May Day Post

Okay, it isn't "May Day," but it is a day in May, so whatever. As though I wasn't posting too little previously, I am warning you that my posting frequency is about to decrease. Why? Well, we have made the BIG decision to go without Internet connection. We had been "sharing" with our neighbors, helping pay their bill or paying it off with a little math tutoring (Patrick tutoring, not me -- don't you worry about that), but we (I, actually) decided that I was wasting time with it -- after all, Facebook only changes so often. Furthermore, I've realized that everybody I'm REALLY interested in hearing about regularly, I am in contact with in some other form than Facebook, so that's been an interesting discovery. Someday, I'll probably have the self-control to put this knowledge into action if we had the Internet, but I'm actually sort of enjoying my unwired, disconnected freedom, as long as I get the Internet about once a week (which I can do while picking Patrick up on campus and at a few other locations in the area) and Patrick checks my email while he's on campus.

My dad told me that when I told my parents we were going without Internet, they looked at each other and asked, "Can they do that? Is it possible to not have Internet?" Then they commented, "Well, what did we do? We didn't have the Internet either." Of course, that was about thirty years ago, back when they drew pictures on cave walls to communicate and, as it turns out, the world has gotten more wired since then, so they may have some cause for concern, but we're not completely disconnected, so it's working out okay.

Progress

So this month marks 4 years of marital bliss. We tend to plan pretty low key anniversaries (for example, we watched the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on our first anniversary and then went and played games with friends in the evening), so we are celebrating this Friday by going out to Subway and eating some Edward's cake (which I got with a coupon). Sometime in the next couple days, we also intend to watch the movie Fireproof which my oldest brother absolutely insists we must see. I'll let you know what I think. It's crazy to think that we've been married four years, but we're both loving it and we have a lot of fun together. I'm grateful to be married to such a good man.

This is also Patrick's birthday month. We've been saving our dating budget for wherever he wants to go out for his birthday. He is also anticipating a good birthday breakfast. (This made me think that for my birthday, I may try my hand at crepes for a birthday breakfast.)

Also, we've discovered that there's a recall on the munchkin's crib (a Simplicity drop-down crib). We are planning to return it and get a new crib and a toddler bed with the money. Too bad because we liked the crib pretty well. We were kind of reluctant to worry about returning it, but I would feel pretty stupid if some fatal disaster happened with my kid because I decided not to take advantage of the recall system. I'm pretty interested in the idea of a toddler bed and a little nervous too, but it will have a big advantage of me not having to lift him high into bed when I'm nine months pregnant, and I already am looking forward to that.

Finally, I have had an epiphany that I am pretty comfortable in the kitchen now. After only six years of living outside of my parents' house, I feel that I can handle dinner (and even making a mistake with dinner) without having a panic attack or breaking down into a tearful frenzy. This, I feel, is what is known as progress. That and the fact that I can bake bread (though I've only done it twice), bake banana oatmeal chocolate muffins, cook waffles or pancakes from scratch, and make whipped cream and frosting from scratch (which I'll honestly tell you I didn't even know was possible as a child). My long-term project is figuring out this couponing business so that I can get a grip on how to make it work for us (which is one of those things that could possibly be helped by regular Internet access, but oh well). My next project is learning about gardening. I'm not interested in pretty so much as practical gardening. I would love to grow things I can pick and bring inside and especially consume. My plan is to study about it this year and dig into it next summer. I have also joined a classics book club my friend started and I completed The Brothers Karamozov for the first book. It only took me three months.

Anyway, gotta go take care of the family (namely a whiney little critter carrying on behind me), but that's the latest with us in Virginia. Over and out.