roxy's revenge

it was a terrible tuesday.

it was so bad i haven't been able to even find energy to blog about it until thursday.

you see that photo? that was my tub filling up with water.

it's also my first mobile upload. insert smartphone pride here.

monday night, i decided the roxy needed a bath. she is not fond of them, but tolerates them well enough so she isn't a total pain. she's actually pretty accepting of this activity, or at least resigned to her occasional fate, which really just makes her all the more pitiful. and oh my gosh, those eyes. she will just look at me like i've betrayed her and shaken her faith in the natural order of things. but i'm tough and i get over it.

it was late in the evening, maybe 8:30, when we got done. the lawyer had promised to wash dishes. i was finishing up in the bathroom, and he was stacking pots and spoons, when i turned the water off in the tub. or tried.

see, our tub faucet had just been replaced. after that replacement, you couldn't actually stop turning the knob and have the water shut off. it would keep turning. so you kind of had to time the knob-turning to get it to the smallest leakage point, which was right before "full blast" again. i had gotten really good at it.

well.

i turned the knob. the water did not turn off. it didn't even switch to "leak." it just kept going.

so, water was pouring into my tub. the water level was rising. roxy's making a break for the living room rug to have a good shake. i kept turning. nothing.

i began to lose my cool.

i mean, it's bedtime, and the water won't turn off, and the water level is not going down. so i hollered for ben, a little shellshocked. he tinkered with it, but with no success. in fact, i was sure at that moment he had made it infinitely worse, but that's because i was becoming hysterical. next, i called our landlord. at 9 pm, because that's when landlords are able to take care of plumbing problems, you know. long story short, ben had to trek down our driveway in the dark to shut off the water main. then he had to come back and go back with a pair of pliers, because he needed those to actually turn the water off.

at this point, i was wailing. seriously. i was dramatic about it in every sense of the word, because this water business had ruined my evening plans of dish-washing and potty-flushing, and life would never be the same and we would never be ok again. so we went to bed without brushing our teeth, making the coffee, washing the dishes or flushing the toilet. and i'm telling you, after we shut the water off, all i wanted to do was pee and flush with abandon. funny how you don't think about stuff like that until you can't do it. to make matters worse, even after the lawyer turned off the water main, the tub was still dripping juuuuuuuust a bit. my tub actually mocked me. and i'm pretty sure i saw roxy smirking.

but we had a plan. we'd wake up super early, and ben would go turn the water back on so we could shower and make coffee and flush (i keep going back to that one...). we'd just let the tub run, i'd shower in ben's shower upstairs, and our world would be semi-righted until the plumber could arrive.

epic. fail.

i did not sleep well due to my anxiety and woke up several times in the night. so of course, i was awakened at 5 am with the requisite thunder, lightning and pouring rain. ben wasn't wild about getting dressed and trekking down the driveway to put pliers to a metal pipe while it was lightning and monsooning. life 8000, langs -2.

early morning. major storm. no water for coffee, showering, teeth-brushing, flushing. nothing. so i packed a bag and headed to the clinic, where i washed my face, brushed my teeth and washed off my armpits with a washcloth. i spent the entire day dirty and tired and really just pissed about it all.

thankfully, that afternoon the sun shone on us. the water lines got fixed up, we got a new faucet and now water only runs when i allow it. life is beautiful again.

oh, yeah, my washing machine quit draining too. i still have 4 inches of standing water in there.

home sweet home.

secret single behavior, post #2

last night's dinner:

2 small bowls of tuna tomato pasta
2 salads with avocado (1/2 per salad), blue cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, prosciutto and balsamic vinegar
4 strawberries with cream cheese fruit dip
5 sips of sierra nevada summerfest. i am ashamed i let so much beer remain unconsumed.
4-6 mindless handfuls of goldfish, to round things out.

well, it's better than sunday night's dinner.

pantry problems

so, new house means new storage challenges. i have a huge, open pantry that needs some serious organization-style tlc. anyone out there have any good storage tips?

in the spirit of halloween

a post about chocolate.

apparently, most chocolate is made with child slave labor. did not know this.

read this blog post yesterday. "we can lick the chocolate off, but the blood is still there."

yuck.

tonight, the international justice mission is showing the documentary "the dark side of chocolate" on the UM campus. link here for info. i encourage you to see it if you live in this area.

coincidence? probably not. i love it when God just kind of sets things down in my lap like that. so, now i'm totally convicted about my chocolate purchasing habits. i found this list of fair trade chocolate, but it's over a year old, so you may want to research more.

4 links in one post. i'm helpful like that.

so, now you know. read, be educated, pray, and then DO.

these boots are made for

...me.

i have the hardest time shopping for boots (and pants, if you must know) for several reasons: 1) short short legs and 2) extremely large and long calf muscles. i feel like i'm a physical anomaly whenever i shop.

but every now and then i happen upon an awesome, seemingly made-for-me item (joe's jeans plug here). and these boots below are just that.

diba cute intent in black

diba calico in tan

i love these boots.
the problem is, i find something i love and then proceed to wear it incessantly, which has happened with the tan calico boots. this is probably going to be their last season. and i'm desperate to replace them.

desperate.

i've given my email address out to more online websites these past few weeks than i have in the past few years. i've looked everywhere for another pair of these tan boots in a size 6.5, and there. aren't. any.

(tear, sniff)

so, friends, if you see these,

or these...

please buy them for me in a size 6.5 and i will giddily reimburse you for
price and shipping and be eternally grateful.

thanks ever so much. y'all are the best.

facelift and a recipe

a new look for my blog! you like?

i still need a cute header that matches, maybe with a photo. and for the life of me, i cannot figure out how to add a photo under the "about me" section. help, please. thanks!

let's do a diet and exercise update, shall we? where did i leave off? saturday? boy, do we have some catching up to do! i did not work out at all saturday and ate leftovers for lunch, followed by dinner out with dad at boure. sunday, after church, we had salad and macaroni and cheese, then i taught pilates, went to the gym for over an hour (yay me!), and cooked steaks with veggies for dinner while the law student slept through most of the super bowl. we're miami dolphins fans.

monday, i blew it. yogurt, coffee, and peanut butter crackers at work, and then--kaboom. no exercise. for dinner: raisins, fritos and french onion dip, and a bowl of cereal. after a nap, i had fritos and french onion dip again, followed by a bunch of raisins. yesterday was better. an apple, 2 fun size candy bars at work, then dinner: beef, cheddar and potato pie (and a twix ice cream bar. shut up). i walked roxy in the freezing cold and went to the gym too. i have high hopes for today too. i'm down one pound already. i know it could be anything--water retention, scale, empty stomach vs. full--but i'll take it.

i know you're still interested in that beef, cheddar and potato pie--it's the law student's new favorite dish. i came home one afternoon to find it already placed in the cookbook stand next to the stove. so here's the recipe! you can look it up on rachelraymag.com, but i had adjust the amounts because i use a small pie pan or something. it's super, super easy and very tasty.

you'll need: 1 lb. ground beef, 1 carrot or a few baby carrots, 1 stalk of celery, 1 clove of garlic, a few small new or red potatoes, cheddar cheese (about 6 ounces, give or take), salt & pepper, 1 egg beaten with water, 1 dark beer (like samuel adams winter lager) and 2 cold puff pastry sheets (i used pepperidge farm--2 sheets to a pack) and a little flour.

first, preheat your oven to 375. heat a pan or skillet on medium high heat. chop your veggies and garlic and toss in. add the beef, breaking it up, and cook for about 10 minutes. lower the heat just a bit and add about half a cup of your beer (and drink the rest). add the cheddar cheese and stir. meanwhile, flour a surface and roll out one puff pastry sheet to a 12-inch round. i personally can never get mine round, but it still tastes the same. place this in a pie pan. roll out the other sheet in flour to an 11-inch round. toss your beef mixture into the pie pan. brush the egg wash onto the edges of the first pastry sheet. place the second sheet on top and crimp the edges together to seal. brush egg wash all over the top and sprinkle with salt and pepper. bake for 45 minutes, tenting with foil if the pastry crust darkens quickly.

she's baaaaaaaaack

and a bit depressed.

i privatized ole blogger here because i was applying for a new job with a GREAT company and thought it would be prudent to keep these random thoughts hidden.

i found out this morning i did not make it to the second round of interviews. suck. so back to blogging it is. small consolation. le sigh. well, i did get what i asked for. i asked for clarification and for the job to open up if it was right, and He didn't, so there. it's still not any fun though. i really wanted that job.

moving on to my next disaster....it's not really a disaster. it is a decision with great risks. and the law student and i are ready for it.

natural family planning.

um, eeeeeeeek.

not to be confused with the less-than-reliable rhythm method.

we (well, i, and the law student went along with it more than willingly, which is a bit (but not really) surprising. ooooh, parentheses within parentheses! squeeee!) have embarked into uncharted (ha! pun.) territory. i feel a bit like i've dived into the deep end of a cold, cold pool. so, i'll finish this post with how we got started down this path.

it really all started with food. as you all know, dear readers, i like organic food. i am down with dirt. grass-fed cattle, chickens and pigs, free-range eggs, milk straight from the dairy, no pesticides on our veggies....aaahhh. i miss summer. so, before i digress into my trip to the dairy, let me get back. the principle is really the same--being careful and intentional about what you put in your body. i have been on the birth control pill for several years now. i have never really had a problem with them--they usually work like a charm and didn't whack me out or anything--but was getting concerned about being medicated with hormones for such an extended period of time. i had read a little about natural family planning and decided i wanted to try it. i really like the "natural" aspect of it.

a little crash-course in nfp--it's just biology. and that kills me. women are not taught how to interpret their bodies, which i think has profound implications as far as personal health. seriously though, it's biology, and it's amazing. a woman's body gives off natural cues relating to her fertility, controlled by the rise and fall of hormones estrogen and progestin. natural family planning (a blanket term for several different methods and just the general idea of it) teaches you the signs to look for and how to interpret those signs to be able to, with more than reasonable accuracy, determine the status of your fertility and use that information to avoid pregnancy (my goal) or obtain pregnancy (not my goal). it's a lot more involved and is backed by a life perspective as well, but this is what i am focusing on here.

and, well, biology is confusing. currently, i am most interested in billings/creighton model, which charts cervical mucus. you can also chart your temperature (in three different places) and the position and feel of your cervix. (um, what?) you could chart one, two or even all three. but that involves more work. cervical mucus is charted by its presence and consistency and color. you have to take your temperature first thing in the morning before you get out of bed or even roll over, or it's off. and if you are sick or take medicine or something like that, it affects your temperature. and the cervix charting has a higher "ick" factor than i am willing to deal with. also, per my conversation with my very knowledgeable friend (and courtney's sister) katie, charting lots of symptoms seems good but can cause confusion if one sign says "fertile" while another says "infertile." so mucus it is. i have a little chart and everything. hopefully i can get the coordinating stickers soon.

also, here's the kicker. if i were catholic, i would have been charting since i got engaged. i'd be a charting pro right now. but i'm not catholic and have been on the pill, so i really have no idea what my body's "normal" is. so abstinence for the first cycle charting is recommended just to get a grip on things. the law student seemed to take this recommendation to heart, as in it does not seem to bother him in the least. i'm a little pissed. and we're on day 6.

so, that's our new adventure. pray we don't get pregnant. i'll keep you posted.

psalm 139:14 - i praise you because i am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, i know that full well.