Wedded Bliss...or something like it

Pup Dog Birthday

2010-01-06T10:42:00.002-05:00

Kaylinn and Dudley are 3 years old today. Sweet, sweet baby puppies.

How can you not love these faces?

Ok, back to work.

My Two Favorite Appliances

2010-01-05T14:27:00.003-05:00

I am using my two favorite new appliances at this moment...a big enormous room heater that Louie purchased yesterday for our office, and the Keurig machine John used to have in his classroom and has graciously given to me for my office. I'm assuming you know what a heater is. This heater, however, is presently saving me from needing to bundle up under 3 blankets after work today, so it makes it a much greater heater than any other heater I've found. The Keurig, you may not be familiar with. And if you are not, I suggest you become familiar with it. You push a button, it makes you a coffee. It's GLORIOUS!

Happy 2010!

2010-01-04T16:51:00.003-05:00

Well, it's that time of the year - the time of the year where I mess up the last two digits every single time I write the date :) I'm keeping my resolutions simple this year: more prayer, more exercise, and less over committing. I think overall it's a pretty good resolution. And with that I'm about to head home where I will first thaw out and then tear down Christmas decorations. Winter in the pretty plantation house is less than cozy. When they did renovations, I assumed they replaced the old windows with double panes...I was wrong. Apparently to keep the historical integrity of the house we need to feel like we've been sitting outside all day....ugh, if I wanted cold I wouldn't have moved south!

If only in my dreams

2009-12-23T21:38:00.002-05:00

"I'll be home for Christmas
you can plan on me
please have snow and mistletoe
and presents under the tree.

Christmas Eve will find me
where the lovelight gleams
I'll be home for Christmas
if only in my dreams."

Merry Christmas everyone

Cookie Tins

2009-12-21T10:11:00.002-05:00

Every Christmas I remember eating cookies out of tins. In fact I remember memorizing which cookies were in which tins so we could be fast about our cookie getting (just in case there weren't many left and we'd have to share if everyone else knew we were getting cookies out). So, when I went to take cookies to work today I thought about how cute it would be to have the tins to take them in. We used to use (heck, my mom still uses as in present tense) the same tins every year. But I'm not really sure how one would go about getting new ones for my use. Most of the tins out there are little and are meant for cookie giving, not cookie keeping. So, let me know if you see any around...

Delicious Christmasness

2009-12-20T16:59:00.002-05:00

Today began Christmas cookie making. If you've never seen my mom making Christmas cookies you can't imagine the psycho-ness that led to my ability to do this. Whirligiggs are one of my favorite Christmas cookies out there and after watching the process a few years now Sandor decided to capture it for you...

mix, roll out the peanut butter dough and spread on the chocolate

roll it up

move it into the fridge with the famous Whirligigg arm move

cut and bake...and there you go

Nothing much beats cookies that look this simple, but are this hard to make...not to mention they look pretty...and taste delicious! Mmmm...the attempt to not eat my weight in chocolate may have just been lost :)

Santa's COMING!

2009-12-20T13:36:00.000-05:00

A Long Underwear Kind of Day

2009-12-18T13:21:00.001-05:00

Fun times on the beach in December counting shells (not joking, we really were). A little sun makes up for the wind. I sure am glad we were there yesterday instead of today...it's pouring buckets outside!

Sweater Weather

2009-12-12T11:06:00.002-05:00

Pup dogs in their sweaters hanging out while we go to the store.

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Great, Grand, Wonderful

2009-12-11T23:01:00.003-05:00

Some days the millions of pictures of babies is more than I can do. Or the 18 people I hear about every week who are pregnant. It's an interesting world when you want to be pregnant and you aren't. Have you ever gone shopping for a car and find one that you like, then while you are deciding whether you want to buy it you see a million cars of that make and model? You may have never really noticed that car before, or you never thought that car was that popular. That is much how it feels when you are in your early 30s and want to have a baby, it seems like EVERYONE either has kids or is having them...or both. It's like you went back to buy that car and the car salesman said 'no, we aren't selling those anymore', and you say 'but it's right over there, I can see one', and he says 'oh, we're selling it to other people, just not you'.

I tried to find the clip from Billy Madison when Chris Farley walks back on the bus and says 'everybody on the bus? great! grand! wonderful!' It cracks me up and somehow seems the appropriate phrase for the moment. I don't want people to think I'm being mean or bitter or not happy when other people are pregnant or have kids, I'm just making a reflection on how it feels to not be that person.

And this is why I need to limit my Facebook time. I also need to go to bed because there is a lot of scrapbooking to be had tomorrow...speaking of which, I was downloading pictures deciding what to print and this one is so cute from Thanksgiving - love it!

I also realized there have been a ton of pictures I haven't posted yet - I've been a fickle blogger this fall to be certain. Perhaps the winter will be better.

Ready for Winter

2009-12-11T21:31:00.002-05:00

So pennsylvania in january, eh? Is this too much?

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Blog-land is growing

2009-12-11T19:18:00.005-05:00

Brandy has (FINALLY) joined the blog world. Granted I'm a little biased, but I think she is hilarious, and thus perfect for a blog writer. Finishing grad school for the semester and then finally getting a date for John's departure to boot camp and mom's bone marrow transplant - and those two dates occurring in the same month - spurred her to need an outlet for entertainment over the next few months. Today we came up with a title for her blog, and she just finished writing her first post.

Her first statement is "Well, my mom has 'The Cancer". And because of this, I have to do "The Business". And when I think about "The Business", I get "The Diarrhea". " So, head on over to It Is what It Is for some entertainment.

By the way, in case you don't go to Brandy's blog - "The Business" is on the January 29th...which just so happens to be literally the ONLY timeframe in 2010 which is actually booked on my work calendar. Thus a 3 day conference on invasives will be handed over to some (likely unhappy, but) able bodies and I will instead head north for the bone marrow transplant. I'll essentially be the only person in the small apartment near Johns Hopkins that is not throwing up for 4 days...sweet. At least I'm not in jeopardy of being exposed to the swine flu being that our small apartment will also be sanitation central.

Just got this cute picture of the three of us from last Easter

The Mustache Montage

2009-12-09T12:51:00.007-05:00

For Halloween this year Maia convinced Jason to grow out his beard and be Billy Mays. Jason, always up for a challenge (and a laugh) of course agreed. I have to say, it was possibly my favorite costume ever. One of the reasons is the mustache montage that followed. Jason figured that since he had grown out a full beard he may as well make the best of it. And thus, each day we were greeted with a new beard - in the words of his 2 year old Ellie - 'you have your new beard on today, Daddy?' It really was too hilarious not to share and thus...

Billy Mays as Billy Mays

Jason as Billy Mays (not bad, eh?)

And now for our transition through beard options...

the 'I'm gunna get you sucka' stache

the 'fu-man-chu'

the 'porn stache'

the 'executive' - the was many of our favorites because it looks like he's serious about this mustache

'the villian'

and 'Herr Powers' (he actually didn't walk around with this one, just for a photo op)

Ah, if only every week was a new beard-a-day week.

Red, White, and Green

2009-12-08T09:10:00.002-05:00

Every year a Worchester Wreath Company in Harrington, Maine trucks 5,000 wreaths to Arlington Cemetery to be placed on graves. The wreaths are laid on a different set of graves each year with the goal to eventually have put one on each grave. How beautiful is that - not just the wreaths in the snow, but the love and care the people put into the project each year?

My Favorite Things

2009-12-05T21:03:00.007-05:00

Anyone who knows me know that I love Christmas. I'm not kidding - I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! So in celebration of that I thought I would recap what I've loved the first 5 days of December, which for all intents and purposes are the first 5 days of Christmas in my book.

Day 1: I loved walking into work surrounded by the decorations we did the night before. There is just something about Christmas decorations that makes me smile. Stockings, snowmen, Santas, candy canes, trees, holly, candles...how can you look at that and not smile? Add in there a balsam fir candle burning and you've got a great way to start the day!

Day 2: Christmas music! I know that a lot of people find Christmas music annoying and most of them use hearing it in stores too much as their excuse. My comment to that is spend less time at the stores! I can listen to Christmas music everyday through December if necessary, and not once find it annoying (much to Sandor's chagrin). Stefanie and I had to drive to Wilmington on Wednesday and within the first 10 minutes of the drive realized that we both LOVED Christmas music, which made the radio station selection quite easy for the rest of the drive :)

Day 3: With December 3rd came unpacking from my Wilmington trip, at which point I found my Christmas clothes! And thus promptly put on some Christmas slippers and chose a Christmas shirt for the next day. Now I am a bit conservative on this end as far as Christmas lovers goes. I like the plain shirts with a tiny Christmas something or another on them. But Christmas socks! They are awesome. And I happen to own a pair of underwear that sing Christmas carols...warning on these, don't wear them to a meeting and move wrong. It's an uncomfortable explanation of where the music is coming from with your boss and his boss.

Day 4: Decorating the Christmas tree - by far one of my favorites of the season. This specific aspect of my Christmas obsession does in fact seem to have grown on Sandor. The first year we were married he was very confused by why I wanted to set up the tree as early as I did. In my opinion, we've only got a month - use it well! This year he actually asked me when we were going to decorate, so Friday I left work a bit early, we got ourselves a recently cut tree from the mountains and decorated it up! I still remember pulling out Christmas ornaments when I was little from the big box my parents had Brandy and I paint that is stored up in the attic. And every ornament reminds me of someone, or something, or some time. It's so fun to open them all up. I'm definitly a random tree decorator. I love the theme trees, but I just have too many random ornaments that I love to leave them in the box :)

for an added touch, I made Sandor and I hot chocolate this year while we were decorating!

Day 5: My favorite thing for today would be Christmas traditions. I love the fact that everyone has their own tradition they remember, or a moment they can't forget, or a person that Christmas reminds them of. Some people could argue that it makes it less special that everyone has something of their own about Christmas that makes it special because then you aren't the only one, but I think that is exactly what makes Christmas so beautiful. Today I was introduced to a tradition of a tiny little town called Barrineau, SC. I have heard legends of this parade for years at my church, but this was the first year most of us experienced it. It was definitely an experience, and one that I'm glad I got to enjoy. I don't know what was more fun, seeing the parade, or watching others in our group see it. And then my pastor and I spent most of the trip back talking about what we remember about Christmas! It seemed very fitting after seeing someting that was a specific tradition to that town.

One of the floats from the parade. Let's just say this particular parade was like nothing I'd seen before.

And that was only 5 days - we've got 20 left...and 6 more in December if you want to stretch the season to New Years. Ahhh, glorious!

Now to lose 10 pounds!

2009-12-04T23:22:00.004-05:00

We finally set the date, found the location, and made the invitations for the much talked about, but never actually planned WEDDING DRESS JEWELRY PARTY! Yes, ladies and gentlemen it is true, there is now a time when I can wear my wedding dress again. The only problem is when I tried it on a few weeks ago I had a solid 2 inch gap to close the zipper. Hmmmm, I feel like Christmas is not the time to lose weight, so I guess I'll have 15 days starting January 1st. And to be on the safe side, I'll go shopping for a white tube top and something to tie it together....because I AM wearing my dress. In case you want to join us - RSVP at the evite. Fun times ahead!

Early Christmas Present

2009-12-03T20:59:00.002-05:00

Hello again. I apologize for the major lack of posts as of late. We were having some computer issues, leading to 1) no computer access for me since I (unlike the hubster) cannot hook into the internet on my phone and 2) a new computer is now sitting in our living room. Notice I said living room, not spare bedroom. That is because we now own a laptop - and we each have our Christmas present for each other.

It's Beginning...

2009-11-30T20:51:00.003-05:00

...to look a lot like Christmas!
A few Christmas elves and a Christmas elf's husband stayed after work today to welcome in the Christmas season and make December 1st start off right...

Consider yourself pre-warned

2009-11-20T09:45:00.002-05:00

Apparently I will enter a stage of mourning as of May 25, 2010.

Need I say more?

Science and Decisions

2009-11-20T08:57:00.005-05:00

You want to know why people don't trust science? Because of things like this article on new changes in screening protocols for breast cancer and cervical cancer. The article starts out talking about how they used science-driven medicine to change these protocols. How might you ask did science come to this conclusion? It says that studies have shown the screenings only save 1 in 1,904 lives. That is a science question - what is the likelihood that you will get a certain result? It also says throughout the article there is a need to weigh the costs of doing the screening with the benefits of having the screening done. Which again is a science question - what are the costs and benefit of an action?

The problem is that science doesn't (and can't) say whether you should or should not do a screening. What it says is how likely that screening will be successful in saving a life, how much money you will spend and what your likely benefits will be. Science can't answer your ultimate question, because you aren't asking a science question. You can have decisions that consider the science, but in the end the decision is made by a person, not by science. The whole point to science is that it's supposed to be unbiased. Instead many times what we do is we add in our own bias and then we say science led us to that conclusion. And thus, we have a population that doesn't understand science, and thus doesn't trust science.

The most telling sentence of the article is how one of the researchers is described: someone "who has studied whether prevention necessarily saves money (and found it does not always do so)." The decision was made on whether the screenings save money, not on whether the screenings save lives. Whether saving money is worth saving a life is a VERY personal decision. Humans, unfortunately are very prone to making decisions based on money. Believe me, I'm in the business of getting people to consider science in their decisions. One of the things I need to continually remind myself is that the science can't tell you what to do, it can only inform what you do.

Call it like it is people. You did the research, this is what the research shows, and then, this was your decision. I'm not taking up a position as to whether the decision is correct, what I'm saying is don't pawn the implications of your decision off on science. If you mom (or sister, or wife, or daughter) is the one in 1,904 lives whose screening it would have saved, don't you think it would have been worth it? You can't say that science says you shouldn't do the screening because only 1 in 1,904 lives is saved. Science could have just as easily said you should do the screening because 1 in 1,904 lives is saved. A decision is how YOU look at the information science provided.

Technology Overload

2009-11-16T22:25:00.002-05:00

I'm feeling a bit of a technology overload - information overload really, but it's coming at me via technology, so I'm really just addressing the root of the information overload problem. I was feeling it before I left for California, so I took a rest from technology and literally did not check e-mail, voicemail, facebook, blogs or anything else that was technology related except for once to get a website off an e-mail that I needed for a session at the conference. I was hoping that would cure me, however, I'm still feeling overwhelmed. I have determined that the reason is while I did take a break from technology, I didn't take a break from information and so my brain is still feeling overworked - the 220 e-mails I saw in my inbox this morning certainly didn't help. Oh well, perhaps over Christmas I'll take a technology AND information break...we'll see how that goes. I do have to say, sitting in a huge bathtub at a hotel with a glass of Perrier and a good book beats Facebook any day of the week! Oh, and I really will be getting pictures from the trip up here at some point...that point, however is not now.

Raspberries in my Chocolate

2009-11-06T10:39:00.002-05:00

Many people do not like airplane travel - personally I don't have an issue with it. In my life it forces me to slow down and do the stuff that I don't get around to otherwise because there are 18 other things that are calling for my attention. So, I can just sit and read a book, or look through those recipes in Eating Well I've been wanting to look at, or in the case of today, I can finally get around to posting Brandy and my new addition to blog-land! Yes, it is true the Walker sisters have made a blog. Whenever we get together we'll add posts, so don't be surprised if there are large lulls in activity, because in the world of blogging we are one person...JoLynn (our middle names for those who don't know), and thus we can only write when together! The blog is going to be a review of sorts, with our own twist on the stars in the rating system...and so without further ado I present I Thank God for the Raspberries in my Chocolate. Remember to start at the bottom...

Mile High Post

2009-11-06T10:03:00.002-05:00

Check it out! I am flying over the US right now AND posting a blog! Delta is running some kind of promotional where you can use their in flight wireless for free...so why not? I knew that if I could just make it to the airport this morning that the craziness of the past few weeks would subside. And thus my need for a pause button no longer! And now for my mini-vacation pre-conference. I've got a week long conference in San Diego!

When I originally found out that this year's reserve annual meeting was in San Diego I had all kinds of plans for a long pre or post conference vacation similar to last year's trip through Yosemite and Big Sur. However, that was cut short when I wasn't chosen to travel because of travel cuts...a decision that changed about 2 weeks ago...hence the last minute craziness of getting ready, which was added on top of an already crazy fall calendar...something about education programs and the fall, it's always nuts at this time of year and my ongoing process of getting used to having 2 jobs and the drama of life going on around me at this particular moment in time...life is a little intense right now. So, when I found out that I was in fact going to San Diego, I needed to do a little prioritizing.

The funny thing about not having as much time as you would like is that you end up actually figuring out what you want to do. So, today when I land I'm headed to the San Diego Zoo...which I happen to have wanted to go to since I was about 10 years old - pretty much about the age I started realizing what I wanted to do with my life, an internationally renowned zoo fit right into my list of places I wanted to visit! It didn't take me long to determine that portion of my list of things I like to do rose to the top. And then tomorrow Nicole and I will head to Joshua Tree National Park - something that I've wanted to do for a shorter time period, but has been high on the places to visit at some point nonetheless. Other than a trip through Death Valley back in high school, I've not visited the desert, so to the desert I will go!

After the past few weeks I think that 2 days of vacation is just what the self-doctor ordered :)

Pause Please

2009-11-05T09:43:00.001-05:00

Is there a pause button on life? I really need one...that or it looks like I'm possibly pulling an all-nighter leading into my flight tomorrow morning at 6am. And even then I don't know if I'll get everything done!

Not What it Used to Be

2009-11-03T22:41:00.000-05:00

My brain is definitely not what it used to be. I've always been a list writing (we've had a post about it before in fact), and much of the reason is because it helps me organize the things I need to get done. I've never really been a list writer because it helps me remember the things I need to get done...until this year. I've noticed more and more that my lists are reminders in addition to organizers. The problem is apparently my brain is getting worse and worse at remembering things. For instance just now I walked down the steps to take Kaylinn out before bed. I thought of something I needed to write on my list of things to do tomorrow, and on the way back up the steps I had forgotten it. Seriously. That is pathetic. I'm going to bed, maybe sleep will help me remember it.