Update your feed readers, kids. I’ve moved from tara.elmadera.com to tara.aukerman.org.
A huge and MAJOR thanks to Steve E. for hosting me and David these past years – and for continuing to let us mooch some space. You’re the best!
The Fantasy season has officially begun for me – I just finished the first of two live drafts. I’m typically a loser – I’m not sure I’ve ever done better than a losing season, though I’ve had a couple of great starts (before star players are seriously injured). Here’s to a new year, and hopefully at least an even season. =)
Our summer has been incredibly full. We’re about to be back to life as usual (or a new kind of life as usual, one where David is working and I’m not…) – the school year starts August 31, and that’s only a few days away.
In our summer, we:
so very relaxing…
don’t they look SO happy?!
graduation party glasses. =)
me and my D
a really great picture of Randy (rare to see him really smile on camera)
D playing like a little boy
the obligatory “us at the pro” photo
beautiful park!
the Aukerfamily in front of the Pro
Dave’s first time over the border – he was giddy!
interesting city, Toronto. we walked for a while after an Indians/Jays game
we won, father-in-law! seems like it’s you, not me… =)
here’s the hall and his folks
didn’t get any pictures of the bride and groom!
got a pic of Randy and Carrie and their Garrett, though…
the ymca – a new party tradition, it seems =)
the brothers Aukerman
melissa, hamming for the camera
daddy, clowning for the camera
Grandma Dee =) our visit with her and Brad was so sweet!
me and melissa =)
… and that brings us to this week.
I’m about to wave goodbye to my littlest sister – she’s headed for a semester in Ireland. And I’m about to wave goodbye to the job I’ve had for almost a year – my contract at the hospital is up on August 31.
David’s about to start adjunct teaching again as he begins the pastoral candidating process.
Lots of changes have happened already, and lots more are about to come. Stay tuned. =)
I’ve not blogged for a number of reasons, and won’t be doing much more than posting pictures for a while. But, hey – at least I’ll be posting again. =)
I wanted to post about our vacation, so I’ll write a few lines and then get with the picture posting.
It’s been a rough couple of months. Fast-paced, full of big, personal decisions and stressors. Things have been building for a long time – no breaks from the everyday worries can build, and when you start dealing with bigger things, stress and exhaustion can overwhelm you. It was perfect timing for a vacation.
We went to Myrtle Beach, as we have done every summer for the past few years. This is always a wonderful trip – not only do we get to be right on the beach for a week, we also get to reunite with good friends and with my family. Bill and Georgiana are two of the most generous and loving people we know – they open their home to 6 noisy and messy invaders every summer. Now that Melissa’s overseas and we’re out here in Indiana, my immediate family is rarely completely together. This is one of the few times a year that all (or most) of us can be found in one location, and it’s a much-needed reconnection.
For the first time in years, I completely relaxed.
David will laugh – being with my family can be anything BUT restful because we’re a lively, merry, and flat-out loud bunch. But there’s always been a strong current of satisfaction with one another, of joy, that flows through every interaction we have. Even the spatting. =) And then there was the calming influence and peaceful energy of good friends – Bill and Georgiana – to round out the atmosphere.
I didn’t work at all – on every other “vacation” I’ve taken in the past 3 years, I’ve had to bring work as a condition for getting the time off. Now that I’m in a new environment, I was able to actually disengage from the work for a week.
I left behind the weight of recent weeks. Heaviness, even while mostly balanced by peace (a true gift of God), has been my constant companion for two months now. While I was gone, I just… rested. And I was able to talk to my family about some of the things that have been weighing on me – having that support is already making a difference.
I came back to my life rested, more optimistic, and ready to face facts and challenges. But in this world, there’s always sadness waiting to temper joy. Friends are losing their jobs while I’m thanking God for my own. People who work very hard and manage money carefully can’t make ends meet, and can’t get help from the state or the government – while people who wallow in their own laziness and selfishness make choices that harm their own families – and get paid to do it.
It’s hard to maintain cheer and optimism when so many are battered so roughly by life… I am grateful to have a well to draw from when I’ve reached the end of my strength. How can people survive without a faith in something beyond circumstance and surroundings?
Just heard about this book, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which is something I’m definitely going to have to find and read. Here’s the description from the back:
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains. So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Merytonand the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but shes soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young loversand even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Can she vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something youd actually want to read.
!For those of you Zune owners who don’t know how…
Since Zune software doesn’t actually put your audiobooks onto your Zune, it won’t help you pull them off when you’re done. You have to use the program that transferred them in the first place – for me, that’s OverDrive.
Here’s how to remove audiobooks from your Zune.
All of your audiobooks will be removed from your Zune. That’s exactly what I wanted to do, but if you’re interested in only deleting one book, you can open the OverDrive folder and right-click/delete individual files.
Kinda kludgy, but if you’re like me, you’re really just excited that there’s a way to get these files off of your Zune. =)
I travel a lot. I spend four days a week in another town because I’m working with a team supporting an EMR implementation at a new hospital.
I have a pattern, a rhythm going. I stay at the same hotel every week. I leave a “crate” (a plastic tub/box) at the hotel when I’m in Indy so I don’t have to drag so much back and forth. And what I do drag back and forth is pretty much always the same stuff, except I switch out the clothes.
So why is it that THIS week, I’ve forgotten so many things? I’ve become accustomed to living a certain way, having certain things while I’m away – and I’ve left a large number of them at home! There’s a running list, but in just one day, here’s what I’ve discovered I’ve left:
And the straw that broke the camel’s back, the thing that’s making me want to pull my hair out: my freaking toothbrush and toothpaste!
Yes, I can replace these and live without most of the rest (I have to buy food and facewash, too, now) – but I just cannot express how annoyed and grouchy I am about this week. Not a good way to start a week, and I have three long days ahead. And I have to start this one by showering, dressing, then going to work early so I can buy at toothbrush and toothpaste – and brush AT work. Yuck.
How’s your day starting out?
He is risen!
Not sure what that has to do with eggs, but I don’t get a lot of things. *shrug*
Neighbors decorate for every holiday – one of my favorites of theirs is Easter. Among many other things, they tie eggs to the branches of a tree that starts off dead and naked and then blooms with the eggs still on. =)
She was pretending to be a pirate – lens caps make great eyepatches, if you don’t mind holding them up. =)
Staying in touch with my scattered-far-and-wide family.
Things I’m Reading… Sites I’m Visiting…
