When I get the house to myself...

Jeramy is in Hunting Safety education classes right now (required if you want a hunting license), which means I had the house to myself for 3 nights this week for over 3 whole hours each time! Now one might ask what a twenty-something (okay soon to be thirty-something) young woman does when she finds her self with such long stretches of freedom, and I'll tell you.

Jane Austen

Okay, so I'm obsessed with Jane Austen. I adore her books and the movies too. Jeramy, on the other hand, can't stand them. For one, he doesn't really enjoy reading books, and even if they did Jane Austen would not be his first pick. And second, the movies are just not his style. Surprisingly stuffy, upperclass Brits focused on the challenge of finding love and happy married in a society that places high value on class don't mix well with tattoeed, redneck pipefitters. Yeah, I didn't see that one coming either.

So trying to finish knitting the afghan for Matt & Jen's baby, I decided it would be a good time to compare the A&E version of Pride and Prejudice with the one Keira Knightley did a couple of years ago. Watching movies I've already seen fifty times goes well with knitting, because I can only half listen during the less interesting parts and pay attention during my favorite scenes. Like Elizabeth's rejection of Darcy's first proposal. Or when Elizabeth first sees Pemberley and then unexpectedly runs into Darcy. I could go on and on.

I've decided that I definitely like the A&E version better, because as a true P&P fan I want all the details that only a 6 hour version of the movie can provide. For example, in the newer version, you do not really get to understand Elizabeth's initial attraction to Wickham and how bad he really turns out to be. But there are some things that the newer version did well...the difference in wealth between Darcy and the Bennetts is more stark, you can better see that the mother's drive to get the girls married to rich men is driven out of concern for their future livelihood, and the country atmosphere is more apparent (that is you see farm animals, etc.) Also, in the newer version society seems bigger...the town of Meryton is much larger and the balls have many more attendees.

Anyhow, now I'm sure you're bored to tears and completely understand Jeramy's abhorrence of anything Jane Austen. Luckily for me, he has Hunting Safety education classes next week too. So now I have to decide between Mansfield Park, Emma and Sense and Sensibility!

Good Reads

I just finished Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin. Being the backwards person that I am I actually first read the sequel to that book, called Something Blue, not knowing there were 2 books. Anyhow, both are very good and touch on issues like love, friendship, change and self awareness but are still very light and fun. Personally, I liked Something Blue best but maybe that is just because I read it first.

I love Focus Groups

I made an extra $100 last night. Legally. How you might ask? By participating in a marketing research focus group on a referendum that might be put on the ballot in the fall. Basically I got paid to sit in a room with 12 people and spout off my opinion for 2 hours. Usually I do that for free with one person at home every night. So in addition to getting paid, my lucky husband got a break from my mouth! Truly a win-win situation.

Weekend, what Weekend?

Crazy weekends can be fun but they sure go by quick. And this last weekend was one of them.

Friday night Jeramy and I went up to his dad's house. He helped him work on his Mustang while Vickie and I went to visit Scott in the hospital. Afterward we had a late dinner and didn't get home until around 10pm. Scott, by the way, got out of the hospital on Saturday and is now at Jim and Vickie's recovering. I think the doctor is a little crazy to let somebody out of the hospital 3 days after putting a metal rod in their back, but hospitals are usually quick to get rid of people on Medicaid due to poor reimbursement.

Anyhow, then came Saturday, which meant the redneck wedding of the year...er, I mean our friends Clint and Amy's wedding. Given the significance of such an event, we all decided bookend the occasion with both a pre- and after-party, which made for an all day event.

Now of course, you probably know those Jeff Foxworthy "You might be a redneck if" jokes. Well now using Clint and Amy's wedding as an example, I've come up with a new series of jokes that start with "You might not want to get married if". In this case, if the pastor asks if the bride and groom did anything nice for each other that day and the guests erupt in laughter, you might not want to get married. Or maybe that's a Bill what's-his-face "Here's your sign" joke. In either case, this is a true story. And the poor pastor was quite taken aback by our unexpected laughter, and try to recover by saying, "Well at least you both showed up today".

Oh, and by the way, never trust Jeramy with wedding reception decorations...



And yes, that is a plastic ring in his nose. Amazing how much that stands out in that picture.

Sunday I had lunch with my friend Jessie and then we went to our friends Brian and Shanna's for a BBQ because her dad and stepmom, who we had never met, were in town. We managed to squeeze in grocery shopping before getting home and crashing.

So now it's Monday and I'm left wondering what happened to Saturday and Sunday!

I'd like my next hospital stay to be at

Madigan. (For those not in the Seattle area that's the hospital at Ft. Lewis where Scott is). Now I know that military hospitals have been in the news lately for providing long waits, etc. However, apparently service is top notch in the trauma unit. It has been so quiet when we've visited Scott. There are hardly any patients, and the nurses are responsive and super nice. Not that nurses are not generally nice, but they usually rushing around attending to far more patients than they can reasonably handle.

Seriously, the next time I've suffered some kind of severe trauma please as the airlift helicopter pilots to skip Harborview and take me to Madigan.

Update on Scott

Jeramy, Uncle Dave and I went to the hospital last night to visit Scott. He has surgery yesterday to put titanium rods in his back for the broken vertebrate. He was awake last night but very groggy. The really good news is that he was moving his legs and they are going to have him try walking tomorrow. I'm not quite sure when he'll get out of the hospital yet, although we were able to get a pass with an expected release date of June 11th listed. Depending on how recovery goes, he may need to go to a nursing home for a little while for rehabilitation. I was really impressed with Madigan. The hospital was incredibly quiet and the nursing staff is terrific.

I'm going to take Jeramy's stepmom to the hospital tonight to visit Scott, so maybe more news tomorrow.

Prayers and Good Thoughts Needed!

We got word yesterday that Jeramy's stepbrother Scott was in a bad car accident on Monday. Somehow (we don't know how yet) he swerved off Hwy 410 in Sumner, went up an enbankment and then rolled the car about 4 times. He is very badly injured with 4 broken vertebrate, a ruptured spleen, a broken hip and neck injuries. He also has not been able to feel his legs. His is having surgery this morning, starting about right now, and I'm sure he could use all the prayers he could get.

He is at Madigan, which is the army hospital at Fort Lewis. Jeramy and I are going to go see him tonight. At this point, we still do not have a lot of information.

Bachelors and Babies

Jeramy and I had a good...nearly relaxing...weekend. While we had things to do there was nothing urgent and I never felt rushed all weekend. By the same token my house is still a mess, my grass is a little long, and I have a sinking feeling that we'll pay for all of this relaxation later. Oh well!

We went to a combined bachelor/bachelorette party on Saturday evening at the Yardarm pub, which is in the heart of Des Moines only a couple miles from our house. It is quite the "classy" establishment. Anyhow, I am not sure that I understood the whole point behind a combined bachelor/bachelorette party. I mean isn't the whole purpose of such a party to allow the bride and groom to be one last night of fun as a single person? So to have a party together seems to defeat the whole "single" aspect of it. It really just makes for a big gathering of friends to celebrate the upcoming wedding (which is next weekend). It is sort of like an engagement party at a bar or the wedding pre-function a week early. In any case, here is a before and after shot of Clint, the bachelor in this case...





On Sunday, I went to our friend Jen's baby shower. Please note that I have many friends with the name Jen and in this case it is Matt's Jen. They are having a little boy due on Jeramy's birthday, August 1st. I have to say that it amazes me how much gear can be purchased to go along with a baby. This simply puts the accessory options for Jeramy's Harley to shame. Everything was seriously cute, Jen is looking fantastic, and the new baby is sure to be loved very much. Here is a pic of some of the girls afterwards. The preggo is the gal in the yellow.

New Photos from Arkansas

Jeramy's cousin Becky (who is a absolutely wonderful photographer) sent a CD with a bunch of pictures of his Grandma Harris along with several snapshots she took while we are in Arkansas.

Here is one of everybody who went down for the burial. This includes all 5 of Grandma Harris' kids but has only about half of the grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren. This family is huge.

I love this picture she got of Jeramy. He actually looks happy, which never happens in photos. (Although I assure you that it does happen occasionally in real life too.)