Post By Request

I have never had a request for an update. Probably one of the many contributing factors of my not blogging much or consistently.

I am going to try to blog more so maybe I will try to keep my brain open for ideas. I also would like input about topics you've read here that you'd like to see more often. I will try to listen for funny quotes!

I thought I would mention a couple of things in my first post back.

1. Funny comic http://falsewithasmith.com/
2. David is going to have a time slot on http://vader.boisestate.edu/stumedia/university-pulse/ starting sometime this semester.
3. I am trying to learn American Sign Language so I may post related items for anyone interested in that challenge. I am using http://www.lifeprint.com/ to help me learn right now and I have a textbook with videos from a friend who took the BSU class.
4. We recently got bicycles and anyone who talks to me will know that I am sore almost all the time but loving the fun of riding my bike. It is the first time I have enjoyed exercise in awhile. I will try to post pictures of my new toy once I get my camera back.
5. Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks are back and we all know how much I LOVE them. I got one today and it was delicious. It was even better because I enjoyed it with a friend.
6. Viola is good. She had been sick a few weeks ago, but seems 100% normal.

Hope all is well with you and thanks for not ditching me :)

It has been a long time.

Since getting Viola, the major event has been David going to Tokyo, Japan for a year of school. We've been chatting every day online. He sends me pictures of Tokyo, his food, his friends, and himself. He is doing good and wants to say hi to everyone.

I've been weeding out unimportant habits / hobbies from my life since he's been gone. Trying to work on myself while I am alone so I will be a better wife once he gets back. One thing I have eliminated is almost all computer games. It has freed up some time and I am happier with one less thing to think about.

I hope all is well with my friends, family, and online buddies and I apologize for not reading many blogs over the last year or so. Life is getting less and less chaotic and I hope to return to reading blogs in the near future. I really enjoy reading about your lives and I miss the excitement of seeing a new post.

I love... (part 14)

I love how I felt yesterday when I received a gift ticket to see WICKED.
I love how much fun I had at the special Valentine's Dinner from Saturday night.
I love my husband and how much time we spent together last weekend.

Daba Town News

• School has started - I am currently teaching 8 sections of math split between three schools and four locations... EEK. Most of the time I enjoy the classes but tire of the amount of work. I'd love to blog, create, relax, play, sleep more often, but I am thankful for work.
• David is excited and happy about his schedule this semester so far. He is almost done with the Gen Ed requirements.
• Life living with others has been straining sometimes, but most of the time I feel it is going more smoothly than I expected and we haven't run out of money yet! (Blessed)
• Nephew Owen (Big O, Monkey) is over 5 months old and he is such a chunk! He is rolling, playing, smiling, and starting to eat some baby food.
• Met my 75 (minimum) books read goal last year. I will go ahead and try this again (3rd year).

Funny Wake Ups

David usually tells me when I say something 1/2 asleep. This morning the following conversation took place:

ALARM GOES OFF AND DAVID GETS UP TO TURN IT OFF
Me: "Did you get the answer right?"
Him: "I set the alarm for the right time."

I went back to sleep- I guess I was satisfied with that answer.


Too much math? Nah.

Updates in Daba Town

I know it has been awhile. Sorry. That's what happens when you get three job interviews (finally) and graduate with your Master's degree. Now that school is out and things have calmed down I would like to say thanks to EVERYONE for all the help, love, and words of encouragement I received over not just the past few weeks but for my whole 19 years of schooling. A special shout out to my husband and my mom (madre) for the hours of extra encouragement.

In the next few posts I will be putting up pictures from the past month and moving right along with fun things I am planning to do now that I have EXTRA FREE TIME!!!!

News:

• M.S. Mathematics and celebrations with family and friends.
• Job @ Brown Mackie - contract signed for teaching a math class in June.
• Grad present ordered: super sweet tablet (touch screen) laptop. 

Updates in Daba Town

I have been busy lately. When I stopped being as busy I took a break to rejuvenate. So I haven't been commenting on blogs (though I have been reading most of them) and I haven't been posting much other than Quotes from Class.

Here are some things you've missed because I didn't post about them:

Big Things:

• I passed my thesis oral defense (big sigh of relief).
• I turned in the 2nd to last draft of my thesis (bigger sigh of relief).
• My little brother passed his GED test.
• My big brother took care of all his license issues with the state of New Jersey.
• Two nieces/nephews on the way- one due Aug 1, one due Nov 24.

Medium Things:

• I bought my cap, gown, tassel, and hood for graduation.
• David signed up for summer school.
• Lee J (nephew) crawls like a mad man, makes the "d" sound, and stands for long periods of time without falling.
• I have been eating healthy foods and feeling good about it.
• Played catch and hit some softballs with my dad. He says I "still got it."
• Made a baby blanket (star shape through crochet) and I'm almost done making another one (patchwork of knit squares).
• I learned how to make some new things like baby hats.

Small Things:

• Tulips from our roommate to celebrate the thesis accomplishments.
• David found 12 long gray hairs in a section on the back of my head.
• Less than one month of being a student (for awhile).
• Our dryer broke.
• I still want a dog but it might have to wait another year.
• I want a new lens for my camera because I want to get back into photography this summer.
• Haven't read a book in almost a month (no time and using it as motivation to lose weight).

Daba Explained

My husband and I are a unit. We both are compliments to each other and act best as a whole. When we became a couple, we decided on a funny "celebrity couple nickname" - Daba. Da for David. Ba for Bailey. The pronunciation is easy: Da is like the Irish name for father, which rhymes with ba as in the sound a sheep makes.

If you are married, then what would be your celebrity couple name?

Traditions in Daba Town (part 1)

We have a lot of traditions in Daba Town. Some we established as early as December 2006 (when David and I became an official couple). There are some we try very hard to keep and some we have missed a few times, yet it is still in the back of my mind. We made a rule when we got married: "We're our own family now! We get to make our own traditions!"

Since we have just experienced the massive celebratory season (middle November to middle January) and since we have a couple celebrations coming up, I thought it would be fun to list some of our non-traditional traditions.

• Birthdays- David's birthday is coming up: Birthdays begin with sparkling Welch's grape juice at midnight. They are spent with spouse = slave of birthday spouse. Usually this day includes an expensive restaurant meal (on top of family home-made, birthday person's requested meal some day after actual birthday). Since we are impatient people here in Daba Town, we usually buy expensive presents "for each other" in mid November and call them our "Christmas/Birthday" gifts. By the time birthdays come around, we always like to spend a little more on a small token-ish present, usually a video game.
  
• Valentine's Day- We were very poor for our first couple of Valentine's Days, so we began the $5 limit rule. For Valentine's Day we exchange gifts worth $5 or less. We've decided that after every 5 years of marriage we will add $5 to our gift limit. (David wanted us to start at $50 and work our way down, but he knows we can't afford THAT every year.)
• Thanksgiving- When on our own in Kentucky and working at the movie theater on Thanksgiving, we made the traditional mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, deviled eggs, and pumpkin pie. We also included egg rolls and jalapeno poppers.
  
• Daba Day- January 26th, the average of our two birthdays. We didn't do anything special for Daba Day this year because on that particular day we were really busy with school. This day came about because of the Wii. We thought it would be fun to make a "Mii" character who was the average of both our features. It was just a joke. When they asked for the name, of course we put Daba, but then it asked the birthday and we realized Daba needed a special day! Why put our anniversary when we can come up with another day to make special- another "excuse" to have fun? Thus the average of our birthday became a Daba Town holiday. Sometimes it is celebrated with a date or just making time to spend together at home, but we always say "Happy Daba Day!"

To be continued... but... What are some of your non-traditional traditions?

Two-pence by Husband

Only thrice in my life did I wind up with fleas
I then asked for advice from the low-hanging trees

"Oh good sir, not these
No advice from the trees
Without paying my massiveness,
Credulous fees."

"I'm not paying fees!" said my sad swollen knees
Who's voice had been rubbed wrong from swallowing bees

"Who spoke?" spoke the trees with their arms raised to seize
"We did!" said my morally sad swollen knees

"But kneecaps you are for little old czar,
Who's gameplay of sublets is only subpar.
Take off those snow masks and reveal who you are!"

My knees then bent back and then brought out a stack
Of books, papers, bungalows, lamb on a rack

"Oh man!" said my spine that was not a straight line
"I've never before had to drink all my brine!"

Then the swine tried to fine my incapable spine
With words, wisdom, newspapers, coins that won't shine
And its only way to convince me to stay
(Though stay I will without a bill:
A drill to fill up my fill)
Is to crawl on all fours through the red-wooden doors,
And to eat on the feet that walk steps to meet
A man with a hat and cigar-smoking cat
Who can play a tune grey with string, sticks and hay:
Yet better to pine and distill us some wine
With grapes, nectars, daffodils, summer squash vine

"Your not making sense
Like a garden hose fence!
For the time that you've wasted you owe us two-pence!"

No cash in my pocket, no list on my docket
I escaped my fate on a double-Schwinn Rocket

My Husband Can Be Funny

So I am posting a couple of remarks that appeared on twitter recently. This is a warm up for his guest post coming soon to... well... right here.

• You should hang out with me often, then you'll have something to say (on twitter) all the time.

• ME: "I'm having fun. Aren't you?" HIM: "Yeah, In a SAW kind of way."

Halloween

This year we celebrated on the 30th at a party put on by some friends from church.

David and I decided to take the cheap route and make our costumes.

I must say they were a hit, but the little ones needed us to remove our masks before they would get near us. Who knew stick figures were scary?

Oh Killers and Late Nights

Oh The Killers, how I love thee. I am going to listen to them off and on all day to prepare for tonight's show. If the show in Nashville is any indication, then I will have a VERY entertaining night. David and I are also going to go out to eat downtown before the show. We like the newest restaurant, Vietnamese Pho Nouveau Bistro, so we might go there.

I got about four hours sleep last night because I've been busy. Yesterday was my "day off" and I accomplished a great deal (I think):

-2 pages written on thesis
-35 graded tests
-Lecture prepared
-Stage 1 on a craft project
-Finished a novel I've been struggling through (not Nora's best)
-Grocery shopping
-Laundry
-Watched new Always Sunny and Juno while grading

Even though I had to get up at 6:20 am and go to sleep at 2:45 am I felt so productive! I won't regret missing out on exercise since I did so many other things on my list... hehehe.

Les Claypool Concert

O'Death opened with an amazing show. They are from New York and have an alternative/bluegrass/punk sound. It was a lot of fun and we got a CD.

Les Claypool was absolutely amazing. Skyler couldn't stop raving and David thinks the performance was just as good, if not better, than when he performed with Primus.

The three of us got to spend some time together which is rare considering the other news.... Sky's baby Leo James Luther Sexton was born June 18, 2009 at 12:01 am. He was 5 lbs 10 oz and 19 3/4 inches long. He is so adorable I can't help bragging. He is so tiny. He's been eating more lately and staying awake for longer periods of time. Doesn't make me want one, though. Sorry Parents.

Waiting

We are waiting for Lee J!!!

Book Day

David and I went to the library and the used books store today. We didn't have time for much browsing but we did check some things out and sell some used books. The store we went to was kind of picky when it came to used books. If I owned a used bookstore, then I would take anything in good condition. Oh well.