6.13.2008

Important Thoughts 6.0

Days Until Christian's 25th Birthday: 34

My first important thought is that I settled on a new layout, at least for now. I looked all around the Internet for hours Wednesday trying to find exactly the right template. Finally, after searching more this morning, I decided that there were only two ways I was ever going to have the perfect blog design: create it myself, and pay someone to create it. I wasn't interested in exploring either of those options, so I went with this, which I like fairly well. It's good enough for now. We'll see if it sticks.

My second important thought is that Christian's birthday is coming up, and despite what he thinks, it's coming up soon. I think I've already shared my philosophy that birthdays are awesome, but if I haven't, let me repeat: birthdays are awesome. Christian is also awesome, so I feel like his birthday should be super-incredi-awesome. He doesn't know what he wants to do for his birthday yet -- he keeps denying the fact that he needs to decide what he wants to do, because he keeps thinking that it's forever away -- so I can't make any definite plans. I am stocking up on presents. At least I'll be prepared on the present front.

My third thought concerns a guy that Christian and I saw in North Hills on our way home from the eye doctor today. He was sitting on the sidewalk, holding one of those advertisement signs that you usually see being flipped up into the air all kinds of cool ways. But he was just sitting there, and Christian and I both looked at him. Then we had this conversation:

Christian: [weirded out] "I think I made eye contact with that guy. That's not good."
Mary: "I did too. He looks really hot."
Christian: [questioning] "Yeah? You think so?"
Mary: "Yeah, I do. Why wasn't he drinking some of his Kool-Aid or whatever it was he had with him?"
Christian: [still questioning] "That guy that you found so attractive?"
Mary: "Attractive? I never said I thought he was attractive."
Christian: [questioning and kind of laughing] "Maybe not in those exact words."
Mary: "Oh. Gross. I meant that he looked really overheated."
Christian: [definitely laughing] "I know what you meant."
Mary: "But seriously, what happens to that guy if he has sun stroke or something?"
Christian: [flippant] "I'm sure he has to sign a waiver or something. Planet Beach is covered."

And that's when I realized that "planet beach" doesn't make sense. A whole planet can't be a beach. It doesn't make sense. There could be a Planet Ocean, where the entire planet was covered in water, or a Planet Land Mass. Planet Beach couldn't happen -- for beach, you need land and you need a body of water, which means that some of the planet would be land and some would be water; not all of it could be beach. It just can't happen. It's like saying Planet River or Planet Peninsula.

After ranting about it for a few minutes, I asked Christian to agree with me, and he agreed in that way that he does when he thinks I'm right, but he doesn't care about what I'm discussing as much as I do, and he wants to make sure I know it. And that doesn't satisfy me at all.

6.05.2008

Bits and Pieces 6-5-08

Days Until Christian's 25th Birthday: 42

I can't believe Christian is turning 25. That seems so old to me. Especially since it's Christian. Twenty-five is a ridiculously advanced age for a person to be when I'm married to them. We seem so young when we're together. Twenty-five just doesn't factor into the mental image that I have of us. It's just crazy, okay? It's crazy.

(As a side note, please no one read the above paragraph and lecture me on how young 25 is, just because you're 25 or older than 25 or are married to someone older than 25 and have been for years. I get it. Most people are older than 25. Reminding me of that fact is cliché and irritating, so, double irritating. The point is that I'm having a moment, contemplating the fact that my husband is almost 25. Not that it's freaking me out or anything. I'm just having a moment. Let me have my moment.)

I actually didn't come online to talk about Christian's birthday (although I am compiling a list of presents he wouldn't mind getting, in case anyone is interested). I didn't come online to blog at all -- I came online to get my mom's Judy's Brownies recipe, which I knew I e-mailed to Heather years ago, and would therefore be somewhere in my Gmail archives. In case anyone wants to try the recipe out, here it is:

Judy's Brownies

3/4 C cocoa
1 C oil
2 t vanilla
4 eggs
1 1/3 C flour
1 t baking powder
1 t salt
2 C sugar
1 C chocolate chips or walnuts (optional)

Mix ingredients together in order. Pour into a greased 9x13" pan. Sprinkle chocolate chips or walnuts on top if desired. Bake 30 minutes at 350˚.



It's a super-good recipe, I promise. Oh, and something else before I forget: Christian and I have a problem. Our problem starts with the fact that Christian doesn't like shopping. Christian doesn't like to buy clothes for himself and has consequently convinced himself that he doesn't need any more clothes than he already has. This is a mistake. Because he has a limited amount of clothing, we do the laundry more often than would otherwise be necessary. When we do the laundry, we eventually come to a point when we need to put the clothes in the dryer and turn it on. There would be nothing wrong with putting the clothes in the dryer and turning it on except for one thing.

The one thing? Once heat gets into the second story of our townhome, it never leaves. We can't figure out how to open our windows, which would let the stifling heat out and let the cool (if humid) night air in. Not being able to open our windows wouldn't be a problem except that the air conditioning never seems the reach the second floor. Thus, Christian and I often find it too warm to get a good night's sleep. And that's a big problem. If anyone has any suggestions as to how we might cool things down, please let me know.

*photo by jslander