A Heart of Thanks

I am anticipating not writing a blog post tomorrow, so I want to take the opportunity today (the day before) to wish everyone a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

As I reflect on the past year, I see I have much to be thankful for. I would love to share some of them with you now:

• I am incredibly thankful for my house, which over the past year has really become my home.
• I am grateful for all of the people (especially family) who have helped us work on the house; doing electrical work, knocking down walls, fixing up the garage, redesigning the bathroom, picking up the yard... and the list goes on.
• I praise God for my husband, lovely Hubby, who is full of patience and understanding. This past year has been a good one for us, with a great vacation and lots of laughs- I give thanks for that.
• I am very grateful for my job, which I enjoy immensely. I love the people that I work with, the transparency and mission of the school, and the stability that my job offers (I know that none of these things can be be taken for granted, especially in today's economy).
• I give thanks for my grad school education. I am thankful I am almost done, but more importantly, I am thankful for everything I have learned and how I have been challenged over the last three years.
• I am thankful for my dogs (of course- they're so sweet).
• Lastly, I am thankful for my family, both my extended family and Hubby's. We are blessed with wonderful peeps.

So now, as I sit down to my waffle breakfast... I implore you to consider all that you have to be thankful for and to give thanks to the Lord.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Psalm 118

Sick...

Hubby and I are definitely in the holiday spirit. We've even finished half of our Christmas shopping (it's like a dream come true). Our fingers are just itching to pull the Christmas tubs up from the basement and find ourselves a tree to decorate (no fake ones for us now that we have a house with 12 foot ceilings)...

First however, we need to enjoy Thanksgiving. I am a true believer in no Christmas decorations before Turkey Day. Besides, I love my fall decorations too much to not give them a fair shake. My snowmen and evergreen garland can wait a couple more days.

As you may of noticed though... this blog post is not about my holiday decorating, it's about this past weekend: Hubby actually got sick! Hubby pretty much is never sick; that's my job.

Sure enough, on Saturday evening he went to let out his brother's dogs. When he was returning to the house, he lost his dinner all over the front lawn (it was chili for those of you who wonder about gross things like that). All of Saturday night, he was running back and forth between the bathroom and the bedroom.

I was praying he would feel better in the morning, but no such luck. On Sunday he actually got a fever and his whole body was aching. I tried my best to take care of him, but I am a firm believer in- the bigger the guy, the bigger the baby when sick (have I ever mentioned that I am married to a guy that could be an NFL linebacker?)

I did the only thing I could do- I left to do some Christmas shopping and get my hair cut (it looks amazing by the way- thanks Brittany). When I returned, Hubby was still feeling down-and-out, watching football and moaning. I slipped him some Tylenol PM and that seemed to do the trick. By the time bedtime rolled around, his fever was down and he was even hungry.

Thankfully, Monday morning Hubby was feeling back to his old self. It seems like he doesn't get ill very often, but when he does- it hits hard. Now, we are just praying I don't get sick too. Hopefully, the entire bottle of Lysol I sprayed around the house on Sunday, killed all of the germs.

Here's to hoping... I really love pumpkin pie too much to not be able to eat it on Thursday.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving everyone!

It Is What It Is

I’m jamming out the homework right now folks. This past weekend I wrote a reflective paper on my current class work and I wrote one of my comprehensive exam essays. For the past two days, I have been reading a book on cross-cultural conflict that is due on Thursday. In addition, I am in the midst of preparing for my second comprehensive exam essay that I will write tonight.

In the back of my mind, I am also preparing for my final research paper due the Thursday after Thanksgiving. For my research paper, I need eight resources that are not already being used in my class. Now if only I knew what I was going to write my paper on, I would be in much better shape.

Full disclosure- I actually know that I am going to analyze case studies in my final paper; I just don’t know what the case studies are going to be yet. Anyone have any ideas for case studies concerning intercultural communication conflict? I have a couple of personal options based on my time in the Czech Republic and Costa Rica, but I just don’t know if they are complex enough.

On the home front, we finally turned our furnace on one day before November. We were trying to make it all the way to November 1^st, but when we could see our breath in the living room- we decided it was time to call it. The unfortunate thing is that the weather turned crazy warm again the very next week (like 70 degrees!) What is with this Illinois weather and please don’t go Al Gore on me and say global warming.

Another unfortunate thing… Hubby and I were not able to paint the garage, the front porch, or the front door (it needs another coat) before the weather turned too cold. My wifely nagging fell through. I was incredibly bummed by all of this until Hubby reminded me that soon the snow will arrive and everything will look white anyway. What a funny, but pretty much true perspective- he’s forgiven.

Bon Appetite!

Tonight, Hubby and I ended up throwing an impromptu dinner party.

While shopping for butter earlier this afternoon (to make snicker-doodles don't cha know), Hubby noticed that beef roast was on sale for $1.99 a pound. It was too good of a deal to pass up, so we threw it in the cart and brought it home for dinner.

I was planning on a casual dinner with Hubby- eating my food while finishing a reflection paper for class. You see, this weekend I have to write a reflection paper and final research paper for my class and two exams that are part of my masters comprehensive exams. Studying is definitely the order for the weekend and not fine dining.

Around 4ish however, Hubby's mom called to see what we were up to. You see- we used to live in Hubby's parent's house right after we were married. They graciously allowed us to build a cute one bedroom apartment in their basement. When we lived there, they gave us a lot of space, but we still talked to them just about everyday. Now, we live down the street (it is very Everybody Loves Raymond- believe me) and it is not uncommon for Hubby's mom to call up and see what is going on.

Much to my surprise (note- not chagrin), Hubby invited his mother over for dinner. Immediately, my mind went to planning sides and such. Then somehow, I went from throwing together sides to planning a fun, candlelight dinner for three. I pulled out my harvest tablecloth, a few candelabras, my nice dinner plates and matching silverware (big time is when all of the silverware has the same pattern). I even decided to pull out the etched wine glasses that Hubby's uncle bought us for our wedding.

It was only then that I realized that we didn't have wine in the house. So, it was off to Aldi where I bought some bottles of Winking Owl wine (red of course), dinner rolls and salad mix.

When I returned home, Hubby was on the phone with our sister-in-law. I guess our little nephew had lost his mitten at our house earlier in the day when we were babysitting (except all along- the mitten was really in his diaper bag. Go figure). While he was on the phone, Hubby decided "the more, the merrier" and he invited them to dinner too.

In the end, we had more than enough food for the five of us (six if you count the plate that was sent home for Hubby's brother). We had the beef roast, cooked to perfection at medium rare and a yummy horseradish cream sauce to go with the beef. We also had mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, roasted carrots with garlic (carrots two ways because Hubby and I each prefer them cooked differently- can you guess which was my choice?), dinner rolls, and a spring green salad with goat cheese crumbles, Honeycrisp apple slices and walnuts- dressed with a strawberry balsamic vinaigrette.

The food was absolutely delicious and the ambiance was perfection with the candles and a little Sinatra in the background. None of our guests were expecting such a fancy dinner, but I think it made them smile.

I really enjoyed the dinner myself. It is nice to go above and beyond every once in a while. It was especially nice to create such a warm atmosphere on such a cold and blustery day. Now, I am ready for bed- stuffed with hearty food and with nary a paper completed...

There's always tomorrow. Say a prayer for me- will you?

Black and White

Yesterday, I posted about my guest room. Today, I want to mention another plan I have in action right now. I am currently in the middle of doing something that is affecting all of the art and photographs in my house.

I am attempting to make all of my frames either black or white. I like eclecticism- I really do and my house is proof of that. What I dislike is the different wood tone frames with the wood trim and floors in the house- it just seems like too much.

Instead of going out and buying all new white and black frames, I decided to DIY and spray paint all of the frames that are not already white or black, which is most of them. Hubby helped me pick out a high gloss black and white spray paint at our local hardware store. So far, the process has been successful. I have converted 5 frames with no hiccups. Probably the hardest part has been sanding the frames a bit to make sure the paint will hold. I really love the outcome thus far.

Take a gander at these black and white frame combos and maybe you'll understand why I was inspired to give it a go...

A Room Fit for a Guest

What a hectic couple of weeks. I was working on Part 1 of my comprehensive exams this past weekend. In addition, my little nephew spent the night at my house for the first time. Both the exam and the sleepover went well. Or at least, I think the exam went over well- I won’t know that for sure until a couple of weeks go by. I can attest however, that my nephew slept very well in the newly finished guest room.

Have I ever described the guest room to you? It has a cozy farm theme in ode to my mother’s roots. I have an old white bed in there (it used to be mine when I was in high school and then my older sister slept in it before that). I have some old quilts, farm pictures, and some samplers. I would really like to find an old dresser that I can put a basin and pitcher on. I am keeping an eye on Craigslist for the dresser.

One of my other ideas for the farm room is currently in action. I was wandering through Target the other day, perusing the clearance end-caps, when I came across some mustard colored plates (a nice mustard color- not a gross one). I ended up going home with four plates for $3.00! Now, I am waiting for my large black stickers to arrive. Once they do, I am going to trace stencils of farm animals on the stickers and cut them out. The four new animal silhouettes will get attached to the plates and then hung above the bed like a headboard.

I'm excited to see what it will look like when it is all finished!

I'm not sure if I have mentioned this or not, but I am in the process of getting my masters degree in Intercultural Studies. I started two years ago and have been taking four credits a semester ever since. As of right now, I am slated to graduate in December of 2011.

Today, is actually the first day of my comprehensive exams. I have been waiting all morning for my first essay question to be posted on the class page at noon. In all, there are two parts to the comprehensive exam. I am most anxious for this first part because it is based on class material I studied two years ago. The second part of the exam is based on the class I am currently taking and the one I had before it.

Wish me luck- they just posted the first exam essay question. Oh man- I feel anxious....