July 31, 2009

Reading the OED: one man, one year 21,739 pages

This book was so fantastic! It was also the perfect book for me to be reading over the past few weeks because it is great for picking up for a few minutes and then putting it down for days, only to pick it up again for a couple of hours....needless to say, just what I needed during Brett's time here-where he and I read two books out loud to each other-thus not much time for "alone reading" hehehe!

Anyway, whether hours or minutes it's a page turner for a very specific group of people. Word People.

I think its pretty self explanatory-but basically the author, Ammon Shea, sets about to read the Oxford English Dictionary, in its entirety, in one year. The book is divided up into chapters aptly named "A", "B", "C" and so on....he starts off the chapter with some sort of anecdote about what its like to read the dictionary, things he learned about dictionaries, why he loves dictionaries, things that are horrible about reading dictionaries and so forth and then the rest of the chapter would be a compilation of the interesting, crazy, funny, weird words that he collected from that particular letter... Basically its a book/ word nerd's dream book.
I spent most of the book marveling at just how much I identified with this man ( sad, surprising or comforting? not sure what)-he was funny and odd and totally endearing. Then I spent a goodly portion of my time making notes on my iphone of the words that I particularly liked...
I've thought about this for a moment, because I'm not sure if I should share some of these words with you-or even give you my favorite quotes-because I'd basically be giving you the BEST parts of the book and I really think this book deserves a reading all its own-however, I figure only a select few would ever pick this book up, anyway-and those few will love it no matter how much I might divulge here. So, here are ( some) of my favorite things about Reading the OED:

-Shea described a person who was not one for hygiene as one who had "no more than a nodding acquaintance with the concept of bathing." -this gave me a good laugh for several minutes.

-I don't care WHO you are, if you've ever spent any time in a library you should pick up this book JUST to read Chapter "O"...honestly, its SPOT ON.

-Did you know there are 169 definitions of the word "set" in the Oxford English Dictionary? Well, I did after reading this book, and it definitely made me stop and pause to think of how HARD it really would be to come up with definitions for the commonest of words. I have a WHOLE NEW appreciation for Lexicographers.

-And anyone who loves books should read, what I think is the ultimate love letter to books, in chapter F ( which I'll also call the Computers vs. Books Chapter), I found myself saying "That is SO TRUE", out loud to myself over and over.

Well! It turns out I haven't ruined the book for you after all...and I've hardly given you anything to go on...so now I'll share (some of) my favorite words that I learned from this book ( I tried to narrow it down to words I thought I JUST might be able to slip into conversation.)

Obganiate (v.)-to annoy by repeating over and over.

Lectory-a place for reading

Matutinal ( adj.)-active or wide awake in the morning hours.

Moreish (adj)-encouraging continued indulgence ( said of food or drink).

Mumpish-sullenly angry

Adoxography-good writing on a trivial subject**

Aspectabund (adj)-having an expressive face.

Cachinnator (n)-a person who laughs too loud and too long.

Colloquialist (n) an excellent talker, a person who is good at conversing

Occasionet ( n)-a minor occasion

Sarcast-a writer or speaker who is sarcastic***

Underlive-to live in a manner that does not measure up to ones potential


**-This is absolutely my goal in life. Which is probably why I have this blog! hahaha!

***-I feel like I have probably already achieved this word. Sadly


There are many other wonderful words and stories in this book, and there is no amount of reviewing or even previewing, that will give you the unique joy that actually reading it will. I hope my fellow book lovers will pick this book up-its perfect for traveling and for the busy person who only has a few moments a day to pick up a book to read...

talk, talk, talk

Whew! What a day! I'm totally exhausted, but a part of my body* will NOT let me go to sleep. ( * the part that thinks that Brett COULD call...you never know.)

*sigh* So, anyway, I'm going to do my best to finish the book that I've been reading off and on for ages-I'm very much looking forward to writing a review for this one, so hopefully you won't have to wait much longer for that one.

And, as for my day, it was very stock full of talking. I had an early morning coffee with Tina ( she came over after her shift at Starbucks, baring the gift of coffee, so I let her in to take a shower and share some good fellowship time with her)....followed by a field trip to the wedding dress store with my roommate to do her first fitting for her wedding dress! YAY! It was great fun, and I'm so excited for her! Then, we had lunch and then I came home for a nap, but juuuust as I was about to get to sleep I got a call from Amy to get a quick catch up with her, so I was out the door again to sneak in a little talk with her ( boy, deployments do a number on a person! Let me tell you, army wives deserve metals!) and then I was home again to do bible study with Linds.

So, I feel like if there is any more advice giving, talking and/or listening left to be done today, I honestly don't know where it would come from.
That being said, my talk with Tina today reminded me of this great quote. I actually stopped mid-sentence, interrupting myself to think of it....yeah....I'm that kind of a dork:

Do you realize that your imagination of the future, which is almost always dictated by fear of some kind, rarely, if ever, pictures me ( God) there with you?!

That quote is courtesy of the book The Shack , which I don't altogether recommend...but that quote was worth the read for me at least!

July 30, 2009

A breeze.

And so here we are, Brett has been gone for two days... I finally heard a peep from him, via email, so I know he's still alive. This was very relieving to all my silly fears that don't believe me when I tell them that things are probably totally fine, and that I would KNOW if something was really wrong....yes, I talk to my silly fears-and they hardly ever listen....

In the past few days I've occupied most of my time with trying to stay cool. With record breaking temperatures-as in the hottest days in recorded history-and only a box fan to cool the house down, I went from one air-conditioned location to the next, trying to stay cool ( along with every other person living in Washington). But, with all that going on, there has been a lot on my heart to pray for the past few days and its been hard to find the time that I wanted on the computer to be able to email people that I wanted to email, and to write the blog posts that I wanted to write ( my computer is ancient of days and doesn't like the hot weather-she pretty much "goes to sleep" every few minutes if she gets too over heated). But, this morning, it seems that things are a TAD cooler and I've been able to stay in my bedroom, with the fan blowing directly on my body, without too much suffering and so here I am!

First of all, I felt like my last post was a bit too despairing and I'd like to amend that-and I'll blame the despair on two things:
lack of sleep, and hotness.

Ok, so seriously, I am terribly blessed. Yes, my husband left on Tuesday, but I have wonderful friends here-I was brushing my teeth that night and I got this picture of what my life looks like, and it looked like a bunch of people coming up in a big huddle all around me and giving me a big hug. THAT'S the kind of love and support that I feel from my friends and family...that being said, I felt terribly sad and more burdened to pray for Brett-who went through the same sadness that I did ( though in a super manly way. hehehe) but he lacked the people to gather around him and help him and encourage him. He is not returning to a Spiritual Family or even close friends...and once again I am struck by how difficult the road he has faced these last 8 months. So, I continue to pray for him to be upheld by the ultimate Friend and Father...and that ultimately these last four months would be the best of all, in seeing all that the Lord can do!

The other things I've been meaning to share with you...not sure why...but it just hasn't "let go" of me just yet, so I figure I'd put it out there-in my quiet time on Monday I was struck by a passage I was reading in Ps 112:7-8:

The ( Righteous Man) is not afraid of bad news, his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord, His heart is steady, he will not be afraid. "


So wow! Remember the last time you got bad news? How did that make you feel? Did you feel all steady and calm? All trusting and unafraid by whatever the news was?
hehehe, yes, me neither.

But here's the thing, that's what the Lord is saying...those that Know Him and Know Him with all their might-they are able to look even in the face of the worst news and say, "It is well."
And it IS, it IS well...because we can KNOW with absolute certainty that His Will-will be done, His Plans-they will be carried out. His Son-will be glorified. So, whatever the world might throw our way, whatever curve ball lands on our plate, whatever life hands us....it is INCONSEQUENTIAL. He laughs in the face of such "minor details", and ultimately we can too!

Whatever setbacks you may have had recently, know this for certain that He already has His plan in motion and that plan will NOT be altered and He will NOT be surprised by what tomorrow brings. We may rest in the knowledge that He knows tomorrow and that He will prepare us for whatever it may bring.

July 28, 2009

A long whimper

Brett left this morning at the crack of dawn. So, I've been up for far too long. It was already 75 degrees at 4:30 which did not bode well for the rest of the day...
Not having air conditioning makes this particular heat wave brutal....I mean, I'm a Texas girl and all...but I do not DO a house that is "pleasantly cooler than outside meaning its 85 degrees..." I mean, seriously, I'm not sure how I'm going to sleep tonight with it being this hot.

And yes, Brett, let....and yes, it was just as horrible as a goodbye ever could be. It does not matter that he'll only be gone 4 months this time, it still felt like someone took out my heart and filled up the gaping hole in my chest with a bunch of thorns and heavy paper weights....and now I'm once again faced with that constant sneaking suspicion that I need to talk to someone and that someone isn't there anymore.

But, enough with the complaining ( not really, I'm sure I'll get back to more of that), I was greeted by my sweet roommate Lindsay when I got home from the airport...I haven't seen much of her in the past two weeks ( except to attend her SURPRISE ENGAGEMENT PARTY! YAAAAAY!) so it was great to see her again, and she was nice enough to get up at 7am in the morning and talk to me for a little while....and then, later, my fellow army-wives-with-deployed-husbands, Karissa and Amy came over and commiserated with me and they came baring gifts and pizza....and that plus all the many nice notes and texts and facebook messages, I know that I am loved and that I don't have much to complain about....yet, why do I feel like crying again?

July 24, 2009

The Big Struggle

Brett has four more days ( that's counting today) here in the States before he heads back to A-stan for the last four months(!)...and....well, its starting to sink in that's he's leaving AGAIN.

I'm not exactly complaining, mind you, because I knew this was coming....its just....now my prayers are the same as they were last November when I prayed that Brett and I's last days together would not be TAINTED by the evilness of him leaving me. At the time God came through big time and our last days together were very sweet and fun and full of great Kansas Memories ( a miracle right there)...and so I believe that the same can be done now on a smaller scale.

Here's to these last few days, that they would be sweet, with no bitter included.

July 20, 2009

Cheating

I'm thinking I'l just post another picture to fill up space...since all the space in my brain is currently occupied with soaking up as much of Brett as I possibly can....




And don't worry, I only wear this hat at concerts and in hipster towns like Olympia....normally I don't wear hats at all. promise.

July 17, 2009

Check!

One of the things on my list ( yes, I made a list...) of things I wanted to do when Brett was here was to sit on our balcony. Its one of my favorite places to be when the weather is fine...and so I wanted very much to share it with Brett. I can safely check this off my list now, since we've spent quite a bit of time every day on the balcony....

July 12, 2009

Cliche but nice

Right now I'm listening to Brett snore on the couch next to me. And while I promised you that my next post would be a picture of Brett, I'm thinking he wouldn't appreciate a picture of him with his mouth open sleeping! hahaha! So, you'll all just have to wait on a picture, but I promise he looks great ;-)

Today was so very odd, but absolutely wonderful. It started with a phonecall from Brett saying that he'd be in on a flight around 1pm-and then I tried to go back to sleep, which was somewhat successful-but my sleep was interrupted by thunderstorms! Seriously!
Washington just about never has lightening or thunder ( something I greatly miss)...but today we enjoyed several hours of hard rain and thunder and lightening to start the day.

So I sat on my balcony and did my quiet time, all the while watching the rain come down. I then remembered what God promised me before Brett's deployment....that even in the midst of the desert He would provide His Rain...and no matter how hard and "drought" like it got-He would provide! And lookie here! He did! That hard downpour of rain this morning was a good reminder of all the many things He's gotten us through in the past eight month, very neat! And how eternally grateful I am to Him for helping us through some pretty tough times.

Anyway, by the time I got the airport ( I almost cried several times on the way...just thinking about seeing Brett) I was about to burst-and even though they let me back to the gates so I could meet Brett straight away...I had to wait behind a bunch of line-skipper-flight-attendants! It was pretty much the worst moment of waiting in the history of man, but I finally got through, and while I was not there to see Brett get off the plane I was there in time to meet him at the end of a long walk way and make one of those TOTALLY cliche moments where we run and we hug and everyone around you KNOW is totally looking at you ( the guy in the army uniform and the girl in the short dress (hehe!)...but WHO CARES?!

In those few moments it was as if the greatest weight had been lifted! And it was like all the things that I knew and loved about Brett plus a whole bunch of things that I actually FORGOT I loved about him came flooding back....

greatness.


And you know what? I really hope none of you have to be away from your spouse for a long period of time...but if you DO...let me promise you that seeing them again after a long separation is pretty darn cool. So keep your chin up! After 247 days in a row of not seeing each other, we're back down to zero. Just the way I like it.

P.S. He's still snoring.

Tomorrow?

Baring any changes ( and that's a big IF when the army +summer travel are concerned), I should be getting to see my husband tomorrow....

Its been 247 days since I saw Brett.

Whoa.


Anyway, tomorrow hopefully we'll break this particular streak...and I'm going to go ahead and say right now that I pray we never have to go that long without seeing each other again. Its pretty much awful.

And yes, he'll have to leave again in 15 days, but it won't be for as long...and to be honest I am blown away that we've done it! We made it! We made it 8 months!

How blessed we have been...and I'm going to restrain myself from waxing eloquent for the moment since he's not exactly HERE yet...and the army has taught me to never count your eggs before they hatch.

That being said, thank you to all of you who have prayed for me and for Brett in the past month. Its been needed, and those prayers were definitely answered. And even today, today as a nervously wait for Brett to visit-I feel God's grace.

Now let's just hope the next post on this blog will be a picture of Brett! :-)

July 09, 2009

SpongeBob Square Pants

Day two of the babysitting. Today was better than yesterday for one major reason. I had much more sleep. This is a bit disturbing for several reasons, but mostly because I hear parents are always sleep deprived. It seems pretty awful of God to give a person the most important job they'll ever have and then take away their sleep at the same time....terrible. I've already made several proclamations mostly to the tune of:
"I'm never having FOUR children ( all at once, varying in age)." ( Angelina Jolie is crazy!)

But other than that it's been pretty good! I'm also terribly grateful to Twitter, Facebook and text messages...no wonder I know so many moms who do those things...it definitely kept me from totally going crazy to feel like I could 'talk' to adults during the day-even if it was just a twitter saying that I was at the park...again. Yup, technology is the greatest. And I understand all the buzz about "mommy networks" on the internet being such a big deal I can definitely see the benefits.

In other news...I heard from Brett-in a terrible connection...i hate the bad connections. And it looks like I'll be waiting for several more days before I get to see him. *sigh* Please be praying that his travels go smoothly ( and FAST!) ...

July 07, 2009

Rinse, Repeat.

Sometimes my quiet time, which usually consists of readings for several different books, as I make my way through the Bible, will speak to me on a certain topic in every single section of reading....I love it when this happens, because it helps get the message through my thick skull...

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Lam 3:25-26

But though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love, for he does not willingly afflict or grieve the children of men. Lam 3:32-33

Will the Lord spurn me forever?....Had his steadfast love forever ceased?.....Has God forgotten to be gracious?...."
I will remember the deeds of the Lord, yes, I will will remember your wonders of old!"
Ps: 77:7,8,11

Be Patient, therefore, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruits, being patient. You also be patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains.....as an example of suffering and patience, brothers take the prophets who spoke the name of the Lord. Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. James 5:7, 11

out with the laundry

For the past few days I've been opening up my blogger window with all the intent to blog and then my thoughts get so out of hand that after several run-on sentences ( even longer than my usual run-ons) I give up...However, I feel like you all deserve to share in the latest news so I'll push on through...

Fourth of July, Independence Day....totally my favorite holiday. I love it. Its summer. Its patriotic. There are flags, fireworks, yummy foods, warm weather...seriously. What's not to love? The town I live in continues to be the greatest town ( minus that silly no grocery store thing) by putting on a Fourth Celebration in the park across from my apartment. Quite literally I could sit on my balcony and watch the parade go by and then listen to the Elvis impersonator sing...and the day ended well with a party at Amy's...where we fed people yummy food and I held a sweaty baby....all in all a good time. But, then there was the fireworks...which I love, and Steilacoom continues to be the best "small town" fireworks I've yet to see....right on Puget Sound, so that you can see all the other town's, that surround the Sound, firework shows off in the distant. grand.

But you know what's really grand? What's really grand is that I was able to keep saying to myself in my head, 'This time next week Brett might be here!"

I can't even tell you how awesome that sentence is....

And today, today I actually unpacked some of his clothes and did some washing....I definitely recommend the packing away of your husbands clothing before he departs for year-because seeing his clothes is pretty hard on a person. I had no idea how much I've missed him...or rather...how much I have actively, with every fiber of my being, tired NOT to miss him.
Hard work.

But, before we get all super excited and gitty-let's not forget that this week I'm baby-sitting four children for two days and two nights-ages 13 to 3....their parents tell me that I'm getting treasure in heaven by doing this for them, but let me just go ahead and say that NORMALLY I'd be getting nice treasure in heaven for such a task, but on the WEEK that my husband comes home on R&R after not seeing him for 8 months...honestly, I don't know what kind of BONUS treasure they give out in heaven...but I feel like I'm in the running for some it.

Today I was ALL over the place. I had a long list of things to do, mostly cleaning type things...and for the most part I feel like the day was super productive, but then every so often I'll get this feeling in my stomach like I've forgotten something...and then I'll remember. I'll remember what I've been trying to forget for months on end, I'll remember that which I've actually let myself remember starting this week....something I'll have to start trying to forget again in just a few weeks...but for now, for now I'll remember...

July 03, 2009

Definition

Apricate, meaning to bask in the sun.

This is a word that I learned yesterday from the book I'm currently
reading, and it pretty much discribes today perfectly.

Sent from my iPhone

July 01, 2009

A girls summer refrigerator

Since Linds moved in with me a few months ago I had to make some adjustments in the Fridge to make room for the exta food that was added with the extra mouth to feed...thus certain things had to be moved into the, perviously unused vegetable drawer*



*It should be noted that since Brett left, I've been almost a full time vegetarian, so I actually eat a lot of veggies...I just choose to not keep them in the drawer. It seems that "out of sight, out of mind" is very much the case when it comes to all foods for me...however, its not so much the case when it comes to Diet Coke. For it is the nectar of life. haha!

A little gift

So, I started a new book this afternoon...its another book from my list, and my library just so happen to have it sitting on its shelves ( normally I have to request books and get them in a few days time), so it seemed destine that this be the next book that I read...its called " Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages" ( OED stands for Oxford English Dictionary for those of you who aren't bookish)....

Anyway, in the process of reading the first two chapters I've come to realize something about my style of reading...one of the things I do to gauge ( usually this is all done subconsciously) if a book is good or not, is if I can think of someone who I think would also like it. Would this book make a good gift? A good recommendation? A good doorstop?
If I find that book cannot fit into any of these categories for anyone that I know that ultimately I'm not that excited about it.
Thankfully, this current read has me thinking of several people already...

more to come...