Getting What You Asked For

There is a man in my life who gets very worked up about things that have no impact on him. Take, for instance, the recent senatorial seat decision from Minnesota. Al Franken won the seat after a long court-protest. (A key fact in this story is that neither I, nor this man, live in Minnesota.) Well, Mr. Man was overheard the next day ranting that "these people are going to get what they asked for" as if his observation were nothing short of revolutionary. I chuckled silently inside, trying to hold back a smirk. You see, that's how voting works in the United States. We do get what we asked for, and then after a few years we get another chance to ask for more of the same or for something different. Oh, for humor's sake...

I'm still alive...

To all my Utah female friends and acquaintances (even those that have moved away), congratulations on all your pregnancies or new births. I apparently didn't get the memo, so I am not expecting, planning to be, or a new mother. Instead, I will celebrate with all of you when your bundles of joy arrive.

A quick update about life:

-- I finished one year of graduate school; I have one more to go. And that's not even really even a year, because it's only two classes and my thesis (one of which I'm currently enrolled in). Comparatively, this next year will be "easy." The moral of this bullet: I spent a lot of time doing homework and research so have been a bad friend to many. My apologies.

-- I had $400 worth of brush hauled out of my suburban backyard this summer and have since created another brush pile of equal size. I do not want to pay to have it hauled away again. I have created a garden and have planted nothing in it. I am currently losing the battle against honeysuckle along my fence line, but hope to reverse the tides by the end of next summer. Today I dug out two stumps left from bushes I cut down last summer. It felt so much like progress, I took a picture of them to blog about. (No, the picture is not posted.) The moral of this bullet: what free time I do have, I spend trying to keep ahead of my landscaping so that my neighbors don't file complaints with the city.

-- I have been dating my near-perfect match (nobody's perfect), who I have sometimes referred to as "C" here, for more than a year. Every day I appreciate him a little bit more, so I guess I'm a pretty lucky lady. He is a good balance for me and reminds me to take time to enjoy life. This is all made easier by the fact that he usually cooks dinner. The moral of this bullet: If I'm not doing homework, or yard work or housework, I'm probably with C because everyone needs to eat.

-- I have owned my home for just about a year now, and it is much improved. Mostly because I work on the yard a lot and my roommate makes the inside look like people who care live here. I'm the utilitarian and she makes things look "nice." I hung shelves in the bathroom because we needed the storage; she picked out the baskets that hide all our things and make the bath look tidy. I bought a yellow bedspread for my slate gray-blue bedroom; she bought a pillow that included both colors and ties the room together perfectly. I guess she's a pretty good balance for me too. The moral of this bullet: my house would not look nearly as nice if my roommate weren't around to take care of the inside while I tackle the mess that is the yard.

That's about it from here. Just wanted to let you all know I'm still breathing. It's hard to believe that it's only been a year (I think) since I visited. I still miss it tremendously -- if the pay weren't so good and the boy weren't so great, I might move back. But for now, I'm here and I'm enjoying it. C mentioned going to Utah to board this winter, so maybe I can tag along to hang out with the new mothers.