I've been quiet recently. Have you noticed? Things have been rather crazy, so I thought I'd give an update in the form of a random list.

:)

1--Work--I am not moving to Nebraska. Our visit there was awesome--one of the best trips I've taken with Faramir. We got home, decided we could move there if things worked out right and sent off an email telling the guy that and asking some questions that we needed answered before we made the final decision. The response we received seemed rather abrupt and basically told us thanks for our time and good luck finding something else. (That's more blunt than the e-mail was, but essentially what it said.)

So we shall move on to the next step, whatever it is.

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2--There is road construction outside of my house right now--on a major road that's probably a foot ball field away. It's driving me nuts because there is some type of machine that is making a very low sound. It's so low and . . .I'm not really sure how to describe it. . .but it's so much that way that it's actually hurting my head. It starts and stops. I'm tempted to leave for a while and hope they are done when I come back.

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3--While in Nebraska we got to see Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. A word to the wise. If you go and plan to see both, see Mount Rushmore first. Mount Rushmore is amazing. I'm a bit in awe of the audacity of someone that would do something like that. But I saw Crazy Horse first and Crazy Horse is that audacity times 100. Mount Rushmore--all four sculptures--can fit in Crazy Horse's hair. It's that big. There's no possible way to describe it. Crazy Horse isn't done, and I suspect won't be for another 50-100 years, but even that which they have done is amazing.

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4--If in fact you do decide to go there, go to the Alpine Inn for lunch. I'm not exactly a German food connoisseur, but I know good food when I eat it, and that was awesome. Faramir got the wiener schnitzel and I got the spaetzle, and it was all awesome! (I hear dinner is amazing too--there's one thing on the menu besides dessert. Filet Mignon. When you go in all they ask is if you want the small or the large.)

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5--So being that I'm just a world romping girl this year, we are off to the Philippines in less than two weeks. It should be crazy. I'm nervous and excited. We are going to go to Corregidor on what will be the American Memorial Day and that makes me happy. I'm a bit of a WWII nut as it is and this should be cool. I keep telling everyone that we'd love to have company, but no-one has taken us up on it yet.

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6--Home--other than my mild anxiety about heading off to the Philippines, we are doing pretty well here. School is almost over--although that's a mixed blessing. However, our summer is filling up fast with sports and music and reunions and all sorts of this and that. We are on the last two weeks of school (we start mid-August) so we are essentially to play point. That's good and bad. Thankfully the weather has finally warmed up a bit. In fact, it's supposed to be downright hot today.

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7--Faramir and I have been taking a strengthening marriage class and yesterdays class was about resolving conflict. There seemed to be two things that stood out to me. One was remembering that as a couple, we aren't two linebackers lined up across from each other on opposing teams, ready and waiting to hit the other person down. We are on the same team. We are coming at the ball from different angles, but ultimately our jobs is to get a touchdown for our team. (I'll think really hard about another analogy that will work for the non sports minded of you out there.)

The other thing that really struck me is that it's all about understanding and I'm finding this to be 100% true in my life. Those times when Faramir and I take the time to really dig and understand exactly what the other person is saying are the times we are most likely to come to a good consensus. It's when we go halfway that we don't get a good solution and then the issues comes up again.

(Of course, the issues sometimes come up again regardless. Life happens.)

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8--I need to go shopping. I am out of eggs, milk, laundry detergent (almost), dishwasher detergent (almost) and several other things, like fresh fruit. I'm not entirely sure why this is important--I mean, aside from my family's general health.

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9--I should be making bread right now. So as soon as I finish this post, I am going to go do that.

There, I have said it aloud. Now I must do as I have said I would.

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10--Dreams are interesting things, aren't they? When I was younger (read childhood) I had a recurring dream where I was in the basement of a local department store and could not get out. I would start walking up the stairs, and keep walking and the stairs would never end. I could see the door, but I could not get to it. There was usually a mop bucket and mop on the side--all sorts of cleaning things. I would be crying and sobbing in my dream because I just wanted to get home, but I couldn't get there no matter what.

I've been learning lately to listen to my dreams. Not to live by them, but to try and see if there is more there than just random brain movements--times when my brain might be trying to tell me something. I dream a lot. Perhaps even seeing how my brain may or may not be interpreting the past.

I have to be careful about making sure that I'm keeping it in perspective, but I think that there are times when I should be paying a little more attention. Particularly when I wake up feeling peaceful. That doesn't happen often. I usually wake up indifferent to negative (I generally have nightmares after 7 in the morning unless I'm sick or exhausted). Revelation has come in the form of dreams in the past, so I'm trying to pay a little more attention.

It's harder than I thought it would be.

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Blessings to you all today!