Homesickness

This past week I've become really Homesick. Not just Homesick, but Evansville-Sick, Tennesse-Sick, Lawrenceburg-Sick, Purdue-Sick and Bloomington-Sick. It helped having Dan's family here this weekend because they brought with them the comforts of home and lots of good gossip. It's good to have our parents here, but this week I just felt like I wanted to be home at Mom and Dad's and with my girlfriends. I want to see my sister and play with Dillon, I want to laugh with the girls, and I want to go shopping with Mom and drink beers with Dad.

I love our home here, but sometimes I just need home there... or anywhere that my family is. So for now I will leave you with the pictures Jill sent from her weekend with Mom and John. I think knowing that they were all going to be together this weekend really triggered my homesickness, but they all had a great time and I absolutely love these pictures





East Central Football Update: John logged his first Varsity minutes, getting to play the last couple minutes of the game against South Dearborn... another homesickness inducing thought, missing John play football.

Love you All!

No Alarm Clock Day and Picnics in Our Tree House

We are like little kids... probably worse. On Saturday nights we get into bed and are so excited because it's no alarm clock day. We set the timer back a couple hours on the coffee maker and wake up on Sunday whenever we want. It never fails I always automatically wake up at 6:05 am, but it's my favorite when I get to go back to sleep and get out of bed whenever I feel like it. And when Dan asks me what I am going to do today... I always say, "Whatever I Want."

This Sunday included making breakfast for Dan and his parents and hanging out with them for just a little bit longer before they headed back to Guilford. I started the enormous amount of laundry and began to clean the house. By noon I had had enough and joined Dan in our loft, now known as the tree house to Dan. I like to help him with his stats from the Friday Night Game. I make sure that he gives all this kids the correct amount of tackles, sacks, and assists. We watched the Bengals online and the Vikings on the big screen. At halftime we put out a wonderful picnic full of Chicago Style Hot dogs and Nachos. Dan usually does not allow any food or colored drinks upstairs but he made the exception for our lazy Sunday and laid out a big blanket over the white fluffy carpet and gave us each a clipboard for our drinks. It's these little silly things that he does that makes me appreciate our Sunday afternoons together.

But trust me... I enjoyed my Sunday evening alone... doing "Whatever I Wanted" while he was at his football meetings.But getting into bed last night we were both pretty upset that it was indeed Alarm Clock Day... my least favorite.

Safe for Kait to Read...

Just a couple random thoughts from today, because that's the type of day I've had. It was a good day at work, very busy and learning a lot of new things. The busy season is beginning that will take us right into Christmas, so before we know it it's going to be 2011!

Today was the first day of fall... and I wore a sleeveless top. That's the beauty of living in the Midwest, just when you think your summer wardrobe is over, you get another chance to wear your cute summer clothes!

~Insert Random Side Story Here~ I was just so perplexed last night when I was trying to decide what to wear because of the strange weather lately. For some reason when somebody says it's going to be 67 degrees, I have no idea what that means. Dan was of no help, he tells me he's not a weatherman, he's only a mailman and a garbage man (those are his two jobs at the house). I really just needed Amanda. For four years she helped me dress for the weather every day and she taught me two critical tips. Wear shorts at 70 degrees, take a sweater at 50 degrees. But other than that I'm clueless. Dan tells me that in a couple weeks it won't even matter because I will have to wear four layers of clothes every single day no matter what.

Lynard Skynard died. I know, not the band, but the man, Leonard Skinner. I had no idea that they named their band after their high school teacher that sent them to the principal all the time. I thought about it for a little bit and decided that if the event planning business doesn't work out for me I can start a band named Betina Rose. I'm still laughing about this thought that came into my mind today while walking to work, and really thinking that it's not a bad name for a band.

A man in Montana celebrated his 114th birthday today, becoming the oldest man in the world. Amazing to me, really. He told a local newspaper that the worst invention ever was the comptuer because it took his job as a telegraph operator at the railroad. When asked his secret to living a long life he said cigarettes, whiskey, and wild, wild women. After his invitation only birthday party at the Rainbow Retirement Village he told the crowd, "with all the hatred in this world, in this good world, let us be kind to one another." Now this is my kind of man. Happy Birthday Walter.

Halloween is quickly approaching (my official LEAST favorite holiday). We've been invited to a costume party already and I haven't seen Dan so excited in a long time. He loves the holiday and it's excited for our first Halloween together where I'm not working at Harry's. The top story on yahoo today was "The Most Popular Halloween Costumes" and at the top of this list... is Snooki, are you kidding me? I refuse to be any member of Jersey Shore, I'm thinking more Cruella deVille!

And lastly, our house has worn off it's newness as we are making our first home repair/replacement. It was a sad night when I learned we had to replace our hot water heater. We knew it was coming when we bought the house, but it's still sad that our house isn't so new anymore... But it better be ready, house guests are coming tomorrow. Welcome Rick and Donna!

The Biggest Mess in the History of the Hartman Kitchen

What a fantastic weekend. Beautiful weather, no real commitments, and fantastic meals!

Friday night the bulldogs got another 'W' going 4-1 for the season. We spent the rest of the evening with the coaching staff and their wives replaying the entire game and drinking Octoberfest, snuggled in our sweatshirts. Saturday morning was more productive than most days, making trips to the bank, dry cleaner, and post office. Apparently the only post cards stamps the USPS makes have Polar Bear on them, so I apologize in advance for sending Save The Date cards out for a summer wedding with polar bear stamps on them... but what are you going to do?

Saturday night Dan and I enjoyed a great date night, going to Lost Marsh's clubhouse for dinner. We drank fantastic wine and had great steaks, I left absolutely full and with a little buzz. Successful evening for me! We told each other stories about high school and laughed and laughed. That's what I enjoy the most about our relationship, we can really find humor in almost anything.

So here's the most humours part of the weekend... and the biggest mess in the history of the Hartman kitchen.

While Dan was at his football meeting tonight, (big game week which equals long meetings) I decided to be very productive and make all of our meals for the week! Now this wasn't a simple process. (I decided that my dream kitchen will include 6 burners instead of the normal 4.) But anyway, I was just cooking along, cooking along when disaster happened. One of my dishes included Skyline! This meal is always quite the process because you want to let it simmer for several hours, and Dan likes it best when the meat is really finely ground... to achieve this I use a blender. So after the meat sauce has been cooking for about an hour, I very carefully transfer the meat from the pot to the blender. I was so proud of myself for not even getting a drop on the counter. I put the lid on really tight, and then turned in on low. Something really bad happened inside that blender and it decided to blast out of the top... just like it happens on funny movies or bounty paper towel commercials. This stuff was everywhere. In my hair, on the cabinets, almost on the ceiling, in the fajitas I was making for the evening, in my cocktail I was drinking, everywhere! Oh how I wish someone had caught it on video. Meanwhile Dan calls me and asks me how everything is going... I couldn't even respond, all i said was, "I've just made the biggest mess in the history of the Hartman kitchen.

I'm sure there will be many many more to come, this was just the first kitchen disaster... now I'm off the shower the Skyline out of my hair.

Five Friends

This morning I forgot to set out chicken to thaw... I may or may not have done this on purpose... and asked Dan if he would like to have Chinese food for dinner. Dan, like myself, has never turned down crab Rangoon's, garlic chicken, and friend rice, so of course he didn't mind stopping by Uncle Chen's on his way home! My Favorite!

The absolute best part of any Chinese meal, besides the easy clean up and full belly, is when we get to open the fortune cookies. I've always loved getting my fortunes. I remember my favorite one ever, the one that I had taped to my dashboard for over a year. Unfortunately Mom decided to write "White Fence" on top of this fortune on a trip to Dale Hollow because she knew I would be driving home by myself and wanted to make sure I turned at the White Fence. I couldn't believe she did that, I was pissed and remember getting in my car and seeing it, not believing that she ruined one of my favorite treasures!

The past two times we've had Uncle Chen's I've received the same fortune. "Distant Friends Will Soon Be Back in Your Life." I wish for nothing more than this fortune to come true. As Soon As Possible!

Now here's the story of "The Five Friends"

It all happened Senior Year of High School. Some of us were friends, some of us were enemies. All I knew about Jesika was that she gave me evil eyes every day in Spanish Class freshman year... and I never really saw much of her after that. Student Council forced us to work together every day, I don't think either of us were that thrilled about it, but I will always be thankful for that. Those 4th period planning periods for the execs were some of my favorite times in high school. Sure, we did a lot of planning of the school events, but we also did a lot of gossiping, we played a lot of WaterSlide Slalom (Kaitlin saw a lot of the "WAAAA, You Fell Out" message on her screen, we made up a few cheer leading dances, and of course we ate all kinds of food. Our favorite was the applesauce cake, which I am honestly considering as my wedding cake! We each had our day when we took the lunch trays back, we made Jamie take them on Thursdays because it was mashed potato day and of course it was the messiest! Jes, Kaitlin, Holly, and I had the greatest time in Mrs. Ballard's classroom and I will always remember those funny times that we had. The greatest part was Amanda was in some really silly class at the time and she spent most of her time visiting with us. I really wish we could go back! Graduation came, we had the greatest summer together, and the five friends were separated.

During college we all came home quite a bit. We always tried to celebrate holidays together, and birthdays. The girls threw me the greatest Harry Potter birthday party for me with a Hogwarts cake, wands, and glasses. They made sure to tell me that constructing the cake almost ruined their friendship. I was pretty impressed and so excited that these girls threw me my first themed birthday party... at the age of 19!

And we always had our summers... mostly spent either floating on a raft at Jesika's pool or drinking beers on a tailgate at the softball fields. We'd still drink in Paul and Theresa's basement and have John make us pancakes. Every summer when we were together it was like nothing had changed.

This past summer we all only got to get together once, over Memorial Day weekend... and we hadn't seen each other in a year. I absolutely loved being with them all and miss when we were together constantly. I really took that time for granted and wish I could just get a little bit of it back.

We've all grown into real life people, Kaitlin sent us to good news today that she got a job, so we are all working citizens. Crazy how we grew up so quickly, but I know if we all got together right now we'd be acting like our silly selves, thinking we were back in that classroom laughing and getting yelled at by Mrs. Hankinson from across the way. All I know is that I am so excited these are the girls that are going to be my bridesmaids. I can't imagine not having them there with me on the big day.

Oh, how I hope my fortune comes true. I need my distant friends back in my life.

Change

Change is good.

But my favorite type of change is the Change of Seasons. As I was going through my tubs of fall and winter clothes tonight to pick something out to wear to Dan's football game tomorrow I got so excited. My excitment was made even greater when Dan walked in the house with a 6-pack of Octoberfest (my FAVORITE beer). It can't get much better... but then we sat down to dinner and started watching the Saints/Vikings game. Football, my favorite. "Drew Brees, A Boilermaker" that makes me smile everytime I hear the Saints offense announced. Now all I have to do is pull out my Bengals Jersey and we will be set.

Now in a few months I will be telling you how happy I am that I am putting up my peacock themed Christmas Tree and hanging the wreaths and lights, and in even more months I'll be telling you how much I love tulips. Again, it's just me being me and loving everything that is happening in the moment. I just really enjoy the change. New clothes, new decorations, new events, a whole new start.

So tomorrow I will wear my scarf and puffy vest to cheer on the Bulldogs while drinking coffee and just love the crispy breeze...

Who am I kidding it's not a breeze up here... it's just fridgid, fridgid wind, but I'll love it for now.

A Favorite Thought During a Tough Time

Okay, usually my blogs are funny, easy to read, enjoyable stories, so if that's what you're looking for, I'm sorry. This isn't going to be it. In the past two days my mom's family has been through much more than any family should go through in a lifetime. In one split second an innocent life, a 3 year old boy, the only son of a beautiful and loving family, was taken in an awful accident. I can't even begin to imagine what they are going through and it makes me feel sick, angry, heartbroken, and helpless all at the same time.

Since I'm away from the local news and my family back at home I've been relying on the Cincinnati News websites for any information. I refuse to watch the videos because I don't want to see people I know suffer like that, but I've been reading the stories posted on the website. I unfortunately started looking at the comments that people were leaving about this story. I've never seen such awful things written in my life. The local news should not allow people to comment on stories such as these. All these comments are doing is putting blame on people and that is the last thing that needs to be done in a time like this. Blame on either side is not helping the situation. It is not helping the family be strong, it is not helping the family cope, it's not helping these four little girls realize why their brother is not with them anymore. It's not doing anything.

For two days I've been thinking about this. I didn't want to write anything, still now I am thinking about deleting this post... because it is not helping the situation. But after I read even more comments on the news websites I just couldn't contain myself any longer. I can't even begin to imagine what they are all going through, and as i was trying to fall asleep last night I just kept thinking of Beth... and how she wasn't sleeping either. But I find comfort knowing that the family is so strong and full of love and support for one another. And I pray for them.

I never got to meet Jack, but I know that he is in heaven with our Great-Grandma Lutz eating her famous chocolate cake, and that is my favorite thought of the day.

Big Ben.... not the Pittsburg Steeler

So we've hit the 10 month countdown to our wedding this weekend. I have the big things crossed off my list. We have our ceremony and reception site booked, I have a dress, a DJ, and a photographer. We have the rehearsal dinner planned, and the bridesmaid dresses picked out, our Save The Dates are almost all addressed. But that's about it. All the little things are still there on my list. The flowers, the cake, the menu, the timeline, the invitations, the wedding programs, and the seating charts are all just haning out on my to-do list waiting to get checked off. But this weekend we checked probably one of the more exciting things off of our list... The Honeymoon.

Dan and I have been on 3 amazing vacations together. We've been to Cancun twice and this past spring we got engaged in Puerto Vallarta. We have really been thinking that we would go back to Mexico for our honeymoon, but this weekend we changed our minds and our plans. Ever since Dan studied abroad his last semester of college his been wanting to go back. He talks about London and Dublin all of the time and I'm always so intrigued by his stories and want to experience it for myself. So that's what we are doing. We're going to go to London and explore for 8 days. I'm so excited, and it's even more exciting to know that exactly ten months from today we will be in London... or Paris where I talked Dan into taking a day trip to while we are there.

I know, I know, it's not your normal lay on the beach and drink cocktails by the pool type of honeymoon. But we've been there, we've done that, and now we just want to take this amazing trip while we can. And so my countdown to visiting Big Ben begins... 9 months and 28 days!

Two Weeks...

A lot can happen in two weeks time...

You can read a book, you can fall in love, make a new friend, Dan can use a whole bottle of hot sauce, Your heart can ache for your family that you haven't seen, you can start a new routine, your favorite baseball team can go from being tied for first place to being ahead 8 games, the seasons can change, the train schedule can change, and your job can change. And you know what else, your haircut can work itself out.

Jill called me yesterday being overly dramatic about Dillon's awful haircut. Apparently it slipped her mind that he gets a scissor cut on the top... not a 4 all over. The poor guy has a buzz. She's devestated and while she was telling me this story on the phone yesterday all i could tell her was one of Dad's favorite jokes (he calls it a joke, I'm not sure how much of one it is) "What's the difference between a good haircut and a bad haircut?" In unison Jill and I both answered, "2 WEEKS!"

So don't worry Jill, or Crazy Mommy, as Dillon affectionately calls you, Dillon's hair will be fine in two weeks. And he'll be his handsome little self... with his crazy bed head.




And Jes, be strong for the next two weeks... and it will all be okay!

The Sign

So we ending our fight, well I don't know if you'd call it a fight, more like a weak attempt, with P90X. It was tooo hard, I'm not cut out for that type of thing. Way too big of a commitment for me since it took an hour out of every single day. . . It's over. So yesterday I realized that my engagement ring was very, very snug and when I did get it off, there was a huge indention on my finger.

Holy smokes, this is a sign that I'm gaining weight if i've ever seen one. So today I started running. I've had phases in my life where I really enjoyed running and while I was out there today on the bike trail I started to think that I can see myself really enjoying this.

I have the motivation.. a wedding dress that is already bought and almost impossible to resize, so I can think of my dress hanging in the closet when I want to give up, and I really do like the trail behind our house. All the houses along the trail remind me of the neighborhood from The Sandlot (One my of my FAVORITE movies, I just hope a huge dog doesn't come after me!), and tonight I saw the most beautiful sky that I've seen since I've left Dearborn County. So things are looking on the positive side of this new thing I'm taking on.

Maybe I could look up a 5K in the area this fall, that would be another great goal to work towards. . . but for now I will just keep thinking about this indention on my finger from my tightly fitted ring. YIKES!