A labor of love

To me, the definition of a labor of love is doing something that takes way longer than you expected it to take, but you do it anyway. That may be a silly definition, but then again, I don't have kids yet.

I had a labor of love today. It involved this:

Now, now before you rush to judge my housekeeping skills, let me explain. This tragic scene is what happens when two busy grad students are simply out of energy at the end of the night to do something as unglamorous as wash the dishes. But tonight, as I was reflecting on this:

which is a quote posted on our refrigerator after a particularly lazy weekend after which both Alex and I felt somewhat chastened by our lack of productivity, I decided to bite the bullet and clean the dishes. It also doesn't hurt that we were running out of clean dishes.

This was the effect of my labor of love.

If you are wondering about the painter's tape, no it is not a new decoration fad. It is the result of a well planned and controlled scientific experiment that proved that yes, the millions of sugar ants were indeed coming up through a crack at the edge of the counter. Maybe that was too much information.

Speaking of labors of love, check this out (the floor, not the dog):

Alex and I naively thought that Thanksgiving break two years ago would be plenty of time to lay 600 square feet of tile. It wasn't finished until, oh, May or so.

Here's another one (again, the floor):

My mom and dad came out and visited last fall and my dad and Alex laid a whole room and hallway of this oak floor in 3 (long) days flat. It was AMAZING. I am in love with it. I would marry it if I weren't already happily married.

Here is a another HUGE labor of love:

This rug. It sat under our kitchen table in Idaho for decades, suffering under the strain of chairs constantly being pushed in and pulled out, and it had millions of holes between all of the braids. My mother sat for hours and hours and hours and stitched all those holes up so that we use have the rug in our living room. I think of her every time I see it.That was a true labor of love.

Finally, the last labor of love for the night:

This little rascal, Ruben. He sucks my time and energy, always looking for a spot on my lap and in my face. Good thing he is so cute.

One of Lola's talents

is standing on two legs. Pretty soon she's going to be a normal biped. Then she'll be able to run off and join the circus.

10 things I love about Alex

Alex deserves many posts on the blog dedicated to him because he is that awesome. While he may not have all that many posts, you should know that there are many posts in my heart for Alex. I want to share some reasons why I love Alex without being overly mushy because that would scare my dad away from my blog. Then again, I probably already scared my dad away. 


1. When I am all snug and cozy in the bed at night, I have invariably forgotten to get something or do something. Alex will get out of bed and get it or do it without complaining, even if it is 2 am and I need a cough drop.


2. He knows how to cook, man! (tinfoil dinner of apple stuffed cornish game hens on our honeymoon). We make a perfect pair - he cooks, I eat!

3. Look at that smile!

4. He married me. I would be some bum on the street if it weren't for Alex.

5. He gives me foot rubs. Oh, how I love the foot rubs. And oh, how I need them. (Especially when I have marathon feet. That is rare, by the way)

6. He loves me even when I look like this, which is not as rare as marathon-feet.

7. He fits into my pants. Wait...

8. He waited for me while I was doing this...

9. He is made of money. Well, in a relative sense. If love were money, Alex would be a bajillionaire!

10. And finally, the last thing (on this list) I love about Alex. He has almost singlehandedly transformed this:

Into this: 

Amazing! He has worked really hard on our home. And he works hard in every aspect of his life. I am so lucky that Alex is my slave husband!


Okay, I knew the title says 10 things I love about Alex but there are two more things that simply have to be on this list.


10a. Alex has an incredible, innate ability to find things that I have been looking for for at least ten minutes and still can't find. Usually, he says he finds them in my backpack but I think he finds them somewhere else and just says they were in my backpack, because I have already looked there 2 or 3 times.


10b. ALEX. LETS. ME. CUT. HIS. HAIR. That, my friends, is unadulterated, true love.

Let me tell you about Kiki

Her real name is Kristin, but she goes by Kiki. I think it is a cool nickname, don't you? I sit by her in class. The reason I do this is because 1) she tolerates it and 2) I am trying to get some of her coolness to rub off on me. It's true; she's really cool. Here are a few reasons why: 1) she's a swimmer. She swam in college. I don't know any details but word on the street is that she's really good. 2) She's an Ironman. Or an Ironwoman if you want to be PC. Do you realize how incredibly impressive this is? 3) She has a poodle named Winnie.

Okay, so back to the sitting by her in class. Usually this is just fine. But sometimes, when Kiki wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, this happens:

Do you see that look on her face? Like she relishes the fact that she is about to drill a hole through my temporal lobe? It disturbs me. We won't mention the equally disturbing look on my face...

But don't worry, I talked her out of it eventually and we went on to have many happy holes drilled and screws placed in our compression and neutralization plates this morning.

Who's a fool?

I will give you a hint:

It's NOT Alex! Alex is one of the least foolish people I know. (By the way, what exactly are those toilet paper rolls whispering in your ears, Alex?)

It's not this cute little thing either.

 This is the fool. Now, before you say that this looks like something that does not belong in a kitchen, much less in a bowl on the counter, let me explain. Have you ever heard of an avocado fool? I hadn't either until recently. For date night on Friday, Alex and I decided to try our hand at a new dessert. Here it is in the cookbook:

 

See! I am not making this up. It is a sweet avocado dessert, and the ingredients include an avocado (of course), juice of 1/2 lime (we used lemon - fresh out of limes!), 2 tbsp sweetened condensed milk, 2 tbsp coconut cream (not to be confused with coconut milk - you make this by simmering 1 part coconut in one part milk and then straining it in cheesecloth and letting the cream then rise to the top as it cools in the fridge), and finally a pinch of salt. Just blend it! It was pretty good folks, so it is a recommendation if you are looking to explore the many sides of avocado.

By the way, can anyone tell me where the name fool comes from? Dr. Google couldn't help me in 10 seconds, so I am stumped.

Maybe it refers to the one making the dessert.

The Vacuum

Here in the Parent household, we have a relationship with the vacuum. We got it for our wedding from Alex's Aunt Kathy, and I am eternally grateful to her for it. I mean, can you imagine our house with two dogs and a cat without a vacuum? I can, and it ain't pretty folks. Here is a picture of our vacuum:

Now, let me explain our individual relationships with the vacuum. Alex: Thinks the vacuum is and I quote "a necessary evil" Katie: Vacuums are one of the greatest blessings of modern life. I adore my vacuum, and I wish we got together more often. Ruben: What is a vacuum? Lucy: It makes me nervous. Lola: Vacuum = archenemy. This is better shown than explained:

Warning: This post is too long.

This day, January 19th, is an important day in my life for two reasons: 1) it is the day I entered the Missionary Training Center to begin my mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Poland and 2) it is the day I got engaged, two years after the first significant event. Today, I am going to post a few pictures in remembrance of my mission. First of all, I would like to say that my mission was:

1. The hardest 19 months of my life, bar none

2. A time I wouldn't trade for anything

3. Something I remember every single day

I met so many wonderful people and I became acquainted with a beautiful country that has suffered a lot throughout history. All of my companions were amazing, beautiful people and I met members of the church that have sacrificed immensely to live what they believe in a country that isn't always understanding of their beliefs. So, without further ado, I want to share a few pictures of my time in Poland. No particular order.

This is my trainee, Sister Gibb and we are in Katowice, my last area. She taught me a lot about hard work and faith to get the job done. Can I also say that she has the most beautiful smile of anyone I know? Ania, the girl on the right, is deaf. She taught me some Polish sign language.

 This is my first area, Łódź (woodge). There is my trainer, Sister Green, second from the right. She was an awesome trainer, especially for being so new in the country herself. The two other young ladies, Basia and Dominika, are two amazing young members of the church.

 

Zuzanna: I will never forget you or your cat. We had many wonderful discussions with Zuzanna and eventually parted ways. I hope she is doing well.

 

There were constant reminders of the horrors of World War II. Here, spray paint marking the border of one of the ghettos. Łódź and Warsaw, two areas I served in for 1 year total, each suffered horribly in the war.

 

Sister Jensen, my second companion. Sister Jensen had a contagiously happy attitude. She was also my quirkiest companion, but I mean that as a compliment. Never a dull moment. Great missionary. And Renata, a new member in Łódź, second from the left.

 

I knocked on nearly all the doors in this neighborhood, and you can't even see most of the buildings here.

Now I am on the rynek (town square) in Warsaw. We are singing hymns. I am sure we sounded great.

From left, Sister Lawson, Gabriela, Magda, and me. First of all, Sister Lawson... I don't even know where to start. I learned so much from her. She was truly an exceptional missionary. Gabriela and Magda - some of my favorite people.

Some more of my favorite people. From left: Wojtek, Marta, and Gabi. I wish I could give them a hug.

  

Poland is a tourist destination. Can you see why? There are some beautiful places.

We walked by these kids nearly every day on our way out to our area in Katowice. We would often stop and talk. On this day, we bought them ice cream. I think they were grateful.

 

Gabi again. Isn't she cute? Let me tell you something, it isn't easy to be a teenager in Poland. Being a member of our church doesn't make it easier.

 

This sweet Catholic sister was nice enough to listen to us. She gave me my first and only set of rosary beads. I still have them.

Some more of my favorite people. Agnieszka on the far left and Basia on the far right. Ania is on the bottom. These people were marvelous, very firm believers in their own Evangelical faith and we had some wonderful discussions with them. By the way, notice how we are all bundled up? It got really (really!) cold in Poland.

Moral of the story #1: it is impossible to sum up a mission in a few pictures.

Moral #2: Mormon missionaries are usually really nice people. You should get to know one two.

One more picture:

What the heck were we doing to this poor quadruped? I have no idea. By the way, I did not know that I was going to go to vet school when I was on my mission. I pretty much decided that the month before applications were due. But that is a whole different story...