are you a coffee fool?

the accusation on this site is simple-

you've probably been drinking stale coffee and you're missing out.

the solution is also just as simple-

you need to drink the stuff that has been roasted in the last few days to taste truly great, sweet, amazing coffee.

although i'm not a full fledged coffee drinker (caramel decaf mocha's don't count as coffee), i can understand the attraction to good coffee, so i thought i should share this site with all you good coffee drinking folks.

castle smasher- time waster

it's been awhile since i posted a link to a time waster game, so i figure i can throw one out there without too much guilt...


here's castle smasher.

you catapult the castle until it's gone, and you try to fill up with more balls if you can.

of course, it's strangely addicting.

have fun!!

i love these kitties

this kitty is very interested.



i love interested kitties. they are very fun to watch.

another interested kitty...



so so much fun!

young burt reynolds

this ad is barely stomach-able, but so worth sharing with you all...

check it out in all it's glory here.

guess who...

someone i know and love sent me this update recently, amusing me to no end... I won't reveal her identity, since she was kind enough to let me post these embarrassing details, but if someone guesses, i'll give them a dollar.

and I quote:

Did I tell you about all the fun I've been having lately? I was taking a new prescription med for about 3 weeks when my body decided to let me know it was allergic. Wuhoo!! I started getting hives on Wednesday night and I was like, "Hmm, better take some benedryl." and went to bed.

Thursday morning....I had itched myself bald (okay, not quite) and I had hives so thick on my neck I could hardly turn my head...not to mention hives everywhere.

So I called the Doctor's office and saw the PA at 10:30. She sent the nurse in with a shot and went to consult the Doc. The nurse gave me the shot and left the room. Suddenly, I'm sitting on the nice, high table feeling like I'm going to pass out. I moved to the doc's stool and was sitting there with my head between my knees when the PA came back in. She was like, "How are we feeling." I said, "Would you like to tell me about the side effects from the shot you gave me?"

Seems passing out is a possible side effect.

I ended up laying on the table with a cool wash cloth and not passing out but geez. I could hear them in the hallway talking about the poor woman with the hives that they almost made unconscious.

Then I was on Prednisone and Loratadine for a week. The pred made me want to eat everything....everything... even when I was full. I swear I gained 10 pounds.

Then they taper you off that and the minute I went to the lowest dose, it started making me naseated all day....decided I'd had enough of that yesterday.

I go back Friday to make sure I'm not dead.

Plus, I have Polaroid skin right now, whenever I get warm the hives would pop out at first (which I swear the pred made me about 3 degrees warmer...my palms are sweating right now). But now it's just if I scratch my face or whatever, it turns bright red. I've been threatening to write messages on my forehead.

Yeah, I've been a happy, happy girl. Hopefully, that's behind me now though....no more better living through chemistry even if the doctor says so!

to the person i know and love: feel better soon!!

pb+j rediscovered

when i was a kid growing up, my older brother scott would make my sister and me lunch, and he would always make our pb+j sandwiches without much pb and probably too much j. i hated those sandwiches. they stuck to my mouth and really had no redeeming qualities. ick.

well, anyway, i blame my longstanding dislike of pb+j sandwiches on scott- and i think he knows that he deserves that.

i have ever since avoided pb+j's; they just don't appeal to me.

well that's all different now.

recently, i had lunch with my friend tracy at her home, and i told her that i'd love to eat whatever she wanted to make. =)

she made soup and pb+j sandwiches.

she did ask if that would be okay, but since i had just stated that i would love to eat whatever she made, i thought it better to push myself than to be picky to my super sweet generous friend. besides, it's always good to push oneself to re-evaluate food preferences (and actually, all types of preferences).

well, she made me a gloriously yummy pb+j and i have been craving them ever since.

i've made myself two since then (one of which was devoured just moments ago), and i couldn't possibly imagine living my life without eating at least one a week until forever and a day.

i've missed a lot of lovely pb+j moments because of you, scott richard. i can't forgive you for this, so don't ask. =)

aaron is an uncle, again

andrew charles was born on sunday and is already home with his mom, dad, and big brother carson.



















congratulations bridget and james!!

Need a 'break'?

I just can't get my break...

Beatbox Fame Game
Uploaded by loranger

... to turn out like his (hers?).

turns and then more turns

i love love love the photography on this site- Bill Sullivan

this guy takes pictures of people coming through the subway turnstile, and i think it's so fun.


























































i probably wouldn't think it was so funny if it was me with a stupid look on my face.

are you man enough?

i guess mitchum deodorant presumes to tell people if they are man enough, via 'nina'...








































first, i've never even heard of mitchum deodorant and this seems like a lame attempt to get on the map.

second, it's a sad state of affairs that this will probably actually get them on the map.

sigh.

flu shot, i should have never doubted you

i've always doubted that the flu shot really does any good. i remember one year that i got a flu shot and then i got strep like three times and i swore off the flu shot as an immune system weakener...

silly me.

thankfully, rmg offered free shots this year and i stopped in to get one, snickering to myself as i did: 'silly flu shot'

so saturday night i felt a little tightness in my chest and left lindsey and michael's party early to get some rest. on sunday, the tightness was still there, but not so bad. on monday, i left work to go home and get a few hours rest since i was a little tired and afraid i was getting sick. I got two hours of sleep, worked late, and since then, i've felt increasingly better, never looking back. i feel great now. at the worst of it, there was a little tightness in my chest and i felt somewhat tired. that's it.

okay, so compare that to aaron's poor story...

sunday he started with a little cough. little. monday morning, he had a roaring fever and couldn't move. it was all he could do to force down food and liquids last night in between passing out exhausted on the couch. same story all day today. though he says he's feeling better, he really has only been able to get out of bed to go to the bathroom. if i hadn't been here to force him to take ibuprofen to reduce his fever or to eat, i imagine he would have done none of those things. i'm sure it's influenza, without a doubt. i really should go check on him again.

flu shot, i thank you.

buddy, hang in there.

geni- neat family tree site

this site makes it easy to create a family tree- geni


you sign up, and enter in the family members you know. then, if you want, you can enter their email addresses and they can login and add in additional family members that they know about, but whom you might not know so well.

this way, the family shares in the fun of creating the family tree, and it's probably more accurate because of that. it's all secure and everything. i think it's a great idea!

ass slices- served up in australia

so my brother took this picture on the sly in australia. it's a little fuzzy cause he took it kinda fast, cause he didn't want someone to see him take a picture of the ass. slices...




















of course, it's short for assorted slices, but it's too funny not to snicker at anyway.




















i'm thinking $2.00 is pretty cheap for ass. slices...

also, does anyone need an 'abuse of older people' resource kit?




















i want to live in australia...

smoking kills

my sister sent me this video.



hunny go upstairs and look thoroughly...

(thanks sister)

where we had our first kiss

happy valentine's day!!

aaron and i had our first kiss on ellis road in muskegon, michigan, sometime in june 1993. i was seventeen and he was eighteen and it was an awesome kiss to lead many other awesome kisses.

i put the exact spot on the map at whereihadmyfirstkiss.com.

when we were home for christmas, we learned that the airport had taken over more land recently and that the place where we had kissed for the first time is now inside the airport perimeter.

if i were going to try to read meaning into that, what would it mean?

kitty- an update

they told me on tuesday that there's no sign of infection in kitty's 'sample'. i didn't quite trust it, since it wasn't cleared up the first time, but after a few days with her still doing well, i'm relieved to think that it's over. and so thankful.

she's sitting here with me as i blog and i really love her. i would do just about anything for her- which includes sitting on this couch longer than i wanted just so that i don't disturb her when i get up.

damn cat, you are spoiled.

pi - this gay bar seriously rocks

aaron and i met michael and lindsey at pi last night, the new "queer women's social club".

we closed the place down after taking it to the dance floor like a bunch of john travolta's.

i really just loved the place. it made me glad to live in minneapolis. there was such a fun, hanging out, having fun, being gay atmosphere. it's like no other night club / bar that i've ever been to. i predict it will be wildly successful and packed on most weekends, which is a tall order since there is a lot of room in there.

aaron and i found the back hallway / restroom area. it's quiet back there. ;-)

oh my god, it was so so much fun.

here's the star tribune article about it.

there are monkeys in my office

lori baker made window treatments for me for my birthday.















they have monkeys on them.















they also have fishies, birdies and butterflies.















when we went into the store to select the fabric together, we grabbed all sorts of samples. i liked the monkeys on this one, but never dreamed in a million years that this would be the sample that worked best in our office.

now i realize, it was always the monkeys for me.

thanks lori!!!

a few fine photos

i've updated my 'chillin' at michael and lindsey's place' photo set on flickr with new photos- slinky is included, so make sure you check them out...




















this is the cool poster lindsey made for michael to celebrate one month of not smoking:















i've uploaded all my pics from jeff and gene's annual white elephant party. my favorite gift of the evening was the 'shoe' that michael selected.















i was slightly drunk, but i seem to remember that kat and scott stole it from him in order to re-gift it at another white elephant party they were planning to attend.

oh shoe, everyone wants you.

i have both enhanced my life, and cursed it!!

i bought a featherbed on saturday.

enhanced- it is pure heaven and i look forward to going to bed all day long.

cursed- it is next to impossible to get out of in the morning. i don't know how i did it today.

the kitty loves it too, which is important.

warmest, softest scarf in the whole world

i may have mentioned the hand-spun alpaca yarn that my aunt linda gave me, and i may have even mentioned that i was making a scarf out of it...

AND i may have even shown the finished scarf to some of you...

OKAY, i may have even made some of you try it on to see how soft it really is...

BUT... have i shown it to the whole world on the internet?

Not until right now, folks.





























you guys are pretty lucky.

(thanks aunt linda!)

neat and thought-provoking stories

home page

stealth toaster =)

these are the kinds of short stories aaron writes. i told him to contribute, but i don't know if he will. very cool site.

old versus new

so i'm a few weeks into my new job and so far, i'm really enjoying it.

i promised my friends at my last job that i would post pics of my new office so they could see the new digs and dream a little. =)

here is my last office...






























and here is my new one...

also, i couldn't resist taking a little video (i'm a total geek, yes).



notice, both offices are gray- it's amazing what a little natural light does for a place, eh?

the kitty

she went in for her recheck and they said she still has an infection, so now she's on a new pill, only once a day. hopefully this clears it up soon.

aaron told me about this book he's reading where all the characters are named for their personalities. stencil for a computer geek, profane for a sailor, mafia for an italian chic.

i decided my kitty would be named drama. i've started calling her that already.

simpsons, real life?

it's scary that someone spent time to do this, but somehow strangely interesting, too.

mcdonald's- yes i think their ad is funny

if you haven't seen the new mcdonald's ad, check it out here.

i don't know why, but this ad makes me think of my friend lori. i think it's because i can actually visualize her doing this.

carpenter ants are for real, man

i've referenced this video many times with a lot of my friends, so i thought i'd post it.



i took this video when we visited the arboretum... it's a bunch of ants taking down a big green caterpillar, relentlessly.

if you turn the sound up a bit, you'll hear aaron say 'carpenter ants are for real, man.'

to explain our inside joke, which one should never do: whenever we talk about or see something that's kind of intense, we pull out this quote and snicker a little.

wikileaks.org- applause!

so i just ran across this site called wikileaks.org which i am instantly fascinated with. the purpose of the site is to be an untraceable, uncensorable place for people to leave classified documents that might reduce corruption and other non-niceties in the world.

my first thought, of course, goes to the bush administration, but when i read a little further, i'm ashamed of my provincialism. this resource could be so much more important:

"Our primary interests are oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we also expect to be of assistance to those in the west who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their own governments and corporations."

they do mention our western political and corporate systems, but think of all the other more global uses of the tool!!!

i love love love this internet thing. it still amazes me: how much good (and bad) it can do for the human race.

there is an example of an article and document up there, but it looks like they are still in development.

i can't wait to see how this thing develops. i imagine there will be a flood of crap at first, but then, it's true purpose will gain momentum.

kat's surprise 30th birthday party

all kat's friends and family threw her a surprise 30th birthday party on 01.03.07.

it's taken me awhile to post the pics, but here they are.

kat was so surprised, that she had to stand in the porch for a few minutes (there were a few tears) before she was composed enough to then go stand in the kitchen for a few minutes (there were a few more tears) and at that point, she was finally able to join the party. =)


































i'm glad that we could all make her day so special for her.

hope you have a great year, kat!!

new years eve 12.31.06

i'll be the first to admit, this video will probably be funny (hopefully) for those of us that were there, and only mildly amusing (at best) for those of you that weren't.



to those of us that were there: i tried to include all the funnest activities of the night.

to those of you that weren't there: yep, we got drunk and danced like drunk people.

fox on trampolene

this just makes me laugh everytime i see it.



he kind of does what my kitty does: play, play, play, oops, someone might have seen me playing, ack, i'm caught! quick, i'd better lick my fur, that will fool them.

fun video for a monday morning.

kitty update

thanks for all of your caring questions. kitty is doing much better now that the antibiotics have kicked in and she's on some pain killers. she is getting lots of rest and doing lots of purring when i hold her now.

i can't believe how hard it was to see her in pain. but i'm feeling the opposite of that now that she's getting back to normal. so glad to have her back.

i love you, kitty.

frog review- home depot

okay, so first i'm thinking, this is kind of an interesting way to review content on the internet. lighthearted, fun, interesting, and strangely satisfying for an internet geek surfer like me.

then i'm thinking, i wonder if this is part of a larger group of reviews...

and before i even finish that thought, i get to the end of the review, and have to just laugh for the pure silliness of the brown frog. i love him.

check it out here.

then, if you want to see a couple other ones, go here.

kinda cool.

my kitty-

=(

my kitty has a urinary infection, which may actually be caused by a kidney stone (we don't know for sure, yet). she's got blood in her pee, which she keeps desperately trying to get out anywhere she can. she's having a really hard time and it's so hard for me to see her in pain.

so i'm sending the love out to the universe (internet, same thing).

i love you, baby. get well soon.

get your kitten. daily kitten! read all about it !

a daily kitten can really turn a frown upside-down.

my friend julie sent this link to me when i was having a hard day, and 'cloudy' was the kitten of the day.















i love cloudy. cloudy has a great tail.

okay, so almost as great as the pics are the comments on the site. last time i looked, cloudy had more than 140 comments, most of them some form of: aaawwwwww, he's so cute.

Hacked your Blog Dude Its My Birthday Oh yeah

Oh hey everyone this is wrong but whatever I'm hijacking susan's blog today

Cause It's my birthday I turn 32 to day ok there should be some dorky thing I can do here.

Oh hey just for my birthday check out fred rogers's homepage over at pbs if i type that in will it make a link lets see

www.pbskids.org/rogers

ok hope that works otherwise just type it in people

(hey susan could ya fix that up there so its a link and then just erase these paretheses)

alright there it is there should be like a picture to gowith with i thin. oh jesus that's not mister rogers ok whatever.

happy birthday to me

i hacked your blog dude.

nye 12.31.06

yep, i took lots of pics at lindsey and michael's partay.

yep, i finally posted them on flickr.com.

yep, if you click here, you can see them all.

yep, these are my favs-













































































hope your celebration was a good one...

you might have to be a woman...

... to laugh outrageously at this commercial.

fucking hilarious.

i showed this to aaron after laughing hysterically, and he just shrugged.

tell me, ladies, am i the only one who laughed out loud?

pics have been uploaded

i posted all my pics from our trip home on flickr, so you can check them out if you like.

there are five different sets:

the dewitt's















the ralya's (my sister's family)















pics with grandma grace (aaron's grandma- she gave us aaron's grandpa's wedding ring, which aaron has been wearing) =)















pics with my sister, kristen















michigan nature (all the pics from our trips to the beach)















good times!

happy new year!

alright, things got a little crazy at lindsey and michael's place last night. they threw down a new years eve party like no other. i hold them personally responsible for my headache this morning. but i love them like crazy.

now, i'm sittin' on my couch. the sun is shining in the windows. the snow is makin' everything look new. my kitty is here keeping me cozy. the new year is dawning and i just want to say- this whole life thing is working out alright.

happy new year.

waves waves waves

i always try to make it out to the beach while we're in michigan. and this year, without any snow, the beach was superb for visiting.

while sitting on the beach listening to the waves, i remembered why that place was so hard for me to leave 8 years ago to come to minnesota. when i'm near the lake, my mind sort of empties out of all the rifraff, and i get a certain clarity that doesn't come very easily when i'm away from nature.

the waves said two things to me:
1. in your head, you keep referring to some of the decisions you've made in the last few years as 'mistakes'. you hate that word, and you know it's not right, but you keep using it on yourself. let go of that word and the judgment that goes along with it. give yourself permission to live.

2. please don't forget how important this nature thing is to you. when you sit in your wonderful house that you love, you think you can get the serenity that you get in nature, but you can't. seek out more nature. spend more time finding it, even if it's just at the park down the street. nature is a great listener.



i know the waves said some other things to me too, but these were the main themes.

alicia- artwork

she's well on her way to becoming a fine artist...





















...don't you think?

christmas kids- noah, cole and alicia

so here is a little video of our niece and nephews that i took while we were in michigan. of course, this may only be cute for those of us that are actually related to these children.



near the end, there is a clip of alicia opening the skirt, shirt and purse i got her for christmas (very excited).

none of us should drunk

so after i had my last big interview with allen, i went over to lindsey and michael's place to do a little celebrating.



ya know, we had a good time.

(by the way, no one drove [drunk] home intoxicated)

fantastic read during transition/difficult times- thanks saire!!

i hit some pretty strong situational depression while recently digging through myself, trying to ask hard questions and struggling with the answers. it was the first time in recent history that i've had to rely so heavily on my friends for support. as i may have mentioned, all my friends came through for me with an overwhelming wave of love and encouragement. you all helped in some incredibly important way and i thank you.

while at one of my lowest points, my friend saire cookson recommended this book to me:
What I Know Now: Letters to My Younger Self
by Ellyn Spragins

i'm telling you now, this book is most fantastical. women who have succeeded in every way you can imagine write a letter to themselves at a younger age, seeking to impart some deeper wisdom they now possess on a struggling younger self.

the result is an encouragment for the reader like no other. it gives perspective, hope, reassurance, all the things we struggle so hard to find in the moment when we need them most, delivered to us by women we can respect and admire. i found myself crying often, the answers almost bleeding out of me as i read.

this book is a must MUST read by anyone working through hard times in their lives. i would recommend it to everyone, but it seems like this book would be so much more powerful at the right moment, it almost makes sense to save it until the struggle is most intense. i want to buy my own copy, so that the next friend that needs it can borrow it from me just in time for their own salvation.

saire, your recommendation was priceless. thank you.

first day at my new job =)

so last thing i mentioned on my blog about the job situation was that i had an invitation to join a new company. i have accepted their offer and actually had my first day with them already today!

last monday i gave notice and said my last day would be january 9th. the new company asked me if i could get a little time in ahead of my january 10th start date, and since we're on holiday today and tuesday, i agreed to work at the new place both those days.

so my new job started today, and it felt like such a great fit, i'm so excited! i know it's the right thing to do, to work through the 9th and give a full two weeks, but i'm so ready to move on already.

it was pretty hard to give notice and revisit all the questions i've asked myself over the last six months. this time, i had to face them from my colleagues, none of whom were present during my lowest moments of depression in searching out the right answer for myself. i can't really expect them to know as surely as i do, but it's hard not to re-ask myself along with the rest of them-
- it's only been 6 months, are you sure it's not a fit?
- aren't you interested in helping build this thing?
- what is it that you just don't like about it, and aren't those things fixable?
- the company sees you as part of a bigger picture here, aren't you interested in that path?
- the client really likes you and will be so disappointed...

i've known that this was the right decision, but that doesn't mean it's an easy transition.
the great feeling i had at the new place today makes the rest of my transition that much more difficult. they'll be telling my current client this coming week along with the rest of the agency, so i'm sure i will hear the questions above many more times. hopefully, the answers will flow a little more easily.

maybe i should follow my friend lori's advice- when asked why i'm leaving, she suggests saying: 'it's simple, they won't let me drink at work, here.'

i promise...

... to upload all my pics and some video from our trip home this weekend and post a link.

... to blog all the cool things that have been going on for me recently.

... to blog all the interesting sites i've found recently on this thing- the internet.

... to love all my friends as much as they have loved me.

... to repay all your blog patience with good bloggin' activity all through next year.

thanks for being cool.

happiness is...

...reading this phrase in my email, today:

"...I would like to offer you a full time position as a producer..."

worship at every meal with jesus pan

yes, i thought this was a joke, but it's actually real!

jesuspan!




















how hilarious is that??

thanks for sharing, jj!!

thanks for the love and friendship

the support of all my friends and family has been so huge for me this last year.

all of you have contributed your listening ear, your kind words, your good energy.

i wouldn't have come through so well if it hadn't been for you. i really feel truly thankful that i have such great friends.

thank you.

sincerely,

sq

doubt

i've got a lot of it. doubt.

i find myself bending down so close to the ground. and then bending the opposite way minutes later.

i want to give what is wanted.

i want to rest even more.

brain, please stop. i can't think anymore.

tears are just below the surface, all the time.

laughter, too.

fear, mostly.

too much fear, suffocating.

focus. perspective. let go.

accountability breeds passion and desire

i've been wrestling lately with some internal soul searching. questions about what i should, could, can do with myself.

this post was helpful to me.














take a gander.

(thanks pamela)

alen- update

not too long ago, i blogged about the birth of alen, our friend's new son. well he's about three months old already.






































here is a little update video if you're into baby's and their precious babbling (there's also a good clip of buddy holding him).



alen, you are a treat to be around.

our awesome saturday

saturday- part one

for the holidays, our dear friends linda and rob bought us tickets to go see 'carols and cantus', which is christmas music performed by the saint paul chamber orchestra and an all male a capella group (cantus).

i would like to tell you how wonderful and amazing the concert was, but words just don't seem to capture the essence. we had front row seats, and the cantus group, if you haven't ever had the opportunity to hear them, was phenomenal.

my favorite piece of the night was when they sang 'o holy night', which is my all time favorite holiday song in the whole world. yes, there were tears. yes, it was that great.

thanks linda and rob!!

saturday- part two

so many of my friends have told us not to miss the body world exhibit while it's in town at the science museum. well, since this was it's last weekend, we knew it was now or never. thank goodness the science museum decided to keep the exhibit open round the clock over the weekend, or we may not have had the opportunity to see it.

after our 'carols and cantus' concert, we made our way to the science museum and prepared ourselves to be amazed.

i'll never forget dissecting a frog in Mr. Barnes' 7th grade science class... i fainted while the teacher demonstrated opening the skull and joe chmelar kicked me cause i fell on his shoes. the next year dissecting the rat didn't go much better for me.

so although i felt sick to my stomach and close to fainting throughout the entire visit, i'm really glad i had the opportunity to see the exhibit. the work that was done to provide a window into the human body was well worth it. i actually feel a new connection to my body, and a renewed sensitivity to how i treat it.

i hope you had a chance to see the exhibit while it was in town.

all i want for christmas is my two front teeth

chipping a tooth sucks.
barry gerst and associates is the best dentist office in town.

here's why:
1. i managed to chip my front tooth the night before a busy work day which involved client meetings.

2. i called (desperately) first thing in the morning to gerst's office, and they only had a 3pm appointment available, which wouldn't work because i couldn't go to my meetings with half a tooth, and i couldn't reschedule them.

3. i called another dentist who was able to get me in right away.

4. he 'fixed' my tooth by grinding at least half of it off, grinding off some of the one next to it as well (since it was also a little unstable), and then filling it with enamel to match the rest of my teeth (by the way, do you know how vulnerable a person feels laying in a chair, just after their two front teeth have been grinded away, hoping that everything works out for the best?). so my teeth are fixed, right? problem solved? not so fast...

5. i went to work, had a couple meetings, then ate lunch. i'll be damned if the pizza wasn't just a little crunchier than it should have been, if you know what i mean (the filling on the back of my front tooth broke off, and left a sharp edge for my tongue to play with).

6. i went to my big client meeting with half a tooth, though visually, it looked okay.

7. i rushed to the 3pm appointment at gerst's office, which was thankfully still available.

8. after dr. sims fixed my tooth (a little more fixed than the previous dentist) he said- i think you've been through enough today, we won't charge you for this fix.

9. i had the urge to kiss him directly on the mouth, but refrained, thankfully.

10. the tooth is now fixed, and beautiful if i do say so myself. i happen to think the gap is even more lovely than it was before the chip ever happened, don't you agree?















11. dr. gerst and associates, at 2701 nicollet avenue, minneapolis, is the best dentist office in the whole world. i thought so before this situation, but it's now written on my blog, so it's forever.

thank you, sweet dentists, for saving my teeth, and being so nice about it!!

irony

so my friend, lori, and i were talking recently about my sister, stephanie, and the situation she's in. her husband has been abusive to her and she's trying to end the relationship and start new with her son and daughter.

so lori says to me- why doesn't she call a woman's shelter for some help.

and i said- well, i think she would be willing, but she's in western michigan, which is somewhat rural and more than somewhat republican. there isn't so much support for a woman in that environment.

it's interesting that i got a call from my sister the very same day. she informed me that after there had been a fight which involved john banging her head into the ground, she did call a woman's shelter for some help.

here's the ironic part- the police came out to investigate, and since the wounds on her head weren't showing yet, but there was a defensive wound on john, they actually arrested her and took her to jail.

she now needs to hire a lawyer to defend herself against abuse charges. oh, and she wasn't allowed home because there was a no contact order against her.

just to add some visuals here, the police came to a home with a 5'3" woman and a 6'5" man... and arrested the woman... in conservative western michigan.

john finally went down to remove the no contact order- he needed someone to take care of the kids.

i'm not dealing very well with the situation.

i love my sister.

how pregnancy happens

did you ever wonder how it happens? or maybe you think you know?















i thought i knew, but i was wrong.

when, exactly, and how, exactly, does a woman get pregno?

time to go inside and find out!















(peter gets so excited, doesn't he?)