Unspectacularly Quirky Me

Sarah, over at Sarah's Musings, tagged me for this meme. I think I found Sarah's blog on the Menu Planning Monday over at Orgjunkie and just kept going back. She's often posting great recipes (using all the yummy fresh fruits and veggies she can get at her Farmer's markets in Cali! I'm so jealous!) and other fun family things. I'm always game for a meme so thanks Sarah! Let's get to it then!

Here's the rules for this meme:
1) Link to the person who tagged you.
2) Make sure you mention the rules in you post.
3) Tell about six unspectacular quirks that you have.
4) Tag a new set of six people.

Okay....

Quirk #1: I read cookbooks! In fact, when I go to a book store one of the first sections I go to is the cookbook section. My husband will say that I read them but I never use them. This is not entirely true! But I do tend to go back to the same cookbooks over and over again. When I travel somewhere I love to bring back a cookbook with local recipes and traditions. What better way to remember where you've been than with the food! But yes, cookbooks are my weakness!

Quirk #2: I am a chocolate junkie! And the older I get, the more I prefer dark chocolate. In fact, the darker, the better. I tend to be a chocolate snob though. Godiva-mmmm....need I say more?!?!?

Quirk #3: I remember about every song I've ever heard. Those of you who know me will know this to be true. It is kind of quirky though because it doesn't matter what genre of music....I can sing every word, every time. I'm sure it gets kind of old for some people, but I consider it a blessing! (This doesnt' just apply to music. I remember lines from movies like there is no tomorrow! Give me a line- 9 times out of 10 I can name the movie. Or vice versa!!!)

Quirk #4: I've recently learned to love heels. I used to be a tennis shoe nut- not so much now. I have more confidence when I'm wearing a great pair of shoes, some fabulous jewelry and a smile. As Shania Twain says: "Man, I feel like a woman!" (Refer to quirk #3!!!!)

Quirk #5: I'm very much a night owl, which is bad because I am not a morning person. If I could be a night owl AND a morning person- I'd be a happier person! But I've learned that late at night is a great time to be productive, especially with two young kids who go to bed around 8-8:30. Now if only I could get them to sleep until 9 or 10!!!!

Quirk #6: I am a procrastinator in the worst way! I will wait until a few hours before something is due before I even start on it. I could change this if I really wanted to...but it's worked for me all of my life so why change it now?!?!? It's probably the trait about myself that drives me, and most people around me nuts, but se la vie!

Okay, so now I have to tag six more people! The girls I am tagging are girls I grew up with, but we haven't seen each other in years. I know what your quirks used to be, I'm ready to see how you've changed! (Or not!) Leave a comment with a link to your post once you've completed it! I am going to tag:

1: Diana
2: Emily
3: Megan
4: Carrie
5: Stacy
6: Britni

Anyone else whose reading this feel free to play along! Just leave a comment with the link once you've posted your meme so we can all see them! Thanks for playing!

Ruschell Family Reunion

Memorial Day weekend was so much fun! Steven's family had a family reunion, the first one in over 10 years. We had it at his cousins house out in the country. They have a log cabin on 42 acres, complete with two lakes. The cabin was great! I absolutely fell in love!

And the kids had an absolute blast! Scott had a ton of fishing poles and the kids fished for hours! Jonah and Bri both caught fish!

There was so much to do. We had an impromptu game of volleyball with Steven's cousins, his sister and her boyfriend. It was an absolute blast! I can't say that we very good, but we had a ball! (no pun intended!) There was also cornhole and a paddle boat out on the lake. They also had a couple of boats that we could take out to fish off. They also have a hot tube, which is my idea of absolute luxury! I could have lived in that hot tube!

Steven's great aunt counted and she said that there were 98 people who came. That's a lot of people, and we were missing quite a few. I guess that's what comes from having a big family. But it was a great time, and it was the most relaxing location. I can't wait to go back!

In house news.... we have brick, and siding! The walls have been primed, the driveway has been poured, they will be putting up the trim and laying down the subfloors next. We only have about 3 weeks to go and I can't believe how much they still have to get done! But, I know they will get it done! The only thing that stinks now is that they've put in the last window in the basement, and they got the sliding door down there to lock, so we can no longer sneak in to check on the progress! From here on out it's all a surprise but I guess that's good! It gives us something to look forward to! If you can't tell from all the explanation points....I'm a little excited!!!!

Here are some pictures I took when they were finishing the siding, just to give you an idea. I'll post more pictures after we go back this weekend to check on things.

So, that's all for this post! Have a great weekend everybody!

Cinderella

I got word tonight on Fox News of the tragic death of Steven Curtis Chapman's youngest daughter, Maria Sue. Maria was 5 years old (only had been for 10 days). She was hit in the driveway of their Nashville home by her older brother, who was driving the family SUV. It was a tragic accident and no charges will be filed. Maria was the youngest of the Chapman's six children. She was one of 3 that were adopted from China. A spokesman says that several family members saw the accident occur, but none of them were able to do anything to help her. My heart just broke as I read the story on the singer's official website.

Maria and her sister were the inspiration for the singer's latest hit song, Cinderella. The first time I heard the song I cried, and I've cried every time I've heard it since. Tonight I went over to YouTube and found the video for the song. If you've never heard the song, grab a box of tissues. Or even if you have, grab a box anyway because the song takes on such a different meaning now. So here, in honor of Maria Sue Chapman, is the video for Cinderella, as well as an interview with Chapman about the inspiration for the song.

My thoughts and prayers tonight are with the Chapman family. Know that the thoughts and prayers of thousands more are with you and your family as you endure these difficult days! Heaven has another angel today.

Really good news on the house front this week! They began dry walling today and brick will begin going up tomorrow (although with all the rain we got today and are expecting tomorrow I won't be holding my breath for that one!)

We got an offer on the condo! It came back $4000 less than we were asking so we said no way and stuck to our guns until we got to the minimum we said we'd take. I'll tell you what though! People really want something for nothing these days. It never ceases to amaze me how cheap people are! They had an inspection on the condo today and if all goes well we are scheduled to close on June 15th! The best part is that we close on the new house on June 18th so won't have to impose on anyone for very long while we are waiting for our house to be finished! We should be in before Independence Day! YEAH!!!!!!

We went over to the house about a week ago and took some pictures. Here's what it looked like then.

This will be our kitchen.
This will be our living room.

We are very excited! It feels now like this is actually going to happen and we just can't believe it! Parties at our house this summer! (I love how that sounds!!!!!)

I've been trying to upload a new video of the kids that is particularly funny but Blogger won't let me right now so I'll have to try again tomorrow. Look for it- you won't be disappointed!

The Beginning of the End

I walked into my classroom management class this morning for our final presentations still in denial I think that this was our last class. Every one was standing around taking pictures and they were like "It's our last class!" I refused to get all emotional- it's not like we're graduating yet!

We went through all of our presentations which were team plans that we had to develop complete with rules, expectations, grading scales, etc. Each of the 6 teams presented their plans and we got finished in about an hour. Not bad for a final huh? Then before we left our Professor started talking to us about student teaching and references when we start looking for jobs and it hit me..... this is my last semester in college! Yes I have to take two summer classes and in the fall I will be here one day a week for a phoenics class, but for the most part I am done with college classes!

I started to get all teary as I realized that these people that I've gotten used to seeing almost every day, day in and day out for the past two semester will not be with me any more. I will see them maybe three times next semester for student teaching meetings and that is it! We are now going on our own seperate ways, our own paths and it is kind of sad! I hope that we will make a concerted effort to get together every now and then to relive the good times with Cook and Faulkner (as we call our two main professors and education supervisors) and just stay close. It's been a fun ride and I hope we'll always look back fondly on the time that we spent here, slaving away together in the College of Education and Human Services at NKU.

Good luck to all my friends! I hope you all have wonderful, relaxing summers (cause we're gonna need it come August :P) and I wish you continued success during Student Teaching! And don't be strangers!

My First Video Attempt

Wow! Nothing for a week and now two posts in one day! Steven took this video tonight of Jonah playing in our dolphin fountain using our digital camera. This is my first attempt at using Windows Movie Maker and Steven asked me to upload it so you all can see our adorable boy in action! I'll try to get something with Bri put up soon! Enjoy!

Hairy House Update

I can't believe I didn't post these pictures yet- they are actually outdated as of this week! I guess Bri's little incident with Benadryl threw me off task!

These pictures were taken last Tuesday out at the house. I drove over there with some friends after class to show them where we would be moving to. I couldn't believe it when we were driving up and I realized that the framing I was seeing was for our house! By Friday the second floor was framed! And, here's a better one for you... we went over on Saturday of the same week and we had a roof! As of yesterday, all of the windows were in! Have I said yet that this is going really fast? We have about 7 weeks before we close on the house and right now all I can think about is when will the condo sell? We had a second showing last night and they said that they are very interested and are considering a possible offer. So cross your fingers and say a little prayer (or a big one if you'd like!) that they come through with something that we can accept so we can be done with this part and be able to just look forward to moving in around the 2nd week of July!

So, here's what we looked like a week ago:

And now for the hairy part of the house update. We gave Jonah a little buzz this week! Okay, so maybe it was a big buzz but he looks so cute! I like it so much better now because I can see his gorgeous eyes! The pictures aren't the best quality but I think you'll get the point!