I’m going to be an aunt.

Steve and I recently found out that his sister, Kristina, is pregnant. When she first told Steve, he was nearly in shock, and accidentally gave her the impression that he wasn’t happy about it. She texted me, later, asking how he really felt about it, and I got to smooth things out. However, we still both have somewhat mixed feelings.

I’m happy that she’s happy, and I’m sure Steve is, too, but her current situation isn’t reassuring. In fact, it’s eerily similar to our situation when I became pregnant with Jereme. The only differences are that we were married, and I have an extremely generous family, who helped us get on our feet again. I don’t know that she does. The marriage thing isn’t terribly important to me, but the financial area is worrisome.

Le sigh.

I think I’ve come down with a mild bug or something… my energy level’s still bottomed out, and again, I didn’t sleep well. I did finish that envelope-book, and photographed it, but I haven’t bothered to download the photos yet. I also did a Dawn collage for a favorite-artist themed mini-zine.

Huzzah for things that require little effort.

Slice of life: Steve’s started watching 90210 dvds with me. Hee.

Insert ellipsis here

I’m feeling seriously lethargic today. I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night, so I think I’ll just leave this entry at that.

Rubber.

So, another evening with Mom and Jereme, this time without the religious discussions. Every time my parents feed us, they seem to think a movie’s required. Tonight’s choice was actually a lot of (family) fun: “My Date With the President’s Daughter.” While I like the movie, I can’t see the President without thinking of his part in “You’ve Got Mail,” one of my favorite movies.

“My father is getting married again. For five years, he’s been living with a woman named Gillian who studied decorating at Caesar’s Palace.”
“Porcelain?”
“Rubber.”

I think that next month, one of my make-or-breaks will be photography. I’ve seen several blogs lately, devoted to a daily or regular photo. I’d love to do that… however, unless I depend solely on Flickr, that might mean somehow acquiring hosting again. I’m not sure I want to deal with that hassle, right now, particularly because I’m having problems with my old hosting account, and it’s not getting resolved. We’ll see how it goes.

And now, I’m going to figure out how to decorate an envelope book.

Of hell and chimps

Brent Sienna said it: “Jesus has come back and he’s a phone now.”

Spending the afternoon with my mother is a wonderful, confusing experience. While feeding us her awesome chicken fried steak, she starts talking about this book recounting the experiences of a woman who claims to literally have gone to hell. I’m familiar with this book, but have forgotten the details, so Mom expands. I’m eating steak, and she’s talking about human flesh falling off bones. It’s being burned off, it’s being flayed off, whatever you can imagine.

Then, we watched the rest of some movie Jereme’d started. A chimpanzee on a skateboard.

Of art squares and pizza

I spent a fun hour creating little 1″x1″ collages – most for a Nervousness swap, and one for Zorana. Making these little pieces of art is a fun way to pass the time, and it’s surprisingly easy to find small enough pieces to use. One of these days, I’ll make some to swap here, just for fun.

Tonight I found my “perfect pizza” recipe. It’s been stuck between notebooks for months. *laughs* I love making homemade pizza, so I think I’ll do that this weekend. Meanwhile, the recipe:

Pour 1/4 cup warm water into a large bowl. Add 1 envelope active dry yeast. Stir in 1 tsp. sugar. Let stand 5 minutes.

Add 1 cup warm water, 1 tbsp. olive oil, and 1 tsp. salt. Stir in about 3 1/2 cups flour, until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Turn dough onto floured surface, and knead about 10 minutes. Butter or nonstick-spray a large bowl. Place dough in bowl, and turn to grease the top. Cover with plastic wrap, and leave in a warm place to rise. (45 minutes/double in size)

Preheat oven to 450F. Punch down dough. Coat 2 pizza pans (12 inch) with nonstick spray, and sprinkle with cornmeal. Divide dough in half, and roll to make 6-8″ circles. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

Stretch dough to fit the pizza pans, and bake for 10 minutes. Add sauce, toppings, and mozzarella cheese. Bake 15-20 minutes until the cheese is melted to your liking.

Brr.

It’s amazing to me how the people in this area can live so close to the Rockies – and numerous ski resorts – and still be so unprepared for severe winter weather. Boise City, in a neighboring county, is still experiencing horrendous problems stemming from the blizzard over a week ago. Snow drifts between 10 to 12 feet high are trapping people in their homes. Also, about 1500 homes are still without power. From what I’ve heard the city roads have been cleared, but none of the county roads, so necessary for the area ranchers. Helicopters have been dropping hay to stranded herds of cattle.

A little closer to home, the blizzard dropped more ice than snow, and it’s long melted. There are some rather spectacular ponds out in the fields, though.

Interesting mail is fun.

I must remember to check my mail more often. Just today, I had a boxful: a “pay-it-forward” package from TayLynn, a holiday card from Sarah, a long-awaited letter from Kristen, and a visitors’ guide to Anchorage, which I plan to cut up immediately. Oh, and the water bill.

We spent the evening at my parents’, which was enjoyable as always. Steve, Jereme and I watched the Dallas-Seattle game while I reformatted my laptop. I haven’t even begun to play with the drivers and all that yet, but I’ll get around to it eventually.

Finally, a hat I’ll wear.

Steve bought me a black knit beret recently. Upon seeing it, my first thought was not, “Oh cool, a beret.” It was, “Awesome. Now I can look like Jamie Hyneman sans mustache.” I admit, I’m a little strange. And now I want a traditional wool felt beret.

Collegiate

Steve texted me from work today, telling me he’d decided to go back to college. That surprised me, as in the past, I’ve always been the first to bring up the topic. I called him on his lunch break, and we talked for awhile.

I had a miniscule breakdown during that talk, as my feelings of failure surfaced. In school, I was in the “gifted” class, and I graduated two years early. Everyone expected grand and wonderful things of me. I didn’t exactly party my way out of my first semester of college, but I certainly found better things to do when it was time for class.

Since then, I’ve attempted resurrecting my pursuit of a degree, but something – anything – always happens to deter me. Yes, I’m aware that many people attain a degree while working, while pregnant, while a parent – single or married, while going through emotional turmoil, et cetera. To date, I am not one of those people. Perhaps I’m just easily distracted. Or maybe, I was doing it all wrong. Who knows?

This summer will mark ten years since I graduated from high school. I think it’s time to do it right.

Slice of life: Words are fun.