I can’t believe it’s been three years!

My husband is so sweet – makes me feel like a mush (and those of you who know me know what an accomplishment that is…). On our first anniversary, David gave me a red rose and a white rose. Red for the year we’d been married, white for the year to come. He told me he’d do the same thing for as long as we lived. =) This year was the three red roses year.

I love you, D.

I’m looking forward to spending this next year with you. =)

I went from one insane, politically-charged project with a super-tight deadline to another. Hence the lack of posting. I am, in fact, actually working on said project right now. Well, to be absolutely precise, I’m taking a break for a few minutes. There’s only so long you can stare at an electronic medical record before you stop seeing detail and start making mistakes.

So, Leah’s gone. Her visit was so wonderful – we adore that girl, and I just LOVE having her around. We have a lot in common, so I didn’t feel like she was a guest I had to go out of my way to entertain… it was just easy to be with her. We didn’t do all that much – just lived my life together and hung out – but it was so much more fun than it normally is! We keep ourselves very busy with people and events – Leah knows now that I’m not exaggerating when I say things never slow down. =)

For example. Just this weekend: I will be working 10 hours of OT, a couple of hours for my contracting company (Sedona Learning Solutions), an hour or so catching up on some web admin stuff for NADDI, AND preparing for, then hosting Zach (the teen boy who’ll be “living” with us for July starting this weekend). Then we have a birthday party and an open house.

But, things are starting to get back on track. I’ll have the time to do the things I need to once this project is finished and stops invading my personal life. Maybe I’ll even have a chance to get out there and take some pictures before it’s autumn.

To those of you who’ve stopped reading this blog because I haven’t been posting: I’m sorry. I miss you. Come back! I’ll be better to you!

Leah’s been visiting for the last few weeks, and I have a hard time spending time at the computer when I can hang out with her. And there’s been precious little time for even that because of recent events.

A sampling – in one weekend, we went to 3 cookouts. That week, we had a teen from our church living with us while his foster family took a road-trip. The next weekend, we went to a wedding and our car was totalled. That week, Leah and David bought Rock Band (so we played quite a bit). The next weekend, we almost got another dog, and instead bought a new car. All the while, I was involved in a politically charged project at work with a TIGHT timeline. Meaning I was working OT.

Anyway, stories and pictures are forthcoming. I don’t have time right now, but I’ll start posting again in small bits soon.

This is a really great, and very easy to make, dish – thought I’d share it (Leah, Melissa).

• 4 boned/skinned chicken breast halves
• 1/3 cup mustard (1/2 dijon, 1/2 coarse pommery)
• 1/3 cup vermouth or dry white wine
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• to taste freshly ground black pepper
• to taste salt

1. Coat the chicken with mustard and set in a covered bowl. Marinate for 2 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Arrange the chicken in a baking dish. Scrape out remaining mustard (from the marinating bowl) and spread evenly over chicken. Season with pepper and pour white wine over.
4. Back (basting occasionally) in center rack of oven for 30-40 minutes.
5. Scrape mustard off and back into the backing dish. Transfer chicken to a serving platter and keep warm.
6. Skim fat from cooking juices and set in baking dish over medium heat. Bring to a boil and whisk in sour cream. Lower the heat. Simmer for 5-10 minutes or until reduced by 1/3. Season with salt and pepper and pour over chicken. Serve hot.

When Leah was a little thing, she used to sing “homagin, homagin!” over and over as we pulled up the driveway and into the garage.  I thought that as the plane taxied to the runway in Indy…  I’m home again!

David met me at the airport when we flew in after several delays, saying he had a surprise for me.  He had tickets to a concert.  I was floored, thinking “What?  David bought tickets to a concert?”

We’re not concert people.  And he’s not a ticket-buying person.  Turns out, though, that my world is still intact – they were bought by a friend’s boss and his date stood him up.  He gave the tickets to my friend, and my friend gave them to David.  Which is why David was standing there with tickets to a Michael Buble concert.  Again, something we NEVER would have gone to see.  But, we’re usually up for something different.  We decided to go – knowing full well that we’d spend most of the concert being amazed at the cheese and the crazy ladies.

And crazy ladies there were in abundance.  Screaming ladies, yelling ladies, swooning ladies.  And teens!  So many of them… screaming “I love you, Michael” at every quiet moment.  It was insane.  Oh, yeah – there was also this super man fan sitting next to on top of me.  He’d had four beers before he took his seat (the cups were stacked and he smelled).  A few songs in, he and his date got up (spilling their beer all over the floor and my foot) and started dancing (drunkenly and a bit like hippies) in the aisle.  They never did come back.

Aside from that mess and the sheer cheese of a crooner concert, we had a good time.  We laughed a lot, at the people there and at Michael himself.  He was a lot funnier (and fouler) than I thought he’d be.  He has a great voice, and his jazz stuff was really good.  His swagger, his jokes, his personality onstage – it was like he was channeling Frank Sinatra.  The worst part of the evening was the pop set – those songs sucked.  Really badly.  David and I left when he made the crowd stand up and clap with him.  I just really don’t go for that stuff.

All in all, it was a good way to spend a Friday night – doing something different.

I’m back.

I’m also working four weeks of 10 hours of overtime. That’s 40 hours at time and a half. At my consultant/contracting rate.  =) That sounds pretty danged good to me. (I’m not usually that girl, but just think about the shoes I can buy!)

So. Not a lot of time for posting and taking pictures (sorry, Leah). But I’m dropping in tonight to ask two things:

1. What is UP with my husband’s fascination with Deal or No Deal? (It’s my personal opinion that there is no worse example of the degredation of the entertainment industry. )
2. Why is it that I haven’t thought of high school in years and years and all of a sudden it’s on my mind now? (Answer: Facebook. They’ve found me.)

Pirate Dave, originally uploaded by tara.aukerman.

This is pirate Dave.

When friend & coworker DD heard that David spent the day scrubbing our deck so it could be stained and sealed, she sent me home with an eye patch… so he could be a proper pirate. This is him. Wearing the patch.

It’s kinda funny… One of the kids at church, Kaylin, is writing a story featuring David and I. In this story, David is the pirate captain and I’m his first officer (mate? I don’t know pirate terminology). Maybe I’ll suggest this as cover art… =)

… and that’s it. We’re done with the traveling for [hopefully] a long time. =)

This time, the drive didn’t seem that long. It was only 6 hours to WVA, and since we hadn’t driven a long distance in over a week, we were ready for a road trip. Seriously… I felt kinda weird staying home last weekend. It was the first weekend since the beginning of December that we didn’t travel out of the state. I’m starting to feel at home in my car.

I always enjoy going to West Virginia. My folks out there are the neatest people… and I got to see an uncle from Ohio and an aunt from Idaho while I was there. We always have a grand ‘ol time, squeezing as many people into the house as possible (we had 10 people crashing at once, this time). We’ve done the same thing – cramming folks in and spending a whirlwind couple of days together – for as long as I can remember.

These last two trips (one in August, one this weekend) have been different from years past. I hadn’t been back in several years before the August trip, so when I did go, it was an interesting experience. I was seeing all the things and people I’d grown up with through my adult eyes. I noticed things I never saw when I was a kid. My favorite change: I’m starting to get to know my cousin, Robin.

We’ve always been pals – we’re Hestle’s (my dad’s mom) girls. =) That means, among other things, that as the oldest girls in our respective nuclear families, we’ve inherited some interesting traits – a propensity for sass being high on the list. But now that I’m not much of a kid anymore, I’m starting to appreciate Robin. She’s just… NEAT. I like her a lot, and each time I visit lately, I’ve been looking foward to spending time with her. And watching her tease my mother. =)

Anyway, I do believe we’re done with the traveling for a little while.  Maybe things will settle down enough that I can get back into some kind of a routine.  My house really needs a little bit of attention – and we have work to do!  Our next project is the downstairs bathroom.  David’s torn the cabinets out, and we’ve started stripping the awful yellow paint from the beautiful original wood.  Pictures soon.  =)

We’re travelling – visiting family in rural, rural West Virginia.  My sister, Leah, has been visiting us for the past couple of weeks, and we are here both to visit and to drop her off with my parents, who are also visiting.

Today, some dude stopped us in a parking lot as we were going into a store.  He said, “Can I ask you guys a really big favor?”  He wanted us to spot him for some gas.  He said he was on a trip and had just come from the gas station (which was on the other side of the parking lot), and realized then that he’d left his money clip with his credit cards and cash at home.  He said if we’d help him, he’d send a check or Western Union (can I use that as a verb?) the money back to us, etc., etc.

We put $20 of gas into his car for him and told him not to worry about it.  Either he’s an honest guy, and we did a decent thing for another decent human, or he’s a con and we’d never see the payback anyway. Whatever.  Angels unaware and all that.

We had fun, however, inventing stories for the guy – if he wasn’t who he said he was, who is he?  We thought he might be:

• driving a stolen car, but there was no wallet in the glove box like he thought when he stole it
• a dude living with his mom – who grounded him and took away his allowance (he was in his forties)
• on the lam, trying not to leave a paper trail with his credit card
• in the Amazing Race (or something like it), where he had to get to the next destination with no money
• competing with old frat buddies – who can get the farthest from home without paying for anything
• in a fight with his woman, who kicked him out and stole his money

Whoever he was, he’s part of a long string of folks asking us for a few bucks.  Seems like, even in SUPER rural West Virginia, we can’t get away.  =)