There have been a few changes around the Anderson household. For one, I am limping around, and Sam is cooking and cleaning.
For anyone that has known me for any time, I don't like to make a big deal about my feet issues. I try to downplay it, or make it a joke. I have been known to make up crazy stories about how I received all the bandages, casts, and scars to see how which ones actually fool people. My favorite one to date is "I dropped a chainsaw on my foot. They surgically had to re-attach each of my toes". I remember I got my high school history teacher to believe that one. She never did ask why I had a chainsaw in the first place though...
However, in the last year or so I've been dealing with increasingly severe pain in my feet. I wasn't satisfied with the podiatrists in Utah. But I found a fantastic podiatrist here in State College. She's short, has dark curly hair and is very frank and doesn't beat around the bush. Instead of asking me to describe the surgeries I had, she took one look at my scars and x-rays and started explaining the surgeries I had to me.
More or less my feet are in ok shape. The pain is my feet kinda-sorta-collapsing again. However it is in the beginning stages, and how long will it take - who knows? So a couple of prescriptions to take care of the inflammation and I'm pretty ok. However, the podiatrist wants a second look at my left foot. She pokes and prods, while I yelp when she pokes at a part of my joint. One CAT scan later, one of the first staples I received is now working it's way into the joint and causing me pain. Time to take them out. They've done their duty about 13 years ago, no reason for them still to be in there now.
Last Wednesday I went in to have the two staples in my left foot taken out. Minor procedure, no big. Sam was excellent, he helped me stay calm while being prepped. Although he has a lot to learn on the "distract me" task. The only time he was quiet and didn't talk to me or make me laugh was when I told him to do so.
I've always gotten extremely anxious in the prep for surgery. Partly from scary hospital experiences when I was little, and partly from being alone most of the time while I was being prepped. Almost all of the surgeries I had in California, no matter how minor I would shake so badly out of nervousness and anxiety that the poor nurses thought I was cold and would pile 4 or 5 heated blankets on me. It was really nice Sam had a chance to be there for me this time around.
Surgery went well, and Sam got a huge kick out of my post-anesthetic state. I remember generally what I was thinking, but apparently don't have much of a filter. Most of the other surgeries I was majorly groggy and sleepy all day long. For this one, I had a much easier time waking up, but apparently tried to convince the nurse I wasn't a drug addict. I also was mad at Sam because he said I had "Snookie-toes" because my food was still stained orange from the Iodine used in surgery. Ask Sam about it, and he'll tell you all the crazy stuff I did and said. Oy boy. Never going to live this one down.
Wednesday went well, but Thursday through Saturday were awful. I was able to keep down food Wednesday, but Thursday I started throwing up everything, including water. It got so bad that after a day of not keeping anything down Sam started to feed me tablespoons of gatorade every few hours to try to get me to keep something down. So lame. It's also very uncomfortable and difficult to keep your foot constantly elevated. People think "Oh you sit and have your foot on a stool" Nope. Elevated above your heart means on the floor with your leg up on the couch, straight up in the air, and sleeping with a foot of blankets. Let me tell you, not comfortable!
Sam was a perfectly wonderful caregiver. He was doting, filling ice packs, buying foodstuffs, and even bringing me a poinsettia to brighten my day. None of the flowers at the store were up to his par. He's been picking up and cleaning around the house, and doing the cooking. Cooking actual meals for both of us is quite new to him, he is frustrated by the "non-optimized" and "multi-tasking" nature of cooking. However, since standing for even minutes causes me pain, he will work away and I sit nearby to give input. So far he has made a fabulous spinach cream pasta, baked ziti, and glazed carrots.
However, he now understands the frustration of keeping a kitchen clean! He is seriously irate if he has to dirty one dish, and exclaims this loudly. He explained over tonight's dinner how cyclical and never-ending cooking and dishes were. He went on to explain how it was hard work, and took so much time! I just laughed and told him I was so happy that now he knew how I felt every day.
But all is well now. I'm hobbling around, and going to work. Sam has finished his classes and finals, and is lounging around getting me excited for the holidays.
And in conclusion, yes I did get to keep my staples :) They totally freaked Sam out, I don't think he realized how big they were, or the fact they had deep barbs! But it's the only thing I have to show for all my troubles! My current collection is currently 4 staples, one 2 inch screw, and (somewhere back home) four 4 inch needles with green plastic ends. Still to be fished out are 4 staples, and another 2 inch screw, all now in my right foot. Those won't be coming out for some time hopefully.
Surgery totally sucks. I do not recommend it. So here's to my 10th surgery - my present for Christmas 2011.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Radiation and the Preposterous Pomegranate
Doesn't this just make you drool?
Sam and I had good days. I finally broke the news to my supervisor that I was taking spring classes, and Sam had success with his measurements in the water tunnel. Sam and I had an agreement if I wasn't going to tell work about wanting to take classes before Thanksgiving then he could get an x-box. That wasn't happening, so I told him if he threatened with a $300 purchase, I deserve some pretzel m&m's for avoiding that bullet! So as we sprinted across the street in the rain to get small treats from a grocery store. However, while meandering in the store looking for a different item, I saw a huge bin full of red plump pomegranates. I was done for. Not a summer-sized joke of the fruit. Full, softball sized gorgeous shiny hard skinned pomegranates. I traded my pretzel M&M's for a pomegranate. If you don't know - I love pomegranates.
For one of my birthdays my parents even bought me a pomegranate bush. It is still there, in the left hand side yard getting the water from the blue-green swamp cooler drain hose. I don't remember getting significant harvests from it, but I remember scooping out the pine needles that accumulated around the base, seeing the gorgeous hibiscus-like blooms, and getting so excited for the small pre-pomegranate beginnings. I eat my pomegranates somewhat particularly. Sam thinks I'm weird, but I eat the entire arils. Sam eats them by sucking the juice out and spitting out the actual seed. He gets bored after a couple, makes a face and is done. But I could eat these for days...Plus ever since I got a CAT scan a couple of days ago, I'm convinced my cancer risk has gone up and I'll die in a few weeks without loads of fresh fruits, veggies and abundant antioxidants. X-rays have always kinda freaked me out. I've had probably hundreds, but seriously does the technician have to leave the room? Seriously? I'm the one on the table bud! Thanks a ton...While I was little I would get nervous. I still get a little nervous. Especially with the "warning radiation" flashing light. Goodness, like I already don't know I'm going to get cancer...
Back to the issue at hand. I immediately came home, pulled out a cutting board and cut into the firm rosy exterior to reveal....black and brown rotting avrils. Half the entire hemisphere was rotten! No indications of abuse on the outside. Still desperate for my pomegranate, I ran back in the now heavier rain, to talk to customer service. GIANT is a great store, and immediately apologized and said they'd give me my twice my money back and a two free pomegranates. So they went to the bin to check if there were any more bad ones....and they were all bad. They said nothing like this had every happened. My poor taste-buds. I could not satisfy my hankering! They were so good about it, and gave me a $10 gift certificate for my trouble, but I am yet without a delicious pomegranate.
Maybe I'll have a blueberry/banana/milk/honey smoothie to cheer myself up, and make sure I don't sprout an extra limb from my radiation overdose. :(
Sam and I had good days. I finally broke the news to my supervisor that I was taking spring classes, and Sam had success with his measurements in the water tunnel. Sam and I had an agreement if I wasn't going to tell work about wanting to take classes before Thanksgiving then he could get an x-box. That wasn't happening, so I told him if he threatened with a $300 purchase, I deserve some pretzel m&m's for avoiding that bullet! So as we sprinted across the street in the rain to get small treats from a grocery store. However, while meandering in the store looking for a different item, I saw a huge bin full of red plump pomegranates. I was done for. Not a summer-sized joke of the fruit. Full, softball sized gorgeous shiny hard skinned pomegranates. I traded my pretzel M&M's for a pomegranate. If you don't know - I love pomegranates.
For one of my birthdays my parents even bought me a pomegranate bush. It is still there, in the left hand side yard getting the water from the blue-green swamp cooler drain hose. I don't remember getting significant harvests from it, but I remember scooping out the pine needles that accumulated around the base, seeing the gorgeous hibiscus-like blooms, and getting so excited for the small pre-pomegranate beginnings. I eat my pomegranates somewhat particularly. Sam thinks I'm weird, but I eat the entire arils. Sam eats them by sucking the juice out and spitting out the actual seed. He gets bored after a couple, makes a face and is done. But I could eat these for days...Plus ever since I got a CAT scan a couple of days ago, I'm convinced my cancer risk has gone up and I'll die in a few weeks without loads of fresh fruits, veggies and abundant antioxidants. X-rays have always kinda freaked me out. I've had probably hundreds, but seriously does the technician have to leave the room? Seriously? I'm the one on the table bud! Thanks a ton...While I was little I would get nervous. I still get a little nervous. Especially with the "warning radiation" flashing light. Goodness, like I already don't know I'm going to get cancer...
Back to the issue at hand. I immediately came home, pulled out a cutting board and cut into the firm rosy exterior to reveal....black and brown rotting avrils. Half the entire hemisphere was rotten! No indications of abuse on the outside. Still desperate for my pomegranate, I ran back in the now heavier rain, to talk to customer service. GIANT is a great store, and immediately apologized and said they'd give me my twice my money back and a two free pomegranates. So they went to the bin to check if there were any more bad ones....and they were all bad. They said nothing like this had every happened. My poor taste-buds. I could not satisfy my hankering! They were so good about it, and gave me a $10 gift certificate for my trouble, but I am yet without a delicious pomegranate.
Maybe I'll have a blueberry/banana/milk/honey smoothie to cheer myself up, and make sure I don't sprout an extra limb from my radiation overdose. :(
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Foster the People and Blueberry Muffins
Brave traffic - it takes for..e....v......e......r to go a mere 1.5 miles.
We arrive home. I go up to our apartment, and Sam checks the mail. If Sam doesn't have a pressing school matter he usually turns on some music. Right now we are thoroughly enjoying Foster the People and the new Justice album. Especially Foster the People. To me they sound like a version of Owl City, except there is a whole band and the songs sound different form each other. Very catchy too.
Sam and I mill around, perusing online sites and blogs until I decide I have to start dinner or dishes. Preferably dinner. I hate dishes. We eat, and usually lounge on our ridiculously comfy couches to talk and/or watch TV or some netflix streaming.
If I'm still in the mood to exert some extra energy in the kitchen, I'll make our current food fix-blueberry muffins with streusel topping. By food fix I mean that thing that your mind dwells while in a state of hunger, as well as after you've eaten and are full. We have a pretty relaxing life right now. It feels nice.
Recent Developments
We've made some fantastic friends in our ward - the WINDERS! They are so awesome. Sam gets along great with him, and I love her. We all coerced Sam into playing (and enjoying) a card game! (believe it or not, he had fun :) We hung out with them in DC for a day and had a great time. Whitney has dark hair and looks shy until you start talking to her. She is absolutely hilarious! She went to hair school in Utah, and is currently working at a medical office here. She's got killer style and I'm hoping this will rub off on me. Her husband Aaron is a neuro-engineering grad student. He's in a math class with Sam. He can relate enough to the engineering that they have plenty to talk about, but does enough different things that he and Sam can share different aspects of what they like and what they do. Sam really misses Jeremy still, and all the car-talk, but is happy to finally have a man-friend.
Life is good. It has it's ups and downs, but for right now it's ok.
PSU craziness
I wanted things to calm down a little bit to comment on the PSU recent events. In a matter of days, this entire community has been devastated. I mean that in every sense of the word. Here PSU is a way of life, a family, it is a name, a university that people feel they represent, respect and rear their children to attend. On work Monday when all this started to unfold a co-worker broke down and cried right in the office. She said she felt personally violated. Every since she could remember she's been Penn State. She went to a game earlier in the year that got snowed on, and said "So what - I'll just wear a trash bag I'm not there for the location, I'm there for the view!" Although Liberal Arts is not associated with the football or athletic program at all, the dean herself spent hours writing personal notes to donors pleading with them not to pull funding. She asked them to remember who was benefiting from their funding-the students, and what good is coming out of the research and education they were contributing to.
As far as the "riot" there were hundreds of peaceful protests in the form of a candlelight vigil, but less than 30 people decided to do something stupid (most likely while intoxicated) and all pictures of the crowd were people that were watching. The news people in the area were have said to egged them on.
This last week there were news crews everywhere, and people quick to judge thousands of people over the actions of literally a handful of people. A call came into our office from another university. This was just a business call about some financial information. The first words from the other line were "I hear you have a lot of sex addicts out there". It's all anyone can every talk about. It's very upsetting, and very sad. It's sad what happened, it's sad who was involved, and it's sad how high up this went. It's also sad that the employees who could have stopped it were too afraid for their jobs to speak up for those who couldn't speak for themselves. It's sad. This event has a lot of time until it fully unfolds, but we all know it's pretty bad.
So as to not end on a sad and depressing note, I'll share with the world this amazing blueberry muffin recipe. I've tried quite a few blueberry recipes out there because they're Sam's favorite. A lot of the trials included fresh lemon juice and zest, fresh blueberries, butter, and careful mixing. I've tried Martha Stewart's, Pendulum Court recipes, and even Alton Brown's. I decided to try this new recipe as a treat for Sam to come home to after his San Diego trip. That way if they were really bad, he wouldn't mind because he wouldn't have eaten all night and would be touched that I tried. I thought I over-mixed the first batch and so started on a second. But they both turned out, and we went through all of them in 2 days. A dozen muffins! These are the most moist, best streusel, most delicious muffins, and by far the easiest, and cheapest.
This recipe was given by a co-worker, a friendly blonde budget-wiz woman named Brandy. If I had to eat one item every day for the rest of my life it would be these. I changed the recipe a little, and these work best with muffin liners, but oh boy I have sensual dreams about these muffins.
Makes 6 large, 8-9 smaller muffins
Timeline: Turn oven on, make streusel, put muffin liners in pan, mix dry, mix wet, mix dry and wet, top with streusel, cook & drool, EAT!
Make the streusel topping:
1/4 cup white sugar
1/6 cup AP Flour (guestimate - I halved the original recipe and it's not crucial)
1 Tablespoon butter
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Mash up the butter into the sugar and flour with a fork. Make sure there are no visible bits of butter left. This will take several minutes.
Mix dry ingredients:
1.5 cups AP flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
Mix wet ingredients:
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
After you run a whisk through the dry ingredients, and whisk the wet ingredients, combine the two. Stop a few strokes before it looks done. This means there will be floury parts, and wet-ish parts.
Pour 1 cup frozen blueberries in (I got these wild blueberries in a big bag at Wal-Mart) and only mix 2-3 strokes. Any more and you will have purple tough muffins!
Divide the batter evenly into 6-8 muffin tins and pour the streusel on. Don't be shy, it's great stuff and Sam licks his off the plate...
Put in oven at 350 for 25-35. Check earlier than this because I'm pretty sure my oven goes hot. To tell when muffins are done tap the top gently. If you feel it's wet and/or collapses a little at your touch they're not done. Once you feel that they hold their shape after you touch them you're good! These go well with hot chocolate, but who am I kidding - what doesn't!
Caution: don't tell your significant other the moment they're out of the oven. Sam has been too eager and burned his tongue. Then tried to take another bite and burned his tongue again. Then he gets angry because he not only has a burnt tongue but he can't even eat his muffin to make himself feel better.
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| Be careful, these quickly turn into... |
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| These! As a student of nutrition it is my obligation to tell you these are not calorie free. |
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| Sam did this shot for the camera. But he does it every single time. No joke. |
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| BTW it snowed. This was the view from our bedroom window |
Friday, November 11, 2011
Test Burning Party
Once a semester one of Sam's teachers holds a midterm test burning party. This faculty member is renowned for having difficult tests. When older graduate students heard Sam and his friends were studying for this particular test - they just laughed. When Sam and his friends asked for tips, or what to expect... - they just laughed.
The day of the test started with the TA (nicknamed Pie - seriously) wheeling in the teacher on a hand cart. The professor was in a straight jacket with a hannibal mask on. He sadistically quoted "Hello Clarise..." had the TA hand out and administer the test while he was wheeled out laughing.
From what Sam has told me he is an excellent teacher, and from what I've gathered from my conversations with him is that he is a really good teacher with a lot of perspective of bridging the gap between school and an actual profession. He tries to steer the students away from having easy solutions handed to them, because in a real profession you have to account for many different things at once. The problem itself isn't difficult but all of the small things you have to account for can be. He doesn't like using the textbook because each problem is labeled in a format: 5.3. This lets the student know that the answer is in chapter five section three without him having to guess what principle he has to apply - the student is told. He wants to prepare his students, and it sounds like he's doing a great job.
Because the midterm is so notorious and awful, after it is graded the professor holds a party where he gives all of the students and their +1's dinner and a bonfire fueled by their tests. Sam and I had a blast! A lot of the acoustic guys are really fun, and their +1's totally understood how sometimes the acoustics can become a little...much.
The professor himself is a very fun person. He had a sweater and a music collection right out of the 70's- but the preppy non-hipppy 70's. He also had an eclectic mix of artifacts in his home. The only overlying theme that I could think of was non-American items. From everything from a huge German soup tureen, japanese theatre masks to a Moroccan lantern (which was gorgeous - I totally want one!) and a brass Indian tea dispenser made into a lamp! He became especially excited when I understood what Italian and French hot chocolate was.
The actual burning of the exams took place after a short speech of "you are no longer amateur acousticians!" and each student ripped his individual test up. All of the pieces were put in a small stout barbeque. Phrases like "Curse you delta E!" and "Take that Tailor Series!" were heard. He then doused the mixture in a high proof solution and set fire. He was a little too cavalier with the alcohol the deck itself caught on fire for a few seconds-he didn't seem phased at all. Although I did notice that his wife brought out a fire extinguisher. After the burning he and the students chanted five rules that he drills into the students and cheers and pictures followed. It seemed like many got a real sense of closure. I'm wondering if this could be a regular therapeutic way to conclude an exam.
Sam and I are headed to DC tomorrow for a temple trip. We just happen to be going with some great people we met in the branch and staying a little longer to shop and eat, and avoid some of the State College madness.
My comments on all of the PSU scandal will be forthcoming. Please keep in mind that this small community has literally been destroyed. I've seen adults break down in public and cry. Hundreds of thousands of people are suffering, and will suffer because of the acts of a few. Awareness for the victims is paramount and the entire city has sold out of blue ribbon. The blue ribbon is a symbol of awareness of child abuse as well as PSU's colors. We mourn with the rest of the country, and are outraged.
The day of the test started with the TA (nicknamed Pie - seriously) wheeling in the teacher on a hand cart. The professor was in a straight jacket with a hannibal mask on. He sadistically quoted "Hello Clarise..." had the TA hand out and administer the test while he was wheeled out laughing.
From what Sam has told me he is an excellent teacher, and from what I've gathered from my conversations with him is that he is a really good teacher with a lot of perspective of bridging the gap between school and an actual profession. He tries to steer the students away from having easy solutions handed to them, because in a real profession you have to account for many different things at once. The problem itself isn't difficult but all of the small things you have to account for can be. He doesn't like using the textbook because each problem is labeled in a format: 5.3. This lets the student know that the answer is in chapter five section three without him having to guess what principle he has to apply - the student is told. He wants to prepare his students, and it sounds like he's doing a great job.
Because the midterm is so notorious and awful, after it is graded the professor holds a party where he gives all of the students and their +1's dinner and a bonfire fueled by their tests. Sam and I had a blast! A lot of the acoustic guys are really fun, and their +1's totally understood how sometimes the acoustics can become a little...much.
The professor himself is a very fun person. He had a sweater and a music collection right out of the 70's- but the preppy non-hipppy 70's. He also had an eclectic mix of artifacts in his home. The only overlying theme that I could think of was non-American items. From everything from a huge German soup tureen, japanese theatre masks to a Moroccan lantern (which was gorgeous - I totally want one!) and a brass Indian tea dispenser made into a lamp! He became especially excited when I understood what Italian and French hot chocolate was.
The actual burning of the exams took place after a short speech of "you are no longer amateur acousticians!" and each student ripped his individual test up. All of the pieces were put in a small stout barbeque. Phrases like "Curse you delta E!" and "Take that Tailor Series!" were heard. He then doused the mixture in a high proof solution and set fire. He was a little too cavalier with the alcohol the deck itself caught on fire for a few seconds-he didn't seem phased at all. Although I did notice that his wife brought out a fire extinguisher. After the burning he and the students chanted five rules that he drills into the students and cheers and pictures followed. It seemed like many got a real sense of closure. I'm wondering if this could be a regular therapeutic way to conclude an exam.
Sam and I are headed to DC tomorrow for a temple trip. We just happen to be going with some great people we met in the branch and staying a little longer to shop and eat, and avoid some of the State College madness.
My comments on all of the PSU scandal will be forthcoming. Please keep in mind that this small community has literally been destroyed. I've seen adults break down in public and cry. Hundreds of thousands of people are suffering, and will suffer because of the acts of a few. Awareness for the victims is paramount and the entire city has sold out of blue ribbon. The blue ribbon is a symbol of awareness of child abuse as well as PSU's colors. We mourn with the rest of the country, and are outraged.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Smell my pocket
Sam and I are doing well, we love State College, and are finding out new things every day. Unfortunately fall colors have been bad this year due to the huge amounts of rain in the area. I still think they're beautiful though!
I thought I would let you know what our evening consisted of. Due to an obscene overdose of candy corn, we've been feeling the need to be more healthy. We've had lots of veggies and salads the last few days, and I thought it might be good to have some fresh hummus and pita bread. While examining a particularly perfect pocket Sam turned to me, and told me to "smell my pocket". It smelled good!
In case you're feeling adventurous I got the recipes online, and used the juice from 1/2 lemon. Homemade hummus and pita bread just can't be beat, and is super cheap. I guess you don't really have to be adventurous, they have step by step instructions and pictures! Enjoy!
Pita Bread
Hummus
I thought I would let you know what our evening consisted of. Due to an obscene overdose of candy corn, we've been feeling the need to be more healthy. We've had lots of veggies and salads the last few days, and I thought it might be good to have some fresh hummus and pita bread. While examining a particularly perfect pocket Sam turned to me, and told me to "smell my pocket". It smelled good!
In case you're feeling adventurous I got the recipes online, and used the juice from 1/2 lemon. Homemade hummus and pita bread just can't be beat, and is super cheap. I guess you don't really have to be adventurous, they have step by step instructions and pictures! Enjoy!
Pita Bread
Hummus
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
DC Trip and Catch-up
Our DC trip was just so exciting that I didn't post for some time. Not really, things got busy because I got a second interview call and got a job shortly after getting back! Yay for paychecks and stuff to do during the day!
DC was tons of fun, we still have plenty to go explore there. We got to spend some time with my sister Mary, and see a little of my Aunt Grace's family that lives close by. This trip we hit up the Spy Museum, the Holocaust Museum, Eastern Market and some good eats in between. The Spy Museum was pretty sweet, there's tons of cool things there. My favorites were the vents you got to crawl through, the stories, and the secret soda can storage place. (It looks exactly like a soda can, and even has the weight of one!)
As futuristic as the museum tried to be, they didn't include anything really from the last 15 years. I can only imagine the gadgets that they use now! For example they had (real) eyeglasses that had hidden cyanide pills in the part that goes behind your ear. A prisoner is innocently chewing on the ends of the glasses, next thing you know-they're DEAD and all their secrets! Silk maps that wouldn't rustle as you open them. Stuff like that.
We also went to see the botanical gardens which were gorgeous, they even had an entire orchid room. They were in a huge greenhouse probably 3-4 floors tall with a stream running through the center and different climate rooms branching off. They even had an interesting medicine room where they featured medicine discovered from plants.
As far as a job, I GOT ONE! Yay :) I was called in for interviews for two positions. One went awful, one great. I got an email rejection and a call for a second interview while in DC. Apparently there is a lot of politics in the PSU positions and the interview that I thought I had no chance in, and went horribly ended up giving me an offer. Thank you Dean's Office experience! So now I'm working full time, and Sam is delving into research and school. I'm learning lots and getting used to the office environment. I work for a department that is almost all girls, even the dean and associate dean I work for.
All in all life is much busier, but fantastic.
DC was tons of fun, we still have plenty to go explore there. We got to spend some time with my sister Mary, and see a little of my Aunt Grace's family that lives close by. This trip we hit up the Spy Museum, the Holocaust Museum, Eastern Market and some good eats in between. The Spy Museum was pretty sweet, there's tons of cool things there. My favorites were the vents you got to crawl through, the stories, and the secret soda can storage place. (It looks exactly like a soda can, and even has the weight of one!)
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| There were even little vents that you could look out and see the people you were walking over |
The Holocaust is pretty sobering and massive. I didn't really cry until I saw 2 pictures. One picture was of a little girl probably only 3 years old in a fluffy white coat. She was holding hands with an older brother no older than 6. Both were smiling, naturally like a perfect captured moment. This picture was in a hallway that extended up 2 floors and down one while you walked on an aisle between. All the walls were covered with real photographs of a town that went from hundreds of vibrant lives to survivors of barely a few. They don't tell you which photographs are of those that survived. The other photograph was from a secret church hiding Jewish boys under the pretense of studying another religion. There were fifteen photographs, all young boys hair slicked back somber faces slightly tilted to one side looking past the camera. Except one boy that was grinning widely ear to ear looking straight at the camera. He reminded me of my brother Michael.
In between events we ate at some great places, one of our favorites was Good Stuff Eatery. Mary knew some backstory or something, we didn't really care-but the food was AMAZING. Like go spend your entire paycheck and eat yourself sick amazing. I had a "michelle-melt" free range turkey burger. Don't remember exactly what was on it, but it had a garden herb mayo, and was delish. Sam got something with bacon, cheese, and beef and we all enjoyed thyme and sea salt covered sweet potato fries. There were about 10 different sauces for the fries, mango mayonnaise anyone? YUM. O-and a custard milkshake, a custard toasted marshmallow milkshake with in fact a toasted marshmallow right there on top. We also hit up a fantastic chinese restaurant famous for their noodles. There was about 9" of space between one faux marble finish table and the next, the waitresses had to turn to their side to make it through. Everyone could see the sushi chef preparing his items in the shop window, right next to morose lobsters in their tank with orange clips.
My favorite place that we went though was Eastern Market. This is just the most awesome market. From produce (of course free samples of peaches, tomatoes, apples, berries, concord grapes, meats and cheeses-the good ones) to fresh bakery items (baguettes, breads, cakes, pies, etc.) to a mishmash of goods, purses, sunglasses, all kinds of awesome earrings. There was also estate jewelry and even a vendor that sold special tables that were made from any type of wood you wanted. Our favorite was a Peruvian lady that made her own soaps. She would tell you about what was in them, their healing properties and all with what sounded like a Jamaican accent. Some even had slices of loofah in them!
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| It took all of my self control not to spend like a hundred dollars on all of this fantastic produce |
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| Some crazy looking tomatoes |
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| They all kinds of jams, honeys, and other canned goods |
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| These were some of the best peaches I've had in...a long time |
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| The market also had flowers and fresh herbs in containers, and pre-arranged boquet garni |
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| Delish Dumplings that came with cool wooden dish and fork The chef did a cooking demonstration and gave out the recipes |
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We also went to see the botanical gardens which were gorgeous, they even had an entire orchid room. They were in a huge greenhouse probably 3-4 floors tall with a stream running through the center and different climate rooms branching off. They even had an interesting medicine room where they featured medicine discovered from plants.
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| We also got a chance to go the the DC temple which was glorious. One of my favorite parts of the trip. |
All in all we had a fantastic time. I learned all about the Metro, and how awesome it is. Mary showed us a great place to park for free, and helped show us around. We loved it, and have so many other places to explore there. As for the September 11th scare, we didn't see any real evidence. Except road barricades (the kind that pop up from the road) and a Hazmat truck outside the Agriculture building. And as we were driving down the highway there was a large truck stopped on top of a overpass and police cars surrounding the truck with their lights on. But no big-nothing happened that we could see.
As far as a job, I GOT ONE! Yay :) I was called in for interviews for two positions. One went awful, one great. I got an email rejection and a call for a second interview while in DC. Apparently there is a lot of politics in the PSU positions and the interview that I thought I had no chance in, and went horribly ended up giving me an offer. Thank you Dean's Office experience! So now I'm working full time, and Sam is delving into research and school. I'm learning lots and getting used to the office environment. I work for a department that is almost all girls, even the dean and associate dean I work for.
All in all life is much busier, but fantastic.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Friends, Fair, and a Fire
As is the Anderson way, this week has been very exciting! We've hung out with friends, attended the amazing Grange Fair a few miles out of town, and our apartment complex caught on fire.
The grange fair is a very "hick" experience. While on our way there, Sam commented that his button-up shirt was too dressy for the affair. I commented that the fact he had a shirt on was too dressy. Regardless, it was such a fun time! I ate a fried pickle, and we watched powerful tractor pulls.
By powerful tractor pulls, I mean to say that they are dragsters, huge smokestacks and headers jutting up from the small front end. Several tractors had multiple engines. Most tractors had a tiny front end with wheels like you would find on a backyard go-cart. However, a few feet back, the driver sits between two huge tractor wheels taller than any of the drivers, with a small roll cage just above the driver's helmet. When first taking off the tractors spin all their wheels and throw plumes of dark black exhaust up in the air, just as loud as any drag race. It was quite the experience. My favorites were a shiny purple 2-engine tractor with red flames named Vengeance and an older red tractor named Rusty Ballz. A shirt I saw describes the demographic well. An older man with worn cowboy boots, blue jeans and a shirt reading "God help the hemi-less".
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| Sam figured out how to protect his money-makers while taking a sip. |
Here are some other photo's from the fair:
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| I hope you can see this, but that stuff in the background is all RV's. There are just as many out of the frame to the left. MASSIVE |
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| There was a ton of equipment on display. |
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| Matt trying to be taller than the wheel. Sam telling cool stuff about John Deere tractors. |
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| Nearby was an advertisement for "bucket 'o' fries" literally |
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| The actual napkins served with the fries. Kudos to how they made them though, we saw them peeling and cutting the potatoes fresh. |
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| Some of the tents, creatively decorated |
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| A fair-must |
As far as the fire is concerned, our apartment wasn't damaged-but it came pretty close. When we were helping some neighbors move in, we saw and smelled smoke from our neighbors directly underneath us. Worried, we called out and asked if everything was ok. One of the four Indian grad students that lived there said they had thrown a cigarette into a cardboard box and it lit some things in the box on fire. He pointed to the smoking cardboard box now on the balcony and said he was just airing in out now.
Fast forward less than 2 weeks, and while cooking dinner before preparing to leave for the fair. I was smelling something like burned plastic, and couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I made sure it wasn't anything I was cooking, and asked Sam if he smelled it. Sam said while busy playing a racing game and insisted it was somebody BBQ-ing. I saw plumes of white smoke and had the opposite reaction. Remembering what happened with our neighbors downstairs, I sprinted down and saw that there was indeed a cardboard box on the balcony, but the box edge was on fire and right next to the wall. I banged on their door several times and sprinted up the stairs. I yelled that there was a fire, and Sam disbelieving ran downstairs to see for himself. By the time I had taken to run down , up, and down again the box was in full flame, but right next to the balcony siding which was on fire and starting to melt off. Sam believing this time, sprinted up once again and grabbed the fire extinguisher while I pulled the fire alarm.
Sam was able to put the fire out, and shortly the police and fire department showed up. We gave our statements, and counted our blessing that we had not left 10 minutes earlier, or that the fire had started inside the apartment. If we had taken an extra 5 minutes to put the fire out, I am sure it would not only have consumed our balcony, but have gotten to our apartment. Also, judging by the 20 minutes it took to get the fire department here, not much might have been left. It worked out well, and the guys downstairs are receiving several hefty bills from both the apartment complex and the fire department as well as a sit-down talk from the fire department. They also came by the next day to personally apologize on what a stupid thing it was to do. We're getting renters insurance. I didn't get a before picture but here is a picture of after the fire department ripped all of the burnt insulation and siding.
Exciting PA! We'll be heading out for a DC trip this weekend to meet up with sister Mary who's in the area for a wedding. We'll post those exciting adventures after we get back!
Sunday, August 28, 2011
The Move Illustrations
Here's a little glimpse at our actual trip. We had a brand new yellow Penske filled to bursting, and our tiny green corolla strapped on the back. Although nothing mechanical or disastrous went on, something seemed to derail some part of our plans each day. Little hiccups, stress, and all your worldly possessions in one place make for some tense moments. Like when we hit Ohio. Paid over $50 in tolls for the worst roads of the trip. We initially set the GPS to avoid tolls and went on a 3 mile, 1/2 hour detour through some pretty interesting ghetto. I was hyperventilating thinking that we were going to get carjacked and lose everything while Sam was busy maneuvering the huge truck through tiny little roads. Little hiccups like that.
So as Sam so eloquently said: All's well that Ends.
Please note how the pictures get progressively more exciting as we move past Wyoming.
Here is a park that is literally a 2-3 minute walk away from our complex.
So as Sam so eloquently said: All's well that Ends.
Please note how the pictures get progressively more exciting as we move past Wyoming.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
We're Alive and Kicking
I apologize about taking so long to post that Sam and I have arrived safe and sound in State College, PA. We've been fairly busy with school stuff, job stuff, and organizing a mountain of boxes. Fortunately that mountain has been reduced to about 7-8 boxes left!
In addition to all of the moving excitement, in the week we've been in Penn State we've survived a tornado warning, thunder, lightning, monsoon rain, an earthquake and soon hope to survive a hurricane. To say Pennsylvania has been eventful has been an understatement.
I realize this post is way long, but we'll work on that as we will have much less excitement in our lives day by day, and much more predictable developments.
As far as getting to Pennsylvania trip was pretty amazing. Amazing as in an adventure I'd not like to repeat, but looking back at it pretty incredible. Remarkably comfortable in the moving truck, the first few days felt like they went faster than they would in a normal car. The progression through Wyoming took forever, but reminded me a lot of southern Utah and some of my desert hometown.
As we made it into the midwest I discovered that there are a lot of bugs. At the first hotel we stayed at, I thought there was an oscillating sprinkler close. The kind of sprinkler that makes a loud tshhh sound. Apparently lots and lots of bugs at dusk can make that sound. Gross.
As we progressed east there were a lot more farms when we hit Illinois and Ohio. Except there was only two crops-corn and soybeans. Each corn stalk had a sandy-blonde single set of tassels at the top. There were so many that it made the entire field look like a sandy-blonde head of hair, the parts in the hairstyle being the long roads cut for machinery and farmers to pass through the crop. We saw lots of huge windmills, with blades as large as a semi-truck. and lots and lots of rolling hills. The surprising thing about rolling hills was the fact that you can't actually see that far over them. For some reason I believed that you would be able to look out, and see forever. Technically that happened at parts of the drive, but not once we got into the actual east coast. The last part of the drive totally blew my mind. I ran out of words to describe it. Literally, on the last stretch of road I asked Sam for synonyms for "so beautiful" and "amazing".
As a little girl, I believed there was beauty in every landscape, especially in the desert. The sunsets are beyond gorgeous. The wildflowers that transform the college heights hills into yellow carpets for one week. The rocky crags that morphed into hills and mountains on every side. The mountain evergreens, streams, creosote and sagebrush, bunches of purple wildflowers that at times came up to my waist. I thought it was so vibrant and green. I always will have a special spot in my heart for the specific smell of the desert after a rain. The soil after rain in Utah, elsewhere smells nice, but nowhere near the particular smell of Ridgecrest after the rain. That and the mountain sagebrush. The light blue-green scraggly brush smells so marvelous. I thought when I went to Montana, sawYosemite and the Sierra Mountains that I had seen green.
I had no idea. Even in Ohio it floored me. There were walls of green. Then we came into Pennsylvania, it was a whole different story! There are walls of green as soon as the fields surrender the edge of the crop. The only comparison I can think of is a rainforest. There are layers and layers of green. Even a little 5 year old that draws a tree can't capture it. The elementary design of a straight brown column and green scribbles on the very top doesn't catch the least of it. There are layers of grasses, shrubs, intermingled trees, and the large ones that tower 100 feet high. Not even the trunks are brown, they are covered in vines, so you can't even tell that the bark is brown! The same 5 year old would be better off taking a green marker and scribbling over the entire paper to try and mimic the same growth. I am still trying to process it. Duh-I knew this stuff existed, but thought it was out in the middle of nowhere where people didn't live. Literally less than 5 minutes of walking distance we have a gorgeous park, and a beautiful view of hills and hills of what looks like uninterrupted foliage for miles. Less than 2 minutes by bike is a just one of the trails that we have discovered. Paved and right next to the road, it at times is towered by a huge green walls on either side. I can't wait to see what that looks like in fall! It is so beautiful here.
We took a little breather towards the end of our trip to visit Sam's Aunt Mindy and Uncle Thad, but really for Sam to get a chance to check out Cedar Point. I will admit, after being a Six-Flags girl for most of my life Cedar Point is pretty cool! It is a great park that is smack dab in Lake Eerie, albeit an island of roller coaster oasis. So when you rocketed upwards and down it felt like you were flying off the edge of the Earth. Sam had the time of his life, and laugh-cackled like his life depended on it. For those that have never been on a roller coaster with Sam, he has this laugh (in the mentally disturbed, psychotic-like cackle-laugh) that he does extremely loudly. Sam's family got a huge kick out of his maniacal response. We also had an exciting river raft ride. Half of the people were fully clothed. Half were in swimsuits. Guess which half got hit with tens of gallons of water from a waterfall. Yup-for several hours all those people that were doused had sloshy shoes and left wet but-prints on every bench that was sat on.
Once we arrived in State College, everyone was amazingly friendly. We hadn't spent more than 5 minutes in the parking lot of our complex when a wonderful woman cleaning out her car came over with a treat and introduced herself and welcomed us to the neighborhood. Btw she was a non-member, but a sweet and very helpful woman. While the Mormon man muscle took almost an hour to show, she helped me bring in odds and ends up and down our stairs. All while her kids were taking a nap, and she could be doing something much more productive. She has some of the cutest kids I've ever seen. Probably has something to do with her little girl having big brown eyes, and big beautiful curls :)
We love it here, and still have a lot of adjustments. By we I mean me, Sam feels like he's back in his element. I literally will use my phone navigation to find things less than a mile away. I have no idea which was is north, and one-way city streets freak me out. It's like a two lane road, but they decided to shove a city block in the middle island. The streets are narrow, and the terrain quite san francisco at times. This compounds the fact that I really can't see far off due to the foliage and said terrain, and have no mountains or grid system for a safety net. Lets just say my directionally challenged direction sense is struggling but happy to be here.
In addition to all of the moving excitement, in the week we've been in Penn State we've survived a tornado warning, thunder, lightning, monsoon rain, an earthquake and soon hope to survive a hurricane. To say Pennsylvania has been eventful has been an understatement.
I realize this post is way long, but we'll work on that as we will have much less excitement in our lives day by day, and much more predictable developments.
As far as getting to Pennsylvania trip was pretty amazing. Amazing as in an adventure I'd not like to repeat, but looking back at it pretty incredible. Remarkably comfortable in the moving truck, the first few days felt like they went faster than they would in a normal car. The progression through Wyoming took forever, but reminded me a lot of southern Utah and some of my desert hometown.
As we made it into the midwest I discovered that there are a lot of bugs. At the first hotel we stayed at, I thought there was an oscillating sprinkler close. The kind of sprinkler that makes a loud tshhh sound. Apparently lots and lots of bugs at dusk can make that sound. Gross.
As we progressed east there were a lot more farms when we hit Illinois and Ohio. Except there was only two crops-corn and soybeans. Each corn stalk had a sandy-blonde single set of tassels at the top. There were so many that it made the entire field look like a sandy-blonde head of hair, the parts in the hairstyle being the long roads cut for machinery and farmers to pass through the crop. We saw lots of huge windmills, with blades as large as a semi-truck. and lots and lots of rolling hills. The surprising thing about rolling hills was the fact that you can't actually see that far over them. For some reason I believed that you would be able to look out, and see forever. Technically that happened at parts of the drive, but not once we got into the actual east coast. The last part of the drive totally blew my mind. I ran out of words to describe it. Literally, on the last stretch of road I asked Sam for synonyms for "so beautiful" and "amazing".
As a little girl, I believed there was beauty in every landscape, especially in the desert. The sunsets are beyond gorgeous. The wildflowers that transform the college heights hills into yellow carpets for one week. The rocky crags that morphed into hills and mountains on every side. The mountain evergreens, streams, creosote and sagebrush, bunches of purple wildflowers that at times came up to my waist. I thought it was so vibrant and green. I always will have a special spot in my heart for the specific smell of the desert after a rain. The soil after rain in Utah, elsewhere smells nice, but nowhere near the particular smell of Ridgecrest after the rain. That and the mountain sagebrush. The light blue-green scraggly brush smells so marvelous. I thought when I went to Montana, sawYosemite and the Sierra Mountains that I had seen green.
I had no idea. Even in Ohio it floored me. There were walls of green. Then we came into Pennsylvania, it was a whole different story! There are walls of green as soon as the fields surrender the edge of the crop. The only comparison I can think of is a rainforest. There are layers and layers of green. Even a little 5 year old that draws a tree can't capture it. The elementary design of a straight brown column and green scribbles on the very top doesn't catch the least of it. There are layers of grasses, shrubs, intermingled trees, and the large ones that tower 100 feet high. Not even the trunks are brown, they are covered in vines, so you can't even tell that the bark is brown! The same 5 year old would be better off taking a green marker and scribbling over the entire paper to try and mimic the same growth. I am still trying to process it. Duh-I knew this stuff existed, but thought it was out in the middle of nowhere where people didn't live. Literally less than 5 minutes of walking distance we have a gorgeous park, and a beautiful view of hills and hills of what looks like uninterrupted foliage for miles. Less than 2 minutes by bike is a just one of the trails that we have discovered. Paved and right next to the road, it at times is towered by a huge green walls on either side. I can't wait to see what that looks like in fall! It is so beautiful here.
We took a little breather towards the end of our trip to visit Sam's Aunt Mindy and Uncle Thad, but really for Sam to get a chance to check out Cedar Point. I will admit, after being a Six-Flags girl for most of my life Cedar Point is pretty cool! It is a great park that is smack dab in Lake Eerie, albeit an island of roller coaster oasis. So when you rocketed upwards and down it felt like you were flying off the edge of the Earth. Sam had the time of his life, and laugh-cackled like his life depended on it. For those that have never been on a roller coaster with Sam, he has this laugh (in the mentally disturbed, psychotic-like cackle-laugh) that he does extremely loudly. Sam's family got a huge kick out of his maniacal response. We also had an exciting river raft ride. Half of the people were fully clothed. Half were in swimsuits. Guess which half got hit with tens of gallons of water from a waterfall. Yup-for several hours all those people that were doused had sloshy shoes and left wet but-prints on every bench that was sat on.
Once we arrived in State College, everyone was amazingly friendly. We hadn't spent more than 5 minutes in the parking lot of our complex when a wonderful woman cleaning out her car came over with a treat and introduced herself and welcomed us to the neighborhood. Btw she was a non-member, but a sweet and very helpful woman. While the Mormon man muscle took almost an hour to show, she helped me bring in odds and ends up and down our stairs. All while her kids were taking a nap, and she could be doing something much more productive. She has some of the cutest kids I've ever seen. Probably has something to do with her little girl having big brown eyes, and big beautiful curls :)
We love it here, and still have a lot of adjustments. By we I mean me, Sam feels like he's back in his element. I literally will use my phone navigation to find things less than a mile away. I have no idea which was is north, and one-way city streets freak me out. It's like a two lane road, but they decided to shove a city block in the middle island. The streets are narrow, and the terrain quite san francisco at times. This compounds the fact that I really can't see far off due to the foliage and said terrain, and have no mountains or grid system for a safety net. Lets just say my directionally challenged direction sense is struggling but happy to be here.
Monday, August 8, 2011
The Big Move
This blog is an attempt to keep up to date with family and friends. I was thinking about sharing our PA experience through family with email. But I would have to include pictures, and write a lot to explain what is going on in our lives. So yes-I have caved and done the cliche thing and started blogging.
Sam and I are moving in 4 days, in reality packing everything up on 5 days, and heading out in 6 days. We're still debating on which day to say "we're outta here" so we are sticking to the 4 days until we spend our last night in our apt.
Needless to say, we are very excited. Every day I look at pictures of our new apt, and a video Sam made of it. I've been in super-planning mode for months, and especially the last few weeks. I know it's going to be very very different, but Sam and I are ready for a change, to move on from where we've been for the last few years. Provo has been full of great memories, but we're excited to move on. I've heard all about the east coast from Sam and plenty of other people, but I'm just anxious to experience it for myself now.
Everyone says it will be lonely, people won't be as friendly, and I will struggle with the change. Probably, but in all honesty I've had the same experience with Provo for several years. From Sam's time serving in the singles ward (where I was regarded as the black plague to all singledom) to all of our friends moving within months that we become friends; it's been lonely here. Granted we have loved the opportunity to hang out with my sister in Lehi, and watch my favorite niece grow. However we haven't hung out with almost anybody except family in a long long time. So it'll be exciting being a part of a community that has so much to offer, and so many new things to experience. We've felt that this move was the right decision almost from the get-go.
So just a few more days! Technically 141 hours and 28 minutes.
Sam and I are moving in 4 days, in reality packing everything up on 5 days, and heading out in 6 days. We're still debating on which day to say "we're outta here" so we are sticking to the 4 days until we spend our last night in our apt.
Needless to say, we are very excited. Every day I look at pictures of our new apt, and a video Sam made of it. I've been in super-planning mode for months, and especially the last few weeks. I know it's going to be very very different, but Sam and I are ready for a change, to move on from where we've been for the last few years. Provo has been full of great memories, but we're excited to move on. I've heard all about the east coast from Sam and plenty of other people, but I'm just anxious to experience it for myself now.
Everyone says it will be lonely, people won't be as friendly, and I will struggle with the change. Probably, but in all honesty I've had the same experience with Provo for several years. From Sam's time serving in the singles ward (where I was regarded as the black plague to all singledom) to all of our friends moving within months that we become friends; it's been lonely here. Granted we have loved the opportunity to hang out with my sister in Lehi, and watch my favorite niece grow. However we haven't hung out with almost anybody except family in a long long time. So it'll be exciting being a part of a community that has so much to offer, and so many new things to experience. We've felt that this move was the right decision almost from the get-go.
So just a few more days! Technically 141 hours and 28 minutes.
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