What a Good Book!

Although I love to read, it's not often that I find a book that I just really really enjoy. And usually I would rather stab my eyes out than read a sappy love story, but this book was different. It was so original and poignant and somewhat of a challenge to read. And it made me sob uncontrollably at the end.

Here's a better review that I could ever give...

"Henry De Tamble, a rather dashing librarian at the famous Newberry Library in Chicago, finds himself unavoidably whisked around in time. He disappears from a scene in, say, 1998 to find himself suddenly, usually without his clothes, which mysteriously disappear in transit, at an entirely different place 10 years earlier-or later. During one of these migrations, he drops in on beautiful teenage Clare Abshire, an heiress in a large house on the nearby Michigan peninsula, and a lifelong passion is born. The problem is that while Henry's age darts back and forth according to his location in time, Clare's moves forward in the normal manner, so the pair are often out of sync. But such is the author's tenderness with the characters, and the determinedly ungimmicky way in which she writes of their predicament [...] that the book is much more love story than fantasy. It also has a splendidly drawn cast, from Henry's violinist father [...] to Clare's odd family and a multitude of Chicago bohemian friends. [...] It is a fair tribute to her skill and sensibility to say that the book leaves a reader with an impression of life's riches and strangeness rather than of easy thrills." from Amazon.com

The wife's thoughts and feelings about her husband echo many of the feelings I have about my own husband. And this book made me realize how precious time is and how lucky I am to get to be with the person I love so much every single day. So if you want a good read and a good cry, this book is definitely for you!

House Contract Update

Well Mike talked to our landlord about buying the house again last night. It's the first time we've heard from her in about a month and a half. Apparently she is "still working" on the contract for us. Pssssh. Whatever. This was all supposed to be done by June. I believe she's trying to back out of the deal, which is fine, but I wish she'd just tell us!!

So for now, Mike and I have put our house flipping dreams on hold and are exploring other options. We've been browsing other houses in the area, but the problem is that we have very little credit history so the banks are not going to want to give us a loan. So we decided to focus on boosting our credit and maybe in a year or so, if this house contract deal falls through, we will be able to qualify for a loan and buy a house! We were approved for our first credit card this week and have plans to open a joint savings account the first day we both have off from work. With all of that and steady work throughout the year, our prospects will look a lot better next summer. That's the plan at least. We still really hope we can buy the house we're in, but we're not putting all our eggs in one basket.

Now I must get ready for work. I go in at 11:30 today, which was exciting for me because I got to sleep late this morning! Hooray!!!!

A Dog Blog Just For Sam

Daaaaa, hi Sam. It's me, Buddy.



Meggie told me that you were missing me! Daaaa I miss you too! I hope they are giving you lots of treats while you are getting smart at obedience school. Can you roll over yet? I hope that you come visit me soon. But don't worry about me, I am having lots of fun here at home.



Here's Chewy sticking out his tongue at me. You will pay, cat.

Here's that bone stealing friend of mine.



We like to play. Wanna watch? (Caution, we doggies are loud. So are the humans.) Notice that Mom sounds like a man when we jump on her. She's so funny!



Here's me again. Daaaa, don't I look regal?



And again.



I hate to tell you...



but that creepy leprechaun is back... and he's a remote control hog... he won't let me watch Animal Planet.


And those darn dinosaurs have migrated to the piano.



Well I'm tired from my puppy romp. I'm going to go lay on doggie island and have a nice late night doggie nap until they let me go to bed. I hope those dinos don't keep me awake playing Chopsticks again.

Daaaaa, night night sister!



Love,
Buddy

A better day...

Today was a complete 180 from the day I had yesterday. (I almost put 360, but that didn't make a lick of sense...)

I subbed again for the same teacher I did yesterday, so I fixed the lesson problem without anyone knowing what a ding dong I am.

I'm booked to work for the rest of the week and 3 days next week already. Sweet!

There was no vomit in my general vicinity today.

I did not get pulled over. (I made extra long stops at all of the signs today just to be safe.)

And I bought a new shirt and super cute pocket calendar just because I wanted them.

Life is good again.

Oh, Mondays

Today I went to work at one of my favorite schools. Things were looking up... I got to work in a Special Education classroom that only had 2 students. The students were a first and a second grader. We worked on measuring and adding, and some reading lessons. A nice easy day.

Wrong.

I was struck with a case of the Mondays.

First off, I screwed up and gave each student the wrong reading lesson. You'd think since there were only 2 of them I could keep them straight, but no. I couldn't fix the mistake either because I realized it waaaay too late. Crap.

Then I found out I had cafeteria duty, a job that consists of prowling the lunchroom controlling wild hooligans and opening ketchup packets. No sweat... I've done that a thousand times before. Plus that means I don't have outside recess duty where I'll get hot and icky and all together irritable. So everything goes well, until then end of my shift. As I'm dismissing kids to empty their trays, one kid pukes directly into his lap.

EWWW!

I run over to him and help clean him up enough to go to the nurse. I handed him towels, baby wipes, and trash bags. But he was only a first grader and wasn't able to really help himself too much. That's where the good ole universal precautions training kicked in. I suited up in my big gloves and spent most of my lunch hour helping him clean up as much as I could, then sent him on his little way to the nurse. Needless to say, I chose not to eat lunch due to my close encounter of the puking kind Bleh.

After school, somewhere on my way home, I apparently failed to make a complete stop at a stop sign. Mr. Copper decides to pull me over. I didn't realize this until I had pulled into my own driveway, started to get out of my car and noticed the police cruiser pulled up behind me with his lights flashing for all my neighbors to see.

#%$&*!!!
(fill in you favorite cuss word here)

He was really a nice police officer though, much different than the last time I was pulled over. When he asked for my license and registration, he saw my dad's unusual first name (Autis) and asked me about it. He talked to me awhile about names in my family, then wondered back to his car to punch in my info. Thankfully (very very thankfully) he returned with only a verbal warning to drive a little more carefully.

When I got into the house, I put my stuff down, took the dog out, then walked to the couch to get ready to take a very long nap to escape this bout of the Mondays. Oh, but no such luck. I walked directly into a very large house plant that had been knocked upside down and ground into the carpet by one of the beasts in the house (my money's on Marley Cat... the terrorizing kitten of doom).

After the cleaning, I proceeded to take my nap. Success!

Really, not a horrible day... just one of those that nothing seems to go right. When you look on the bright side of things, today could have been a lot worse. I could have taught the students a completely wrong subject. Or ended with 26 kids puking or I could have contracted the death virus again. Or I could have been dragged to jail due to stopping habits. Or came home to the gerbil cage knocked upside down with a half eaten gerbil carcass in it. So I guess I'm lucky in the end.

When Mike called to say he was one his way home from work just now, I declared it a pizza night. Why tempt burning down the house or exploding the grill on a case of Mondays when you can order out? Oh yeah, that's right, Monday... I just outsmarted you!

Look at that other dog wearing a backpack...

Buddy wanted in on the backpack action too. We took this picture especially for Sam, who starts her first day as a jr/sr at IU tomorrow. Buddy says he's ready to go back to school too.

Look at that dog wearing a backpack...

Scout got a doggie backpack in the mail today. I was browsing the camping gear on ebay last week and stumbled on one of these babies. I found the thought of walking down the street with people pointing and saying, "Look at that dog wearing a backpack!" simply irresistible. Next thing I know, I bid $5 and won it. Woohoo! Mike made fun of me for buying it, but he ended up laughing harder than I did while we watched her walk around sideways in it. And I told him it would be just like having a really, really excited purse on legs. Because everyone needs one of those, right?

A Second Helping of Cupcakes

So the last batch of cupcakes were a big hit. Mike especially liked them. He was very sad when I told him that I gave the last of them away to my parents to try. So on his request, I went to work on another batch of cupcakes. I didn't have all of the ingredients for the Black Bottom Cupcakes, so I settled on making homemade dingdongs. Dingdong is the name I lovingly refer to Mike as when he inevitably forgets or loses something, so I told him it was a perfect name for a dessert requested by him.

So here they are:

Homemade Ding Dongs


(No, they're not perfect round and shiny like the store bought ones, but I like to think that mine have character.)

Batter:
3 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1/3 c. cocoa powder
2 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1 c. water
1 c. veggie oil
1 t. vanilla

Filling: (
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. shortening
2 c. powdered sugar
1 pinch of salt
3 T milk
1/2 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, mix flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda and salt. Add milk, eggs, water, oil, and vanilla. Mix well. Fill muffin liners 1/2 way full. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool.

Make the filling while the cupcakes cool. Beat butter and shortening until smooth. Blend in powdered sugar and a pinch of salt. Gradually beat in 1/2 t. vanilla and 3 T milk. Beat until light and fluffy. Fill pastry bag with filling. Push pastry tip through bottom of cupcake liners and inject filling. Fill until the cupcake begins to bulge.

A side note, I didn't have a fancy pastry bag, so I used a ziplock bag. I also didn't have a fancy pastry bag tip, so I rammed a cooking thermometer in the bottom of the cupcakes, wiggled it around a little, removed it, then shoved the end of the ziplock bag into the little opening. Be careful not to squeeze your Ziplock bag too hard or else it will bust all and you will have filling up to your elbows. Also, don't fill the cupcakes with too much filling, or the top will explode with goo like a tiny volcano made of cake. Which would actually be kind of cool. Over fill if you dare.

Check out the clouds...

It was such a beautiful day today. We took a quick drive through the country earlier and I snapped a few pictures of the clouds.

Recipe of the Week

A wise man (no wait, I think it was 50 Cent) once said, "I love you like a fat kid loves cake." Well I must be that fat kid because I love cake. A lot. The only thing I love more than cake are cupcakes. I can't resist a tiny little cake mini me. Tonight the cupcake monkey was on my back, so I decided to try out a new recipe I've had my eye on for awhile.

Introducing:
The Black Bottom Cupcake


(Excuse the crappy picture)

Don't they look good? I was surprised how pretty they looked... just a simple little black and white cupcake. The best thing about these cupcakes is that they don't need any icing since they have a kind of gooey filling inside, perfect for those who aren't frosting fans. It passed the Mike test too, with flying colors. He ate two in rapid succession, declaring them a 10 out of 10. Success! But bewarrrre, they are super rich and you gain 5 lbs by just looking at one.

The Black Bottom Cupcake

Batter
1-1/2 c flour
1 c sugar
1/4 c cocoa
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c water
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 T vinegar
1 t vanilla

Filling
8 oz cream cheese
1/3 c sugar
1 egg
dash of salt
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put cupcake liners in your cupcake pan. Spray liners with cooking spray.
2. Make filling. Cream the cream cheese and sugar. Mix in egg and salt until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips, then set aside.
3. Make batter. Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla and mix well.
4. Fill each cupcake liner a little more than 1/2 way full with batter.
5. Drop a generous spoonful of filling on top of each cupcake. (Mine was a very generous spoonful.)
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes. About 10 minutes into baking, sprinkle cup cakes tops with extra chocolate chips for extra gooeyness. (The toothpick test doesn't work very well with these cupcakes. I had a tough time deciding when they were done because I live and die by the toothpick in the cake test. I had to just eye it the last 5 minutes.)

We ate ours "cupcake ala mode." Because the only thing I love more than cupcakes, are cupcakes with ice cream...

A-camping we will go

I just made reservations for our little camping trip in October. I, not liking to be too hot or too cold or too anything uncomfortable, am not an avid camper. Mike, on the other hand, would sleep outdoors by a fire every night if I would let him. We have never seen eye to eye about it... every time Mike would mention going camping, I would openly hiss and growl at the thought of going. I hate being cold when I sleep. I hate smelling like a campfire. I hate peeing in the woods. Plus I've had several not so fun camping experiences in my past. But being the good little wife I am, I told him that I'd give it another try just for him. So I reserved a campsite at Lincoln State Park for 2 nights during the first week of October. I'm hesitant about it all, but I'm kind of excited. There's lots of trails, canoe rentals, and we could bring Scout if we wished to do so... I like all of that. It's especially nice because it's pretty close to where we live, so if things go too terribly awry, we can always go home and sleep in our nice warm bed. Mike's really pushing for the dog to come, but I don't know if I can handle the great outdoors and a crazy dog all at the same time. So now I have a month and a half to brush up on my survival skills and gather supplies, then a-camping we will go!

A Limerick for my Sister

Samanatha is my wee sister,
When she's at school, I will miss her.
Sometimes she is mean,
but ever so clean,
and I hope that she never gets blisters.

The End.

Gosh, I'm so good...
Good luck at school and have a great year Sammy!

Nagasaki Inn

Today we went to the Nagasaki Inn for Sam's farewell lunch. It was my first time to ever eat at a Japanese restaurant. I've always been too intimidated to eat at one... don't really know why. Anyways, Sam requested to go there so we all happily obliged. We sat at one of the hibachi grills and ate sushi and watched the teppanyaki chef (I had to look that one up) put on a show while he cooked our food. He was really talented... he could throw spatulas, spin eggs, make onion volcanoes, and crack corny jokes. The sushi was delicious and the food was some of the best Asian food I've ever had. Yum!



And if you're part of my family, you can't go to a restaurant with chopsticks without making walrus tusks!


Mike must be a maniac walrus! Just look at that face!


Dad is the most serious walrus ever. Mom is looking a little vampire-ish. And Sam is staring into your soul.

And here's me a little later, where I found the most, ahem, odd shaped dog toy. I'll let your dirty little brains do the rest...



Well that's all I've got. We're headed up to Bloomington tomorrow to see Sam off. 5+ hours with my family in a car should be quite interesting. I'm glad my family is so much fun!

Happy Belated 25th Anniversary!

Tonight my sister and I cooked my parents a marvelous dinner as an anniversary present. After being married and totally devoted to each other for 25 years, they deserved a nice night out. Since we couldn't really afford to send them out for a night on the town, we decided to make a gourmet dinner, set the table, and play some smooth jazz music to serve them at our own restaurant, Sameg (original name, huh?). We planned to have it on their actual anniversary, but the death virus struck us all (except for dad, he was spared) and we had no choice but to reschedule. So with everyone finally happy and healthy tonight, dinner was served!


Mom and Dad got to help pick out the menu. We decided to feast on bacon wrapped jalepenos and cream cheese, wilted spinach salad with warm bacon dressing, roasted chicken with potatoes, lemon and asparagus, and molten lava cakes ala mode. See the wonderful place setting? Oh how I loves my Fiestaware!


Here are the two lovebirds. Talk about some goofy faces!

Here's our pretty table scape. The little bride and groom stood on top of their wedding cake 25 years ago, then on my wedding cake two months ago. No pressure, Sam.



Everything turned out surprisingly delicious! Especially the lava cakes. They were rich and gooey and borderline sinful. Here's Sam in mid chocolate death.



Don't worry Sam, Scout will save you!!



After dinner, the boys played some racing games on the Xbox and the girls got silly. We looked at more funny lunch boxes online for a while and mom bid on one. We'll see if she wins in a few hours. Then we gave Buddy a new hairdo.


Hey Mr. Talley man!

All in all a great night! Tomorrow we're all going for lunch to the Nagasaki Inn for Sam's going away outing. She already had a party, but has decided that she needs a farewell lunch too. Then on Sunday, Mike and I will be making the trek up to Bloomington with them where we'll help Sam move in her room and hopefully visit some of our friends that are still in the area.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!! Your marriage is truly an inspiration. Mike and I hope we are as happy as you two are together after 25 years! We love you!!!

Bento Boxes

Today I've been browsing the internet for a new lunch box type of thing to take to work with me because my old one is looking and smelling pretty gnarly. Why so gross? Well, one day a few weeks ago, at the beginning of this killer heat wave, Mike had the bright idea of putting his almost-but-not-completely-empty beer cans back in it, zipping it up, throwing it in the trunk of the car, and promptly forgetting about it. I discovered it in the truck and opened it up today and bleeeeeeeh. There's no way I'm taking that baby to school anymore!

So anyways, I was looking around for a new one when a came across these cool little Japanese lunch boxes called bento boxes. It's basically a regular lunch box that has little sectioned off places with lids so that you food doesn't touch... a perfect choice for me because I have a major issue with my foods touching. I try to keep everything separated at all costs, and when they touch, I eat way around it, not letting it get close to my mouth. I don't know why I have such an aversion to it. Always have. I also usually eat my food in clockwise order on my plate, but that's a whole other story...

I looked on ebay to see if I could find a decent one to buy. I wanted one similar to these, but not quite that expensive:

See the cool little compartments? Ahh, no more soggy bread from sweaty ziplock bags or mismatched tupperware! And no food touching!

But what I found was so much better. While I found the expected Hello Kitty and other Japanese anime type cartoons, I found other very interesting examples of these lunch boxes. Take a walk with me through pictures.


What a polite little lunch box!


Either the cat or the bee is saying, "Follow me! Follow me!" I wonder where they are going?


"Orange Boy. Very Juicy." Indeed.


This one says "Little fishes guide you to the land of happiness. Happy Together." Lead the way little fishies!


"When time passes slowly, a heart can be relaxed." Sounds like a fortune cookie on crack.


"So it became large." Elephants and apples? What?


I seriously almost bid on this one, because who wouldn't want to eat their lunch out of something that looked like their lunch? But then I thought about all the attention and awkward lunch conversations that this would cause, so I decided no.

And finally,


"Which seems to be delicious? Son. Mam. Daddy." If I pick one do I have to eat it? I'm not so keen on wiping out a family of bees in one bite.

How strange. I never ended up finding one, but I got a good laugh from some of them. So for now, I will be sticking to my sweaty ziplock bags and mismatched tupperware. But if you desire one of these odd little boxes, search ebay for bento boxes and you could have one of these little gems. A talking point at every meal, I'm sure.

Mrsiss Alverson????

So for my sub job yesterday, I went back to my favorite school where I worked a lot last year. Most of the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade kiddos know me there, so it was great to see them all again and they were happy to see me. Funny part was, they all knew I was getting married over the summer, so they knew my name was supposed to change, but didn't really know what they were supposed to call me. I got all sorts of puzzled looks and worried whispers, and finally a brave student would come up to me every once in a while and ask, "What is your name now? What do we call you?" With a big smile, I told them not to worry, they could call me by either name and I would answer. A look of relief would wash over their face and they would scamper off to their little group of friends and relay the news. One kid decided I should just combine my last names into Alverson and be done with it... I told them it was a good idea in theory, but then I'd just have 3 names to be confused with instead of two. They thought hard about it for a second and then decided I should just stick with my old name, "because you'll always be Miss Alvey to me!" Aww, I love some of those kids!

I'm really lucky to be able to spend most of my sub days at that school because I'm able to get to know the students a little better, which makes my job a lot easier in the end. I already know their names and personalities, and in turn, they already know that I'm nice and laid back and like to give out free hugs, but they also know they shouldn't mess around with me... they fear my whistle and my demerit giving powers. Not a bad deal at all.

Back to School... Back to School

Tomorrow I have my first subbing gig of the school year! Woohoo! Unfortunately the full-time, regular teaching job didn't work out for me, but things are looking good from a subbing standpoint. I already have 3 days lined up for August, and a few more for September and October. As long as I can sub at least 10 days a month, plus Mike subbing whenever he can and his part time job at Sylvan, we'll be good to go financially... a big time relief! It's been a great summer, but I'm glad to be going back to work!

PukeFest 2007

Well Mike and I caught it... the dreaded stomach virus that has been running rampant in these parts. We were hoping to avoid it, but no such luck. Mike woke up around 12 am on Monday morning puking spectacularly, with me close behind, starting in around 2 am. Let me tell you, this thing is wicked. I don't think I have ever been this sick. We both puked for about 5 hours straight, along with many other unmentionable things happening. I'll spare you the details, but I'll just say it was by the grace of God that it worked out having only one bathroom, although Mike thought he was going to have to run outside at one point. After the vomiting stopped, the excruciating, indescribable pain in our backs and joints began. I was so sick yesterday that I couldn't even make it to the computer, and that's saying a lot coming from this internet junkie. I don't know what kind of sickness is going around, but it must have originated from the depths of Hell to make anyone feel this bad. A little over 24 hours later, I'm feeling much better, but still have a really achy back and a slightly queasy stomach. Mike is venturing to work today because they are running low on staff members, but I'm sure he'd be much better off staying home in bed another day.

Now my sister and mom both have it. Sam is thankfully on the upswing of her virus and Mom is in the middle of hers. She spent her 25th wedding anniversary puking her guts up and feeling like death. What a celebration! Jada has it too and Andi's whole clan was out absent from church on Sunday. So far, my dad has dodged the bullet... he is the only one out of the entire group of people at the bonfire the other night who hasn't gotten it yet. Hope it stays that way!

So I'm off to lay out on the couch, eat some noodle soup, feel sorry for myself some more, and hoping whoever is reading this stays far from me and my loved ones for their own safety.

The Face of Fear

This is what you see when you jump out from a dark hallway and scare my mom. This has long been a favorite game of my family, but this is the first time we've captured the look of sheer terror on her face. I end up laughing hysterically every time I even think about this picture. Haha, I love you Mom!

Sam and Jada's Back to School Shindig

Last night Mike and I hosted our very first party as a married couple! Since my sister, Sam, and our friend, Jada, are both headed back to college, we decided to invite over our gang of friends and throw them a back to school party. We had a weenie roast, smores, games, and even a watermelon eating contest. I'll tell you all about it... with pictures!


Here are the two guests of honor. Aren't they pretty? And notice the super cool decorations... that's back to school... 80's style!


What a happy guy! Mike shows off the evening's menu... weenies and corn on the cob. We hadn't broken out the smores at that point yet.


Here we all are, mid-watermelon eating contest. Ben and Mike opted out to take the pictures. Jacob ended up winning, which is quite impressive considering he was coming down with the dreaded stomach flu that's running rampant in these parts.


Here is the after photo. Sam is clearly the loser. Oh man, there are so many things wrong with this picture... I'll let you mock it for yourself.


Even Sophie got in on the watermelon action. I'm pretty sure none of us looked that cute when we were eating ours.


After the feeding frenzy, we played some games. Here's Andi and her beginner's luck playing some hillbilly golf.


And here's Ben, showing off some mad frisbee skillz.


Here's that kid again. Way too cute for her own good...

Later on, after a good number of smores were devoured, we moved the party into the house. The boys busted out the old school video games and the girls played some Catchphrase. Pretty soon, a certain cute little someone stole the show. I won't mention any names, but.........


Aww. He'll be such a good daddy. Someday in the far off future...


I was so jealous of her new shirt I had to go out and buy myself one.


Even Scouty fell in love. I'm not sure what Soph thought about the dog though.

So there you have it. I think everyone had a pretty good time and Mike and I really loved having everyone over. Can't wait to do it again!

GOOD LUCK SAM AND JADA! YOU"LL DO GREAT AT SCHOOL!!!!!!!!

A Visit

Mike's mom has been in town for a visit the last couple of days, so we've spent a lot of time hanging out with her. We didn't do anything particularly exciting, but we still had a surprisingly good time. Yesterday evening we met up with her at her hotel after she checked in and swam for a bit in the warmest outdoor pool I have ever been in. We didn't stay in too long just because it felt like we were swimming in a giant chlorinated bathtub. After we got cleaned up, we browsed the mall for a while, then drove her around on a tour of Evansville. We eventually stopped at the river front and sat down there for a while. We got there at the perfect time to watch the sun set over the water. I think we all really enjoyed that part of the evening. Here are some pictures.


Sunset over the water


Mike and his Momma


I heart him.

After our stop at the river, we all decided we were hungry. She took us out for dinner and drinks at Firefly, Mike and I's all-time favorite restaurant. We had a wonderful time and some really great food there. After dinner, we went back to the hotel for some after hours swimming and said our goodbyes.

Mike woke up early and went golfing with her this morning. I opted out, seeing how it's about 100 degrees outside and I hate golf. Actually loathe is probably a better word for it. Instead I enjoyed a lazy morning of sleeping late and playing with the dog. She stopped by here for just a bit before she headed back to Columbus to say goodbye and brought us a fancy-schmacy bottle of wine that came from the part of France she had recently visited. I'm really excited to try it, but we decided to save it for a special occasion. So now I have to come up with a reason to celebrate soon!

All in all, a really great visit. Now it's time to get ready for our shindig tonight. I'll post more about that later!