weekend before Thanksgiving is just another weekend, getting us closer to the holidays. In WI, the weekend before Thanksgiving means open season for deer hunting! Church was 2/3 empty, and I only had three kids in my Sunday School class! Opening weekend is a big deal out here. I told Adam before we got married, I'm never going to protest him hunting, but I'm also never going to go hunting out there with him in the cold, so we have an understanding :) I'm working on finishing Adam's hunting scarf, so he can use it when he goes out Thanksgiving after we eat.

Well, that's about it for now. I will let you know when I know about the position! :-)

Post-Interview... Post :)

So! The interview went well, I think. There were two people interviewing me, and I felt like interviewer B would hire me, but interviewer A (the one asking most of the questions) was a little harder to read. I think I gave intelligent, pertinent answers to their questions, and after I asked my questions, interviewer A said "Good questions!" So I think that's a good sign, too. Also, I found out this afternoon that apparently I have a second/follow-up interview probably Monday. I think that's a really good sign!! So just keep praying, and I should know more within the next couple of weeks.

Well, I'll leave it there for now. Maybe more later.

The Pros/Cons of Groupon

So I love Groupons. I don't buy as many as I want to, but I went through a spurt where I bought a lot. Trouble is, they are in Madison, which is about 35ish minutes away from where I live, and closer to 45ish minutes from where I work. So even though they are good deals, I have to factor in the drive time and scheduling problems. I had one Groupon I had to use by the end of the month, so a little while ago I called to make an appointment (for a mani-pedi, yay!) and they only had ONE appointment that fit my schedule. Really? Come on. So I took it, even though it was a Tuesday night appointment. At least the salon was really nice, and I love my manicure and pedicure! The color I got on my toes is probably my new favorite -
it's called "Wocka Wocka" by OPI (the new Muppets Collection!) :-) Those aren't my fingers (or toes!! haha) in the picture, I found it online, but the bottle picture does NOT do this amazing color justice! Anyway, I love it. And I got a gray for my manicure. I've been wanting a gray polish, and I even had a dream where I had gray polish on my nails, so I figure now my dream has come true :) I like it ok, I'm not sure if I would do it again. I mean, I like it, but maybe it's just because it takes some getting used to. Considering the fact that I always have hot pink or bright red on my nails (or nothing at all), this is quite a transition for me!

I'm getting a little nervous about my interview. I got my resume printed last night so I can take a couple of copies with me. Remember to pray! I actually had an epiphany-type moment last night about the job - I was letting one friend know I could babysit for her, and another family from church wanted to know if I could babysit for them, and I let them know I could, and it made me feel so happy that I could help and be useful, and that I can am (for lack of a better word) "needed." I don't know if I can really explain it, but I just felt full and I realized that it doesn't matter what I do for my job, because I have friends (friends! Out here in Wisconsin! Who knew!) that I can help, friends in my life. I'm not sure if I'm really communicating it well, but it was a great feeling.

All right. That's enough for now. And look at that - my first picture! Even though it's not me (or my husband, or my dog, etc), it's still a picture! Can you believe it? :-o I told you they'd arrive eventually!!

Interview

So I have an interview! I was searching internal job postings, and I saw a position that I think I would really enjoy. I applied, and although I have similar experience, it is in an area that I have not really worked in before, so I wasn't really thinking anything would come of it. But I got an email last Friday saying they wanted to schedule an interview! So this Friday I have an interview in the morning for this new position! It encompasses a lot of aspects I already like about my current job, without other certain things I would rather not do anyway. And it'd be at a branch closer to home, cutting my commute time nearly in half! (from twenty minutes currently to more like twelve minutes, haha). Anyway, I'd appreciate prayers regarding this: that I'd be confident during my interview, not too nervous beforehand, and that I'll get the job unless God has something better planned for me! Thanks in advance, and I'll definitely keep you posted.

What's missing?

Pictures! Of course! I need to get some pictures up here. It will help illustrate the story of my everyday life.

oh, you wanted some right now? Yeah.. um I don't think I'm prepared for that at this moment.

But stay tuned! I will hopefully be jazzing up my future posts with some pictures :)

Not so great

Last night, I started to get a headache. At first, it was just annoying, but not that bad. Then, it got progressively worse, and I also started to feel nauseous if I stood up. So I made a fire in the wood stove (which Adam was very, very proud of - odd, because I thought I had done it all wrong) and made Adam snuggle with me while I had a hot compress on my head. When I got up this morning, the nausea was gone, but the headache remained. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I'm going to try to leave work a little early to get some rest.

Also, here's another difference between WI and Southern CA - when it rains in WI, people can still drive. When it rains in Southern CA, everything slows down by at least 15 MPH and it's like we're on severe weather alert... for rain! Come on, Californians, I know it doesn't rain very often, but that doesn't mean you have to ride the brakes to work!

All that to say - it's raining here. Which isn't good. Well, I mean, it's good because it means it's not snowing. However, it's not a good thing because it means snow is on the way :-( I could handle the cold much better if we didn't also have to deal with snow. C'est la vie!

Good news!

First good news - my brother and sister-in-law, who are expecting, found out the gender of their baby - it's a boy! (I decided not to use "it's a boy" as the post title for fear some people would misinterpret it... no baby news for me and Adam yet!!) I thought it was going to be a boy - and I already made them a boy blanket, so it works out nicely! Whenever Adam and I do have kids, I would like our first baby to be a boy, because I like the idea of our kids having a big brother. Of course, I would be totally happy if our first baby was a girl, too! As far as that goes, I would like to have at least one of each gender - beyond that I'll be happy with whatever the Lord decides to give us! Again - no personal news on that front yet - but yay for my on-the-way nephew!!

Speaking of babies, Friday night, my church offered free babysitting (for an optional donation) for the evening for anyone (people who attend our church) who wanted to have an evening free. Adam and I went to help, and one mom and dad brought their three kids, who are about 6, 4, and maybe 4 months! So, since it was three high school boys, Adam, and myself who were there to watch the kids, I was the default "baby" watcher. And let me saw, that little boy was a great baby! He didn't fuss or cry, he was just hanging out, taking in the world, and dozing occasionally. I felt bad that he didn't really sleep, but I certainly didn't mind baby time! He was a real sweetie.

Second good news - we caught the mouse!! I checked this morning and saw that one mouse was caught near the fridge (so I'm figuring it's the culprit who startled me the other night). Of course it grosses me out too much to touch it, so I texted Adam to see if he'd get rid of it when he gets home. He's the best husband ever (and I told him so)!

My mom is coming out to visit this weekend. I'll try to update again before she gets out. She is going to (try to!!) teach me how to quilt! So wish me God-luck!

Late night and a quirk

So last night, Adam and I fell asleep on the LoveSac. I woke up a couple of hours later and got up to brush my teeth, etc. When I came out in the kitchen, I thought I saw something, but it was dark and I had taken my contacts out, so I convinced myself it was nothing. Then, I really did see something - a dark blur dashed out from under our toaster oven, ran down the cupboards, and went under the fridge, fast as a flash! I gasped loudly, and Jasp came in from the living room to see if he could help! Well, he came in to check on me, at least! Meanwhile, Adam was still passed out on the LoveSac. I can only assume it was a mouse! Yuck! Now we have another mouse to catch :-( Oh man that really freaked me out, though. I was glad Jasper wanted to protect me, though :-) He's the best dog ever!

Also, I have this windshield wiper quirk. Whenever it's raining/snowing, I never want my wipers to be going faster than other people's. I'm actually a lot better than I used to be - I used to always check other cars to see how fast their wipers were going, and slow mine down if I was going too fast. I don't know why it bothers me - I guess I don't like the idea of someone driving past me and thinking "what's with the fast wipers?" Even though I know it doesn't matter at all. I mean, if I want to have my wipers on all the way, I can do whatever I want! And like I said, I'm better now - I only occasionally peek to see the wiper status quo, and even when I do, I usually just keep it at whatever speed I have it on. Weird, I know!

More life

So not only did I have to get the heater core in my car replaced, they also had to replace the dash, because it was falling apart when they were taking it out to repair said heater core. That was not a fun trip to the dealership. But at least my heat works now! I can hopefully survive another Wisconsin winter.

In addition to that, we have to replace our roof. It definitely needs to be replaced, but we were hoping to be able to put it off a little longer. At least now it will be done and our house will look even nicer than it does now! I finally decided (with Adam's agreement) to go with brown for the roof instead of dark green. I figure that way, when we eventually redo the siding, we have more options open for colors than light green or white (the only two I would have liked with a dark green roof). And we still have to get tickets for Christmas. So much for trying to save money after vacation!

Christmas play rehearsals are going well. Much better than I was expecting. We've got some good kids at our church, and a lot of willing adults who volunteer. I love our church.

I still enjoy writing, even when I don't have a whole lot to say. I hope you don't mind my "nothing" posts. I did feel like I had something substantial to say this time, but now I can't remember what it was. Oh well. Stay tuned, maybe I will think of it later.

Welcome Home - now take your car to the shop

Yes, my car is in the shop. Right before we drove down to Missouri (or it may have been as we were driving down to Missouri) my heater broke... again. Not only is this the third or fourth heater issue this year, I literally just took my car in to get the heater fixed at the dealership last month!! So, thankfully since they didn't really fix it a month ago, they are going to take off what I already paid toward actually fixing it this time, but it's still going to be about $700! Yikes :-( Not fun. But what can I do, winter in Wisconsin, a heater is definitely not optional!

So besides coming home after 2 weeks of spending money on vacation and having to spend more money on my car, vacation itself was fun! We stayed in/near Branson at two different places. The first place was amazing! It was set on 800 acres and certain buildings had been there since the '20s. It got a little chilly, but the weather was nice overall, and the first two days we just stayed at the resort exploring, swimming, and playing miniature golf on a nearly-impossible course. It was all way too slanted!! But we loved it. We also played in the arcade a bit. Both places we stayed had pool tables, and by Thursday I was actually getting pretty good! On Wednesday, I hit in FIVE IN A ROW! But Thursday I was just doing better overall. We played mini golf again Thursday at the new place, which was like a typical motel. We also saw two shows while in Branson - the New Shanghai Circus, which is Chinese acrobats that do incredible things! I just wanted to applaud the whole time. The next night we saw a magic show, Kirby Vanburch. It was also amazing, and at the end of the show, he came out and said there's no such thing as real magic, or being psychic, and did a little illusion and said that if you give your life to Jesus, he'll make you whole. We LOVED Kirby! Also, I helped him with one trick, where I picked a card, and they flew up in the air and he speared it with a sword! And I got to keep the card! :) I also took Adam to Krispy Kreme for the first time, and he really really liked it. It was a long drive, and a long trip, but we really had a great time. Oh also, we decided to stop at Shoney's on the way back, because it's one of Adam's favorite breakfast places. So we picked one randomly and when we got there, we realized that we stopped at that exact Shoney's when we were moving me out to Wisconsin! What are the odds, with all the Shoney's in Missouri, that we happened to pick the same one! Too funny.

So yes, we had a great vacation, but I'm glad to be back. I missed the Jasp a lot. And I'm tired! All that relaxing really takes its toll on you! :-) Hopefully my posting will resume my kind of normal schedule. We'll just have to wait and see!

Vacation

So much to say! Week one of our vacation was awesome, except that I was sick the entire time (sinus infection-type thing, not like nausea, thank goodness). We went to Universal's Islands of Adventure, with Hogsmeade and Hogwarts, which was amazing! We also went to Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom and to Epcot. Epcot is my favorite, and it was Adam's favorite, too. There's just so much to see and experience, and even though there aren't very many rides, the ones they have are pretty neat. We brought our lunches every day to help save money, and I had this brilliant idea on the plane down there - Adam and I both drink a lot of water and we're kind of water snobs. We each have our own version, but basically it boils down to us not drinking tap water. So I thought to myself that we should get those little water bottles that have the filter built in and filter the water as you drink it. It turned out to be a pretty great thing to have, and I was very proud of myself for thinking of it :)

Jasper missed us a lot! When we came home, he was so skinny! I think he couldn't eat very much because he missed me. And yesterday after I picked him up, he just wanted to be close to me - he snuggled on my lap all day, and we let him sleep with us, and he was RIGHT next to me all night. Usually he ends up at the foot of the bed because he gets too hot (I think), but last night he was up against me the entire night up until I got out of bed at 8! So sweet :) That's going to be the only bad thing about going on vacation Week Two - missing the Jasp!

Well, more may come. That's all for now though. Don't expect anything until probably next weekend-ish.

Small-Town Wisconsin

So yesterday, Adam and I decided to use a coupon we had to have fish fry (well, Adam was going to have the fish fry, I was obviously going to order something else). It was for a restaurant that Adam used to go to all the time when he was younger, and I had never been there. So we went there, and who should we see but Adam's aunt and her husband! They had just ordered, so we sat with them and ate with them. About a half hour later, Adam's dad, step-mom, and brother came in! Welcome to small-town Wisconsin! We thought we were going out to dinner - little did we know that we were actually going to a family reunion! It was nice to see everyone, though.

Just so my readers know, I will be on vacation this week. So don't expect any posts until maybe this weekend. We will be in Florida tomorrow through Friday. Orlando, here we come!! :)

Adventures in Pressure Cooking

Brown Rice - check
Pinto Beans (for refried beans) - check (I used too much water, but that will be modified next time)
Beef Broth - check (very tasty with the pot roast I made!)
Chicken Broth - check check (although the second time was not as chickeny as I'd like...once again, I used too much water, I think)

...yep I think that's all I've made so far. More adventures to come. I'd like to make potato soup. Or just red potatoes. I decided that I really really like red potatoes.

Sorry my adventures are not all that exciting. But at least I'm getting more comfortable with the PC! This way, by the time we have people over for dinner (as infrequently as that is), I should be a real pro with the PC :)

Olive Garden tonight with Michelle and Popp! When I met Adam, he did not like Olive Garden. He'd had one experience that tainted his view of it. But when I got the job I have now (it was a promotion from where I was), he said we could go anywhere I wanted to celebrate... so I picked Olive Garden. He whined and complained and tried to convince me to go somewhere else, but I stood firm. We went... and he LOVED it! Now it's one of our favorites :) So we're definitely looking forward to dinner tonight. Note to self: eat a light lunch!

Fun at Church

So the other night at church, we were rehearsing for the worship team. The first few songs we did were more contemporary songs, and then we did a hymn (a traditional song). At the end of the hymn, I said "Way to hymn it up, guys!" Just being a weirdo, you know. And then a little while later, we had done a few more hymns, and one of the worship team members, who is a mom with five kids, said "We just hymned it up. Whatever that means." Oh my gosh, that was hilarious! I couldn't believe someone else said it! I was just messing around, but now I guess that's going to be a "thing!"

If you go to church or ever have another opportunity to use this, you have my blessing :)

Food, part one

This will be one of a series of weird food things about me. If you know me in person, you know that I’m… not super picky (I used to be really bad!), I just have passionate views about certain food items. I even write poems and quips about my preferences. With that introduction, I will talk today about fish and nuts.

I have never been a fan of fish. When I was little, the one time I remember having a babysitter that wasn’t a family member, said babysitter forced me to try tuna. I hated it. I wouldn’t say it traumatized me, because I have since tried fish, but that event certainly didn’t help my bias against fish. So, for some reason, I came up with a little poem about how I do NOT eat fish: If it swam in the sea, it’s not for me! It’s kind of catchy, if I do say so myself :-) And it does help people remember that I really don’t eat fish. I have tried blue gill (fresh caught by Adam and my mom), mahi mahi in Hawaii (which was not super fishy, but it DID have a macadamia nut coating on it – see below), garlic shrimp, and one homemade fish-and-potato-patty thing. I’m still not going to eat fish. The shrimp I tried had a weird, chewy texture to it (which I would assume applies to all shrimp). I also cannot stand the smell of shrimp cooking. It just permeates the whole house. Oh man, I better stop writing about fish. It’s making me feel queasy.
Another thing I don’t eat are nuts. I have tried them (including walnuts and pistachios) and while they don’t particularly have a bad flavor, I can’t tolerate the texture of nuts. They get stuck in my teeth and are just not something I want to eat. I eat peanut butter (creamy, of course), but I don’t eat nuts plain. I would probably be ok with almond butter, too. But I will never be one to put nuts in my cookies or brownies or anything else. And because just about everyone asks if I’m allergic to nuts because I avoid them so fervently, I created a little catch-phrase (not exactly a poem): “The only nuts I eat are donuts.” I sometimes say, “The only nuts I eat are donuts and corn nuts,” because I really DO love corn nuts! Probably more than donuts, even.
Anyway, that’s enough for the introduction to my many food preference oddities. We’ll save the rest for another day.

Membership

So Adam and I have been attending our church for almost two years now. I sang with the Easter choir our first Easter there, then I started teaching Sunday school that September, and Adam and I both started helping with the high school group. I sing with the worship team about twice a month, and this year I’m directing the Christmas play. Adam is on the Missions Board (that makes decisions about supporting missionaries and things like that). So we’ve been very involved almost from the get-go. We met with the deacons and deaconesses, and gave our testimonies. Because of the way our church is “governed,” they had to “vote” us in with a majority vote, which they were going to do during the second service (it’s just a formality, but that’s the way they do it). Before the first service, one of the church members said, “Oh, I have your membership certificates,” and handed me two certificates commemorating Adam’s and my becoming members. Since we hadn’t officially been voted in yet, I figured that meant it was a done deal (which it was anyway!). So during the second service, we went up in front of the congregation and they all voted us in to be members. We’re official!! It’s kind of nice :)

It’s definitely different than the Lutheran church we were attending before. The pastor knew I wanted to help with the Sunday school, and they put announcements in the bulletin that they needed volunteers to help, but I couldn’t because I wasn’t a Lutheran. To some extent, I can understand their hesitancy to make sure that the person teaching their youth is a believer, but I had been meeting with the pastor about once a week, and he knew that I was a Christian. It didn’t matter – I wasn’t a Lutheran. At our current church, they called me and asked if I wanted to teach Sunday school – after having attended the church for about eight months at that point. It may sound judgmental, but I’m really not trying to judge them or say that our church is better or something. I’m merely noting a difference.

Under Pressure

Well, I finally got a pressure cooker.

I was hesitant, of course, because of the horror stories people hear about old pressure cookers exploding, and sometimes, believe it or not, I am kind of accident-prone.

BUT we got one that has a bunch of safety features that make it impossible to open while there is still pressure in the cooker. So we got it. We ordered it (a Fagor Duo 8 quart, in case you were wondering) on Amazon, of course, and it was supposed to arrive as early as today, Friday. However, when I got home last night, there it was, sitting on our kitchen island in all its new and boxed glory! I had every intention of doing this test I found online to familiarize myself with the cooker, how long it takes to do things, etc. But I decided I wanted brown rice and scrambled eggs for dinner (a delicious combination with soy sauce, similar to fried rice), so, I made pressure cooker brown rice. It was a success!! Definitely not as mushy as when I make it on the stove, although not quite as good as the one time I made it in my rice cooker. With a little tweaking, I'm sure it'll be one of my regular recipes.

One of the main things I will want to make in it is stock/broth (beef, chicken, vegetable) because, as I stated before, my husband and I are hippies. He's much more of a hippie than me, and does not want to consume any store-bought broth/stock anymore. Hence the pressure cooker. I made vegetable broth in a stock pot Monday afternoon, but from now on, it'll be pressure cooker broth/stock all the way! I think it's going to be awesome, once I get the hang of it. Tonight I am going to try tackling the beef stock... wish me luck!

Where have you been?

That's what you might be wondering. Well... Tuesday I was home sick. Mainly sinus stuff. I was cleaning in the morning and lazing in the afternoon. I don't know what happened Wednesday and Thursday, but here I am now!

Monday night I made minestrone. My goal was to have it taste like Olive Garden's (my second favorite soup in the world - the top spot being held by the vegetable barley soup at Vince's Spaghetti in California. Man that is the BEST) and although it was pretty good (Adam loved it), it still wasn't quite right. I think it needed to be more tomato-y. Then again, I'm like a tomato fanatic, so... :)

Also, Adam and I beat Donkey Kong on the Wii! Really really beat it! But now we are so "Donkey Kong" wired, we tried to go back and play Super Mario Bros. Wii and we are not that good. We've beat all the normal levels in Mario, which means that at one point we were pretty awesome. But now... it's going to take some un-DK-ification before we can rock Super Mario again.

So... all that to say, my life has not been too exciting. I have some more ideas for upcoming posts, so keep your eyes peeled.

We need to have a talk

This is another of my sneezing stories.

When I worked at my first serious, real, after-college job, I was in a cubicle next to a bunch of other cubicles. So when I sneezed (loudly), sometimes it carried in the quiet work environment. We were often on the phone with customers, and after I sneezed one time, my neighbor said that her customer on the phone said to tell me "God bless you!" So, among my team of co-workers, my sneezes were well known. One day, my manager wanted to have a talk with me. She pulled me aside, and said that some people had said that my sneezing was interrupting their work.

--It's a SNEEZE, people! You can't hear a sneeze six cubicles away without it interrupting your phone call? What happens when you sneeze yourself? Do you have to go home for the rest of the day?--

Anyway, she asked if there was anything I could do so that my sneezes weren't so loud. It was then that I realized I couldn't work there any more. I was a great employee, I did my job accurately and efficiently, customers liked me and I followed company policies and regulations. And you're going to pull me aside and ask me to change the way I naturally sneeze? Outrageous.

After having left that job, I told my next supervisor at my next job about that, and she agreed with me that it was ridiculous. From then on, every time I'd sneeze at work, she'd say "Megan, we need to have a talk about your sneezes."

Afton's Visit and WI food

Well, Afton came out, and we had a blast! We did lots of really Wisconsin-y things, like ate custard (a thick and creamy ice cream-type dessert. I think it has more egg yolks in it. Not to be confused with the solid gelatinous substance Californians call custard) and deep-fried cheese curds (and ok, to me, curds sounds disgusting. Until you realize that really it's just bits of cheddar cheese that they batter and fry into a delicious, hot, cheesey treat!). We got the cheese curds at The Old Fashioned in Madison - the BEST cheese curds I have ever had. And I pretty much try them every place I can. The batter is so light, and they have dipping sauces you can use - the roasted garlic is crazy delicious! Besides Madison, we went to a fish fry (a Wisconsin Friday-night tradition), a sheep and wool festival where we saw some sheep getting sheared, and went to Chicago.

Most awesome thing we did in Chicago was had dessert at the Signature Lounge. You absolutely need to go there, even if you get one dessert and split it between a couple of people, because it's a restaurant on the 96th floor of the John Hancock building, and the view is just beyond spectacular. I really liked it at night with all the lights. Even the bathroom has a view! So, go to Chicago and go to the Signature Lounge. You will love it!

I think I'll keep this short for today. More insight to my life to come.

Nice Customer

A couple of weeks ago, I helped a couple of customers figure out things with their accounts, and it took about an hour or so, but we got it all taken care of. One of their children said, "After all this [paperwork], we at least deserve an ice cream cone." And jokingly, I said, "Yeah, that sounds good. I like plain vanilla." And the dad said they'd try to bring me some custard (which will be the subject of another post, another day!). I told the mom that they really did not have to bring me any custard, and I was just teasing. I've seen them a couple of times since then, and he always mentions that he's going to bring me custard. Well, today, they did! They came to my work for the sole purpose of bringing me vanilla custard!! And I was thinking, if they did actually bring me custard, they'd bring me a little scoop I could dash in the back room and eat quickly. Well, they brought me like a little pint of custard! I couldn't believe it. How sweet of them!

I wanted to also say that I probably won't post for the next few days - my friend Afton is coming to visit! (Perfect timing on the custard - she needs to try some and now we don't need to make a separate trip! What a co-inki-dink!) We'll be in Madison, Jefferson, and Chicago, so I don't think I'll have much time for posting. I hope you survive, and I'll be back Monday or Tuesday.

Jasper

This is the first in what I'm sure is going to be a lot of posts about the best dog ever, Jasper. I was talking with Adam this weekend, and I told him that I had no idea when we got Jasp that I would end up loving him so much. There he was, sitting on my lap, nervous as can be, and I was thinking to myself, "I just got a dog. That was a lot of money. Did I make the right choice?" It didn't take me long to see that I had definitely made the right choice, and if I knew then what I know now about how he's the perfect dog for us, I would have paid even more (but don't tell that to the breeder!).

I’ll save for another day my list of why Jasper is the best. But this weekend he did two funny things – he was sitting on the bed with Adam and me, and he was scratching his ear with his hind leg. I probably said something to him that caught his attention, so he turned and looked at us, but he was still in itch mode, so he lifted his leg but put it right back down like he had changed his mind. Then he did it again – did the “leg wave” but didn’t actually scratch! And the whole time he was staring straight at us. It was hilarious!

His other funny thing he did this weekend was, while he was playing with Adam, he was up on a recliner, and Adam squeaked his toy, and Jasp leapt off the chair, like a deer! His legs straight below him, like he was just standing mid-air. And I was sitting next to him in the LoveSac, so I got a perfect side view of the leap. Man that was funny! I love that dog.

I know how to play the level...

So, for Labor Day weekend, my husband and I had plans. We were going to spend a day in Evansville and go to the Thresheree, for sure. While we did visit Evansville for a couple of hours (and had some delicious beer battered fries at the Night Owl - yum!) the Thresheree plans didn't go through. We blamed it on the weather, but I think we just liked to have a weekend to lounge around at home. And for us, that means we got to play Donkey Kong on the Wii! In case you haven't played it, Donkey Kong is so much fun! And we have definitely gotten our money's worth. But one thing is funny - they have these little pigs sometimes in the levels. Whenever there is a check-point mid-way through a level, there is a little pig manning the booth. And when you play a level repeatedly without beating it, a little cheering booth pops up at the beginning, with a pig there waving a flag who will show you how to finish the level if you ask. And that little pig gets really annoying. It wouldn't be so bad if he just popped up, but no, he waves his flag around and makes noise that gets irritating. So when Adam and I play and he shows up, I like to say, "I know how to play the level, pig." Then it sounds mean enough for me to get it out of my system, but really I'm just telling him I don't need his help... right?  :-)

I'll be here all week

So if you know me in person, you probably know that I'm a loud sneezer. I have sneezed loudly ever since I can remember. I think I got it from my dad, whom you can hear sneeze from three rooms away :) Anyway, I have a few sneezing stories, but for now, I'll just tell the most recent one.

We had an orientation at work that probably 150+ people were at, including some people I used to work with. I said hello, since I hadn't seen some for a few months, and then sat at my table (we had assigned seats, so I wasn't sitting with the people I knew). Towards the end of the three-hour session, I let loose with a classic "me" sneeze. One of my coworkers a table away said, "That must be Megan."

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen! I'll be here all week. Tip your waiter.

Location, Location... (you know how it ends)

Continuing with the CA/WI differences, another little topic I thought of was cities. Apparently, I am not the only one to notice there are a lot of cities in Wisconsin named after Native American words that you can only pronounce properly if you were raised in Wisconsin. (Or, I guess, if you are Native American yourself.) In California, there are a lot of cities with names in Spanish (easy example: Los Angeles). So while I'm stuck here trying to pronounce things like Oconomowoc (exactly how many o's is one word allowed to have?), when we go out to California for Christmas, my husband has to attempt to say things like Aliso Viejo (which is not pronounced vie-joe, in case my non-Spanish speaking readers were wondering). There are also a bunch of other things here named after Native American tribes - Blackhawk being a prime example. There's a Blackhawk credit union and bank, a technical college, a golf course, and a curling club, and that's just in the Janesville area! Whereas in Southern California, we have little mom-and-pop Mexican food restaurants in every strip mall and the missions founded by the Spanish (most of with start with "San," which means "Saint.") Interesting to note the cultural influences in each state...

And on the Mexican food note, the other day my boss got lunch for us at the Mexican restaurant across the street. Having grown up with said Mexican culture all around in California, I tend to know more about Mexican food than my friends and family in Wisconsin. So, as the "Mexican food resource" at work, I made a recommendation to one of my coworkers to try the flautas (basically taquitos). She decided she would give them a try. Then another coworker decided to get them. Then another... and all of a sudden I was getting nervous, thinking, "What if everyone hates what I recommended? I'd feel so responsible!" But, thankfully, everyone loved it! One coworker said she wanted to give me a hug because it was so good, and she's going to ask me for more recommendations, and another said that the flautas are now her new favorite Mexican entree. So, I ended up pretty pleased that everyone liked their food.

That about does it for today. Go eat a tostada or enchilada for me :)

As I nodded, nearly napping...

So my husband hurt his foot. It’s not really serious, but it’s taking a while to get better. In the meantime, he is pretty restless when he sleeps, and tries to take up the whole bed. After two nights of sleeping up against the wall (no, I don’t mean my shoulder was next to the wall – I mean I was sleeping on my side with my whole body up against the wall, taking up maybe 1/16 of our queen bed), I decided we couldn’t sleep in the same bed while he’s recovering. This presented a problem: we do have a guest bed upstairs, but I am expecting a visitor soon, and I didn’t want to wash the sheets again after having slept in them. I could sleep on the floor or I could sleep on the couch… except that we don’t have a couch. Which leads me to another sub-topic: my husband and I are kind of hippies. We bathe regularly, do not smoke anything, and are faithful to each other, but in other aspects we are hippies. We eat hemp seeds for the health benefits they provide, I rarely shave my legs (I do shave them, just rarely), and we do not have a couch: we have a huge bean-bag like chair called a LoveSac. It’s really amazing, the most comfortable thing ever, but it’s a little non-traditional, to say the least. All that being said, it seemed to be my best non-bed option. I gave it my best shot, and while I definitely got some sleep, I’d say it would have been about the same as if I had stayed in bed with Adam (although I definitely had more room on the LoveSac!). My final opinion is that the LoveSac is great for naps (especially when you really meant to sit and read for a half hour and you end up dozing for more like an hour and a half), but not so great for a whole night’s sleep.

And last night? Well, I got a full night's sleep, but I'll have to wash those sheets upstairs after all.

Wisconsin's SLO

So I usually notice what’s different between California and Wisconsin. Here’s something that I noticed is similar: Madison reminds me a lot of San Luis Obispo. Now, people who have spent more time in both places may not necessarily agree, but from my experience of both, they are alike in many ways. First of all, they are both college towns. Second of all, there are a lot of “hippies” in both cities. These may not be real hippie-hippies, but the sentiment is there – dreadlocks, a lot of biking, and a focus on what is natural. San Luis Obispo goes one step further in not allowing any drive-thrus (they can have a McDonald’s, it just can’t have a drive-thru). So ok I guess that’s really only two things, but maybe that’s because the hippie aspect covers so much. If you like Madison, I would suggest visiting San Luis Obispo (or, as those in the know call it, SLO). I think you would enjoy it.

I think I'll keep this short for today. More observances of life to come.

Grocery Store Adventures

Hello, my name’s Megan, and I am a grocery-store singer.

Let me clarify. I don’t schedule performances at grocery stores. I don’t set up a small stage in produce to belt my show tunes. But… I do tend to sing along when there’s a particularly catchy tune (and not always at the half-voice level you sing at sometimes so no one really hears you). The other day, I was cruising the aisles, and the Turtle’s “Happy Together” came on. What a great song! And I hadn’t heard it in a while, so I was really excited! I launched into grocery-store singer mode, not really self-consciously singing, per se, but just aware that people may notice my singing. I was walking and this tall guy who was probably a few years younger than me was coming towards me. When we got closer, I thought, “He’s going to hear me singing now.” As our carts began to cross paths, I realized that he was singing, too!!! That was so awesome. I’m not alone! A minute later, while the same song was on, during the “ba ba-ba-ba ba’s,” a young father with his daughter was singing, too! Aside from the Tiki Room, this is as close as my life has gotten to being a musical, where everyone spontaneously sings the same song and knows all the choreography.

On a completely unrelated note, I tried the whole wheat linguini at Olive Garden and I liked it! I would have to say I still probably prefer the normal pasta, but I was a little afraid I wouldn’t even like the whole wheat option. This is a good thing, I think. I’ve been holding out on switching over to whole wheat options (the Japanese eat white rice and have one of the lowest national levels of obesity!), but… I’m considering it more and more. I’ve been having oatmeal for breakfast every day for the past couple of weeks and I have noticed that I feel fuller when lunch comes around. It sticks with me more than my normal breakfast of garlic sourdough toast, that’s for sure!

Well I think I’ll wrap up there for today… and happy reading! (my blog or whatever else it is you’re reading)

Let's give this a shot

I've been thinking... I kind of want to start a real blog. What am I going to write about? I'm not really sure yet. For now, I'm going to leave this connected to a blog I started back in high school... approximately 2003. This blog is almost as old as my little sister. I'm hoping I'll be able to revitalize it with current events in my life, as well as humorous (in my opinion!) reminiscences.

Today's topic: Wisconsin translation of California-ese.
As of next week, I will have lived in Wisconsin for two-and-a-half years. Prior to that, I lived in California for 23 years and a couple months. Needless to say, my natural dialect is Californian. I list below the main words/phrases that have a different meaning in Wisconsin that I was not expecting:

1. Pop. In California, this is what happens when you blow a balloon bigger than it should be, or when a normal-sized balloon touches something hot/sharp. In Wisconsin, this means "soda." One local restaurant even advertises that their special includes "two cans of pop." This never ceases to make me smile, mostly to myself, because yes, I realize that I am the odd woman out in this situation!

2. Garden. In California, this refers to the flowers in your yard. In Wisconsin, when they say "garden," they mean "vegetable garden" (which is what we'd call it in California). Why not just say vegetable garden? I like to think that Californians are more specific.

3. Barbecue. In California, a barbecue is either the grilling instrument itself (e.g. "We just got a barbecue!") or the event that revolves around said instrument (e.g. "We're going to have a barbecue this weekend"). In Wisconsin, "barbecue" is talking about barbecued food of some type or other (pork or beef is what I have encountered most often). Hence, when you are in Wisconsin, you would say "We are having barbecue for dinner." Also, the actual instrument is just called a "grill." Instead of saying "I'm going to have a barbecue this weekend," in Wisconsin, you would say "I'm going to grill out this weekend."

4. Ski. In California, you go skiing at Mammoth. In Wisconsin, the same activity is referred to as "downhill skiing." This is to differentiate it from another type of skiing that Wisconsin offers, which is "cross-country skiing." In many conversations I've had with WI residents, I would say "my husband is going to go skiing," after which my conversation partner would invariably ask "Downhill?"

5. Drinking Fountain/Water Fountain. In California, when you come to a park or large building/business, and you're thirsty, you would ask someone if there is a drinking fountain. When I had been working at my first Wisconsin job for a few months, a customer came in and asked me if we had a bubbler. I thought to myself, what the heck is a bubbler! I stammered for a minute, trying to figure out how I could tell this crazy customer that no, we do not have one of those imaginary things you are asking about, when thankfully, another employee chimed in and said "It's right around the corner." She then explained to me that in Wisconsin, specifically in the greater-Madison area, they call this a bubbler. It's actually a cultural term they have embraced to the point of printing t-shirts that say "It's called a bubbler!" on it.

I have accepted these words into my new vocabulary, so that I understand them, but I typically refrain from using them myself. People still know what I'm talking about if I say I'd like a soda... right?

I am kind of oblivious. I miss the most obvious things... a lot. Why is that? I think I get too focused on myself and my immediate world to always notice changes in the world around me. I don't do it on purpose... but that just may be the explanation.

I have been married for almost one year. That is so amazingly cool :-) It's nice having a husband, especially one with whom you are very much in love.

I don't have anything very insightful to say. If I think of anything, though, I'll let you know.

WOW it has been quite a long time since I've posted. No one even reads this, so it doesn't really matter. I thought I forgot my password but google automatically logged me in. Not sure if that's weird or cool... I'll go with cool.

Jasper is the best dog EVER! Not to mention the cutest. Adam and I love him, but not as much as we love each other :-)