Hygiene

So...I was brushing my teeth just now and accidentally smacked my hand really hard into my toothbrush while it was still in my mouth. The toothbrush, in turn, smashed my lip into my tooth. What I'm saying is, I just gave myself a bloody lip brushing my teeth.

Full contact hygiene.

Happy Anniversaries!

So I celebrated two great anniversaries last week. The first was my four year mark with Good Works. I like my job and I love the people that I work with. It's an opportunity and a privilege, and I feel that way even on crappy days, so I count myself the fortunate one in this scenario.

Then, over the weekend, Ben and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. Ben got us a cabin at Dillon State Park for the weekend and we slept in and went swimming and hiking. We cooked great food. It was awesome. First marriages have a way of tanking right out of the gate among the young people in my family, and staying together, working things out when we have conflicts, and generally being happy at the five year mark is something to be proud of. I'm proud of us.

Finally, my parents hit their 40th anniversary on Christmas Eve, but are just celebrating it now. They are currently on an Alaskan cruise. I'm so happy for them and I know they'll have a great time because they're so easy to please and there's so much to see.

This might sound weird, but I think the reason they've made it so long is that they had low expectations from life and marriage. I think, even though they've worked hard for it, that they've taken the good things in their lives as pleasant surprises.

For your viewing pleasure

This is #2 out of a series of 4 seasons. This is SPRING. I'm pleased with how it turned out. The pictures aren't great, but they'll work for now.

Nerd Love

Ben and I are about to celebrate our 5th anniversary. When we were falling in love six and a half years ago, we made several discoveries that sealed the deal, so to speak. They were mutual loves of the following things:

1. Red wine
2. Spicy food
3. Left-wing (dare I say socialist?) political leanings
4. The Impressionists--not Monet, but the rest--innovative geniuses
5. STAR TREK

All of the above were a shocking delight to uncover about another student at our uber-conservative, fundamentalist Bible College, but #5? That bumped him up to marriage material.

You know, there are a few levels of Trekie nerddom...Lovers of this particular fantasy world range from the totally obsessed Klingon language learners who own full convention style wordrobes and can't tell reality from their favorite episodes, to people who take in an ocasional movie and watch original episodes when they're a little baked out. But Ben and I discovered in one another an equal match of nerdiness.

We had a very memorable discussion one day to feel this out. Our answers to most of the big questions were the same:
Kirk or Picard? (Picard)
Original or TNG? (TNG)
Seen all the movies? (Yes)
Seen all the episodes? (Yes)
Own all the movies and episodes? (No, but I would like to one day buy them used)
Read any of the books? (Yes--nervous laughter as we know the answer to the next question is a deal breaker)
How many? (Three, but I never bought any or anything like that)

Wow. We were even. We had each dipped our toes in the world of TV based sci-fi fantasy novels and decided we didn't want to swim in that sea. Tied--just to the weird side of socially acceptable.

The first time we hung out alone together we drank Merlot and watched two episodes of The Next Generation. I would still maintain that that evening is the quintessential picture of our relationship.

And can I tell you that the best man's toast at our wedding was the toast at Troi and Riker's wedding? He memorized the whole thing--it was our favorite wedding present.

All this to say, I had the best time seeing the new Star Trek movie with my husband tonight...

but I don't speak Klingon.

Beas and ant bait

When I told Ben that Bea Arthur had died, he immediately gave a most concerned look to the gerbil cage and back at me, anticipating a melt-down from his wife at the death of her pet. He was visibly relieved when I told him that, in fact, Bea Arthur the PERSON had died, not Bea Arthur the GERBIL.

For the record, my favorite episode of the Golden Girls is the one where Dorothy auditions for Jeopardy and totally excels at guessing the clues, but is not invited to appear on TV because she's cocky and the Jeopardy people don't believe anyone would root for her.

I don't know if guys realize it or not, but every group of women my age, at some point in high school, college, and/or their first few jobs, have assigned themselves and their friends Golden Girl characters. I think it probably goes without saying that I was always and unanimously elected Dorothy for the group...leading in part to my great affection for the woman and the legend, Bea Arthur. RIP Bea.

On an unrelated note, I think I got a little bit of ant poison in my mouth while I was unpacking groceries tonight. My stomach hurts, but I think I'll make it.

Facts of Life

Ben and Amanda and I had our friend Donna over for super terrific pizza night and a movie of Donna's choosing--Donna picked a hit! Christopher Reeves in "Somewhere in Time." This also happens to be my mom's favorite movie. Everything was cool until Anne called me from the Timothy House to tell me that one of our most steady residents came home high.

I'm so sad. It makes me want to pray and cry and lift weights and paint all at the same time.

So, I'm going to lift weights and pray and listen to music. When I'm done with that, I'm going to figure out how to draw Jeremiah feeling like the word of the Lord was fire in his bones. It will be Bible illustration #3, if I can figure out how to draw it. Initial sketches are going well.

Until that's done, please enjoy this poor quality photo of a mare and a colt standing in a field (probably in Middle Earth, like Gondor) that I painted for my neice...


...YES, Napoleon Dynamite helped.

Headache

I just ate a grilled cheese sandwich and a salad. I had one beer to go with my meal and I totally fell asleep on the couch watching the Simpsons Movie. I woke up with a headache and my arm covered in drool. I just can't party like I used to.

Speaking of which, for Lent I'm not cursing. I did this last year, too, but it didn't stick. I'm hoping cleaning up my mouth this year takes on a little more of a permanent role in who I am and what I'm like. I've screwed up more so far in the past week than I did all last year put together, but my effort is for the long haul...I want to be a person who uses words to bless God, not to curse everything and then try to figure out how to pray with the same mouth.

On a not-so-related topic, my friend Anne and I are writing a children's book and building a diorama and characters out of clay for the illustrations. We'll photograph it and then write the text into the digital pictures. I'm a little obsessed with it, and seeing Coraline in 3D is only throwing fuel on the fire. Anyway, the book is about dinosaurs, and our working title is "The Dyn-O-Rama." It's pure genius, and because Anne is working on it with me, it probably won't even be creepy.