Happy Thanksgiving!

Bakin' pies.
We went to bed around 2am. Got up around 6am.
We need to be out the door at 10:30 to get to the Higgs' on time, and I still have three things to bake. lol

But it'll get done.
And, if it doesn't, I'll just donate a pie to the Lindsay foundation or something.

xox

So, I'm taking Lydia's advice and trying to post more to get back into the swing of things..

Currently, I'm trying to clean the apartment and make it at least somewhat presentable for my mother-in-law.
The problem is that we have so little storage that things we don't have room for (ex. the tv Matt was using when he first moved in) just has to sit in the way until we have time to take it back to his parent's house.
So a lot of things we actually do have room for just don't have a place to sit until we can get rid of the extras.
I love love love our apartment, despite all the problems we've had with the landlord.
We have amazing neighbors and the interior is wonderful. I seriously wouldn't change it..
But we have no storage space to speak of whatsoever..
The entire place came with a total of four "closets". Which sounds like a lot for an apartment, right? At least it does in my mind..
But two are in the bathroom (linen closets - one of which has no shelving), one is a pantry (in the kitchen hallway), and the other is in the hallway on the other side of the kitchen.
None in the bedroom.
So we actually had to buy a "closet" for my clothes when Matt first moved in and I was transferring my things over from my parent's house.
And I should mention that all this isn't so much a complaint (because I really mean it when I say that I wouldn't change anything), but an explanation in that... cleaning is quite an ordeal.

Once everything is actually together, it'll be an absolute breeze to maintain. But, with my parents so far away and his hours being what they are.. there's just no time or place to do anything with anything.

So that's pretty much what my night is looking like right now.

Aside from that, I'm going out tomorrow with my mother-in-law.
And I think Matt and I are going to try and get joint checking/savings accounts this weekend at his bank.
And my sister-in-law is coming home for the holidays on Saturday.
And I think I've finally figured out Christmas plans with my parents.

Also, today, I've learned that Chandler has a sick fascination with smoke..
and he can't be left alone with incense for more than a few seconds before he tries to destroy it. He also really enjoys eating blinds... which, of course, doesn't make us look like white trash or anything...

Annnd... yeah.
Back to cleaning.

To Matthew ♥


First day of (non-online) classes today.
Kayla dropped me off at home afterward and we played a round of Mancala.

I wish Matt got off work sooner. :[

I promised icons for Lindsay..

( So here are some icons for Lindsay )


I ♥ you, Nz.






I love this song.</center>

This is mostly posted for Lydia,
but I thought there would be several people that might appreciate it.

BILL HARD : WITH A VENGEANCE


Also, since this is sort of a media post.
If you haven't seen it yet, I highly suggest people check out this blog: This Is Why You're Fat

It's by far my favorite blog to look at besides Not Always Right, which just reminds me too much of my Panera days to not make the top of my list.

If you're not able to click on the link right now, here's an example of what you'll find at TIWYF..


The Hurler Burger :
A burger topped with Easy Cheese in a jelly donut.



OR




The Luther Rory :
A one third pound of sirloin topped with two slices of white American cheese, four strips of bacon, peanut butter, between two Krispy Kreme donuts.





Alternatively, there are some things on there that you're like ".. oh.. that actually looks good to me. *shaaaame*". But that's part of the fun. lol


-------

Yesterday was Matt's birthday.
We had a s'more party/cookout with our neighbors and Matt's friend Matt Thompson on the back porch. It was a lot of fun.
(I wanted to send out lots of invites, but my phone is like.. dead-dead. And Matt had a very limited number of my friends' numbers.)
I made the marshmallows myself! And I'm really proud of them. They're delicious (and green, since it was Matt's birthday.. and he needed them to be more colorful). And Matt and I have been toasting the leftovers on the oven.
I made us a spaghetti dinner while the boys played Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I didn't get to spend much time with Matt, honestly, since I was so busy with the background work, but I know he had a fantastic night. Which, in turn, makes it so that I had a fantastic night.

I got to talk to Kevin for a while when we were up on the deck. He's such a nice guy. Overall, we have the nicest, sweetest neighbors we could have possibly hoped to have. We're really lucky.

Judi's son is coming to live on 3rd street with us this weekend.

I've been sick all week. Today, I woke up and I was so dizzy that I could barely stand.
But it's been a very eventful week.

By the way, to anyone who would like to see some actual pictures of the flooding, my roommate sent me this flickr stream from one of her friends: here.

♥
Bee.

So I basically swam home from work..
But at least I had plenty of time to perfect my backstroke, since they closed down the campus at 11am.
The Houchens building is, apparently, on the news and completely flooded.
People were.. like, literally, swimming to their cars to take pictures for their insurance. ha.
Oh, Kentucky.
Your hills + your weather = swimming pools.

Katie's coming over tonight for dinner.
I haven't seen her in such a long time; I miss her presence next door.

Matt's birthday is on Thursday!

Which reminds me..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LYDIA! ♥
I'm glad to have met you.

I'm baking a surprise for Mr. Higgs right now. <3

I gave Matt his birthday present early. We pretty much haven't put it down since he opened the box.

Chandler is getting so big; I can't believe it.

I got back on Facebook. I doubt I'll really stay on for very long, but I wanted to see if I would like it any better after I'd separated myself from it all for a while.

I'm going to play sweet Ocarina tunes to the oven.
It'll make what's inside more delicious, I'm sure.

♥

"Philosophers have explained space. They have not explained time. It is the inexplicable raw material of everything. With it, all is possible; without it, nothing. The supply of time is truly a daily miracle, an affair genuinely astonishing when one examines it. You wake up in the morning, and lo! your purse is magically filled with twenty-four hours of the unmanufactured tissue of the universe of your life! It is yours. It is the most precious of possessions. A highly singular commodity, showered upon you in a manner as singular as the commodity itself!

For remark! No one can take it from you. It is unstealable. And no one receives either more or less than you receive.

Talk about an ideal democracy! In the realm of time there is no aristocracy of wealth, and no aristocracy of intellect. Genius is never rewarded by even an extra hour a day. And there is no punishment. Waste your infinitely precious commodity as much as you will, and the supply will never be withheld from you. No mysterious power will say:--"This man is a fool, if not a knave. He does not deserve time; he shall be cut off at the meter." It is more certain than consols, and payment of income is not affected by Sundays. Moreover, you cannot draw on the future. Impossible to get into debt! You can only waste the passing moment. You cannot waste to-morrow; it is kept for you. You cannot waste the next hour; it is kept for you.

I said the affair was a miracle. Is it not?

You have to live on this twenty-four hours of daily time. Out of it you have to spin health, pleasure, money, content, respect, and the evolution of your immortal soul. Its right use, its most effective use, is a matter of the highest urgency and of the most thrilling actuality. All depends on that. Your happiness--the elusive prize that you are all clutching for, my friends!--depends on that. Strange that the newspapers, so enterprising and up-to-date as they are, are not full of "How to live on a given income of time," instead of "How to live on a given income of money"! Money is far commoner than time. When one reflects, one perceives that money is just about the commonest thing there is. It encumbers the earth in gross heaps.

If one can't contrive to live on a certain income of money, one earns a little more--or steals it, or advertises for it. One doesn't necessarily muddle one's life because one can't quite manage on a thousand pounds a year; one braces the muscles and makes it guineas, and balances the budget. But if one cannot arrange that an income of twenty-four hours a day shall exactly cover all proper items of expenditure, one does muddle one's life definitely. The supply of time, though gloriously regular, is cruelly restricted.

Which of us lives on twenty-four hours a day? And when I say "lives," I do not mean exists, nor "muddles through." Which of us is free from that uneasy feeling that the "great spending departments" of his daily life are not managed as they ought to be? Which of us is quite sure that his fine suit is not surmounted by a shameful hat, or that in attending to the crockery he has forgotten the quality of the food? Which of us is not saying to himself-- which of us has not been saying to himself all his life: "I shall alter that when I have a little more time"?

We never shall have any more time. We have, and we have always had, all the time there is. It is the realisation of this profound and neglected truth (which, by the way, I have not discovered) that has led me to the minute practical examination of daily time- expenditure."

-- How to Live on 24 Hours a Day, Arnold Bennett

To anyone who is on Daily Lit with me, you may want to check out this book.
In some ways it seems a bit outdated, but I've really enjoyed reading the first few installments.
Time (or, rather, loss of time) has always been something disturbing to me. I hate that feeling of looking down and seeing hours have flown by without my knowledge.
And how elated are we all when you look down after work and realize "oh! it's earlier than I thought!" Now I can do [this], [this], and [that] before bed! Or even go to bed early? (Although, I don't personally ever help myself with that like I should.)

I doubt this book has much more than we already know.. But I thought this particular segment was worthy of note, if not for its originality, at least for its statement of truth. ♥

For all my fellow book-loving office dwellers (or anyone else who may be interested), you might check out THIS site.
I'm sure several of you have heard of it, but I just discovered it for myself today and wanted to share.
My job includes a lot of waiting for things to process.
It's much better than waiting for blogs to update in between scanning files. :]

There seems to be some form of social networking system going on there, too.
So if anyone figures it out, feel free to friend me. ♥

xox
Bee.

Michael Jackson died. D:
I can't believe it!
It's so sad..


My mom and I still dance around the kitchen to his music.
It feels so weird to listen to his music now that he's gone after I spent so much time with his voice in my head.


We've lost some of the most talented entertainers in this past year.
Cyd Charisse in the fall.. and now MJ! And all sorts of losses in between (David Carradine, Bernie Mac, etc..).
Crazy times.

So, basically, after all the gas-leak issues have been resolved..
I freakin' love our apartment.

It's amazing and I'm so excited to start decorating and having parties there.
We're starting to move furniture over this weekend. ♥



My parents have been so great about the wedding. I know it's assumed that parents will pay for it, but I don't want to ever take it for granted what they're sacrificing during a very difficult time in our lives, as a family (what with the sorta-move and my dad having to, basically, live two lives just to be around for us), and, especially, in this current economy.
Matt took me to Shane Co and I, essentially, spent way more money than I have to spend, but it was worth it.
This will be my last mother's day being under my mother's/grandmother's wing.. and I felt like we needed to commemorate it properly.
And I'm glad I had the funds to get them something unexpected and extravagant (even if I won't be able to do that again for a while).



I cannot wait for Sunday.
Matt's coming home from college for good.
It hit me the other day that he'll never have to drive home on the weekends again. And that I can just go and see him any day I feel like.
"Hey, baby! I'm hungry! Can you make me dinner?"
"Sure, I'll be over in five minutes; let me get some shoes on and I'll walk on over."
That's boggles my mind!

So, this is basically how I feel about life right now..






How about you?

I need to do my nails; they've been bare for too long, and I spent way too much money on nail-care in the past month to excuse it.

I'm ready for Matt to move back home. It sucks being apart from him like this.
By the time we get married, we will have been together for over FOUR years. FOUR YEARS. That's a helluva long time. And, during that four years, the vast (VAST) majority of our relationship has been long-distance.
I can't wait for him to move in two weeks. He'll be in apartment that's only 3 blocks away, which is insane.
And it's great that I have some of my closest friends nearby, as well. Hooray for being within walking distance of people you like.
It's a good thing.


I met therussianenemy (aka Lydia) last night at Nz's party.
She's pretty damn awesome.



ps. Listening to Pandora... "Gaston" from Beauty and the Beast comes on quite randomly. lulz. Weren't we talking about that song last night at one point?
That song is one of, maybe, two songs that can always make me laugh.

FALSE.

Black Bear.






FACT: Bears eat Beets.

Bears.
Beets.
Battlestar-Galactica.

I am done for the semester and, officially, free to not worry about school until Spring.

On the way out of the class, I met a kid named Jeff that I sat with most of the semester.
I think I'd like to keep up contact with him. He seems like a cool guy and I think he and Matt would get along.

I biked down Hill Street after class; our apartment is all fixed!
Hallelujah! Finally, it is no longer a thorn in our side.

Now, I'm going to eat some lucky charms, do my nails, and read.




QUESTION:
What kind of bear is best?

I live on 3rd street.

Come and play with me! ♥

Lol...
At this point, I might as well stay up and finish the patch. Get a cooking daily in or something..


I started moving my things into Judi's today yesterday.
It's hard to believe I'll be completely fending for myself by this time next week.


LINK
I want this on my Pod.

LINK
And just about everything in this video makes me laugh..