Email Answers

Has anyone else noticed that many (if not most) people seem to be able to respond to only one question in an email? Husband and I have noticed this in our correspondence to people for work, school, and pretty much everything else. We've even tried to number our questions in emails, but more often than not, we just get an answer to one (or two at best).

Husband and I have devised a solution to this anti-answering epidemic (or is it a phobia?). Please note that we haven't tested this solution in clinical trials as of yet, so practice it at your own risk. What follows is a sample email, with three questions being represented as A, B, and C:

Dear Mr. So-and-so,

In this email, I will ask you three questions: one about [A], one about [B], and one about [C].

1. [A]?

2. [B]?

3. [C]?

To summarize, this email asked you about [A], [B], and [C].

In conclusion, thank you in advance for your time in addressing my questions about [A], [B], and [C].

I look forward to hearing your response regarding [A], [B], and [C].

Sincerely,
Me

P.S. - In case any of the above was unclear, I asked you three questions. They were about [A], [B], and [C].

Whaddaya think? :)

Vacationally and Party-ly Challenged

Husband and I have planned some fun trips for the summer, and while we were sitting in church this past Sunday, I leaned over and whispered to him, "I'm so excited for our trips!" He chuckled and replied, "much more excited than you'll actually be when we get there, right?"

He was mostly teasing, but it's really true. I am vacationally challenged. I get SO excited for a trip (or a party) - I love planning the details, purchasing plane tickets (if that's involved, and if they're not ridiculously expensive), and just daydreaming about how much fun it will be. It honestly gets me through difficult moments/days/weeks, because I have something fun and different to look forward to.

Once the event/trip arrives, though, I immediately start being sad knowing that it will be over relatively soon. At the beginning, I can pretend (with mild success) that the end of the trip is oh, so far away and bask in the joy of being away from work and (some) responsibilities. Once we hit the halfway mark, though, I usually have some depression begin to kick in, thinking "Oh, no! There's only X days left! It's almost over!" Even if the trip is two weeks long and we're only one week into it.

This is something I really want to work on fixing, since it drastically influences my enjoyment of these memory-making activities. One of my yoga workouts is led by a guy (with a voice that sounds like Kermit the frog) who says some seemingly-silly things that I've realized are actually quite profound and that might be helpful advice for me. During some positions, he says things like "Be here... Think of what you're doing while you're doing it... Enjoy the way this feels," etc.

I think too often, I'm thinking ahead to the next thing (in life, on my list, after my current activity, whatever), and not living any given moment fully. Then I look back and it's gone, and I realize I didn't make the most of it. I need to learn to BE where I am, to THINK/ENJOY what I'm doing WHILE I'm doing it.* If I can conquer this before I have kids, I know it will be especially worthwhile, since everyone says how fast they grow up. (*Um, I think trying to apply this counsel to work might be overkill - I want to learn to enjoy fun stuff before I try to make myself enjoy not-fun-at-all stuff, thank you very much.)

That all might be easier said than done, however. Do any of you feel the same way? Do you have any advice or tips on how to battle those feelings? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Preferrably before May, when I get to go to Florida! I get to go to FLORIDA in May!! It's less than two months away!! WAHOOO!!!!!!!!!! *Jumping up and down and clapping hands for joy*

....yeeeeaaaah, see what I mean?!

It Really Doesn't Get More Random Than This...

So...where do I begin? To make a long story short, I helped make a music video for a photographer (Tracey Lee) who wants to attract local artists to have him make music videos for them. How I got into that was very random, but it was a VERY fun and interesting project with which to be involved, and I think Tracey did a wonderful job. Some important disclaimers:

1) This is SO fictional. That should go without saying, since you all know my husband and me, but the video made my mom sad even though she knew it was pretend, so I figured it's best to just say that upfront.

2) It's so fictional, in fact, that I'm not singing and husband doesn't play the guitar (except for one song that he learned to play for me on our first Valentine's day and when he proposed - aw!). The former fact seems outrageously plain to me, but I've had a few people ask me about it, so NO - that's not my voice. Not even close. The latter fact is quite obvious in the video, but I've also had people ask me about that, too. Husband was such a good sport to participate in the first place (he didn't want to) - but he did a great job!

The video is on Tracey's blog - it's the top video on the blog today, but if you go to the link later, just go to the March 17th post. His website shows more of his material, too.

For All Intents and Purposes

I would like to take this moment to announce to the world that, for all intents and purposes*, I am hereby DONE with my Master's degree!!!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!

*This equals three paragraph-long discussion board posts. I have to wait for the other person in the class to post to them (not due until later this month and a couple times in March, respectively).

It still isn't quite sinking in (feels like I'll be starting another class in April or something). But co-workers have given me chocolate to celebrate, and husband sent me early-Valentine's roses at work, so I am sufficiently giddy. Here's to more sleep, a cleaner, more organized home, and more frequent blog-posting to come!!!

Apologizing for this Interruption in Service

I am currently on a roll with my schoolwork and tasting the I-could-be-done-next-week-as-opposed-to-next-month sweetness. Blog's going on hold until I can celebrate with you all. But I'm still here, and can promise exciting blog posts in the near future about such things as...

1. Husband's '69 Mustang project (I'm having him write the post - what the blazes do I know about cars, anyway??)
2. My crazy cat that treats me like a jungle gym whenever I do yoga.
3. My hatred of snow (well, I might not bore you with this one, but I could write a week's worth of blogs about it in my head)

I know, you can hardly stand the wait. Do your best to go on with your life until I post again. Eat. Sleep. Breathe in. Breathe out. Don't sue me.

You, Too, Can Break the Shackles of Indecisiveness

You may have seen in my 25 Random Things post how husband and I alternate date nights. I wanted to elaborate on this practice, since it really is the bee's knees. I don't know how many of you are indecisive out there (well, there might not be many of you that read this to begin with), but speaking from five years of time-wasting, I can tell you there's a whole world that you're missing.

How Friday and Saturday Nights USED to Go:
"What do you want to do?"
"I dunno, what do you want to do?"
"I don't really have a preference; I'm fine with whatever you want to do."
"Do you want to watch a movie?"
"Well, do YOU want to watch a movie?"
"I don't know."
"Me neither."
. . .
"But you probably do want to watch a movie, since you brought it up, right?"
"I didn't say that, I only thought you might want to watch a movie."

And on, and on, and on. We would waste at least an hour most nights, and sometimes wouldn't end up doing ANYTHING.

Then my co-worker told me about how he and his wife alternate Friday date nights. The thing is, he told me this a few years ago. I loved the idea instantaneously, and husband agreed it was wise. Hehehe. We only got around to trying it out a few months ago. Anyway, now it has changed everything for the better. I can't recommend it enough.

Here are a couple examples of what husband has gotten me to do on his Friday nights:
1. Work on our budget. Yeah, not your normal idea for a date night, but I had no choice, and he knew I'd whine otherwise. I still whined a bit.
2. Go to Sears to pick up a battery charger (are you seeing a pattern in all this practicality?). I promise that's not all husband chooses to do on Friday nights - we watch action flicks, go out to eat where he wants, etc.

Now for what I've gotten him to do on my Friday nights:
1. Watch Pride and Prejudice with me. The A&E 6-hour Pride and Prejudice. (Okay, not all six hours in the one Friday night, but we eventually watched the whole thing. And he didn't hate [all] of it!)
2. Clip our cats' claws (okay, sometimes I can be practical with my Friday night selections, as well. It had to be done, people. Buttercup is expert at honing perfect daggers out of her claws, and she loves demonstrating their sharpness, believe you me).

I don't want to bore you with all the other stuff we do - the key is that we DO stuff. It's lovely. I've heard that one of my aunt-and-uncle pairs trades off entire weeks of decision-making. That sounds a little intimidating, but I'm thinking of expanding our Fridays to include Saturdays and/or the entire weekend.

If you haven't tried this, I hereby challenge you to do so this weekend (don't put it off forever like we did!). Call or text your spouse right now and pick whose Friday this will be (toss a coin if this could otherwise start some sort of tiff). Then mark your calendar for the next few months of which Friday is whose. Then come back and tell me what you thought of it (no sooner than two weeks - doesn't really count if you don't experience both sides of it).

Off you go!

Hooray for Groundhog Day!

Thanks to my brother, for saving me oodles of time in today's Groundhog Day post; please, read his blog today (and every day - he has a highly entertaining blog). I echo most of his words, except I still like Valentine's day. Sorry.

But back to Groundhog Day. I just want to put an additional plug in for the movie, which is truly a classic. With each viewing, it gets funnier and I learn something new. It does a great job at teaching you to appreciate life, look outside yourself and serve others, without ever preaching. Seminary videos can't hold a candle to it, really. So even if you're not going to be throwing an extravaganza, do yourself a favor and start a tradition of watching this movie on the holiday every year. You can work up to the full-blown shin-dig (which brings to mind another Bill Murray gem...baby steps to watching the movie...baby steps to inviting friends and family over for an annual party...baby steps to taking the day off work every year...).

Happy Groundhog Day!!