Saying Goodbye

We close on the new house tomorrow!  I'm really excited about moving.  It's a new chapter in our lives together -- the first home we'll own together, the first place that is really "our" place, the place we plan on staying for a long time.

But as I look around this townhome, I realize how hard it is going to be to say good-bye.

I first visited Jason in this house in 2005 at his housewarming party.  We were just friends then, but I spent the whole night talking to Stuart and Miranda and trying not to be jealous that Jason was flirting with his coworker.  When he showed people around the house, I never would have guessed that it would be MY house some day!

There are so many memories made in this house.  We had our first kiss standing by the front door.  The first time Jason cooked for me was in our kitchen (and every time he's cooked for me since then!).  I first realized I loved Jason while we were sitting on the living room couch.  This house is where our families met for the first time.  We spent our first night as a married couple together in that house.  We have created traditions (like Saturday muffins and Christmas Steve) in that house.

It's never easy to say goodbye.  This house has been my home for the past four years, and I know I'm going to get emotional when I see it empty later this week.  Dear house, thanks for the memories.  I'm going to miss you.

A Veggie-Lover's Fave

I love food.  Salty, sweet, healthy, guilty pleasure, doesn't matter.  You serve it to me, I'll eat it.  Much to Jason's chagrin, this also means I'm a veggie lover.  Seriously.  With the exception of brussel sprouts (which I still can't get into), I love all vegetables.

A favorite Sesame Street character from my childhood, Captain Vegetable

I hate to pick favorites, especially when it comes to food, but one of my favorite vegetables to cook with is zucchini squash.

Zucchini is awesome!  It's relatively inexpensive (especially in-season), cooks up very quickly, has a mild flavor (which makes it one of the few veggies Jason is ok eating), and lends itself to a variety of meals.

Some of my favorites:
~Added to spaghetti sauce for a pasta night pick-me-up
~Combined with eggplant and tomatoes for ratatouille (and yes, I did have to google how to spell that)
~Stir fried with onions and chicken and served over rice
~Grilled to go along with chicken or steak
~Hidden in zucchini bread

Zucchini is delicious and nutritious.  According to Wikipedia, zucchini is low in calories (15cal for every 100g) and contains folate, potassium, Vitamin A, and manganese.  So next time you're looking for something green to add to a meal, turn to zucchini -- this veggie-lover's fave.

Welcome Distraction

During Sunday School yesterday, several couples asked for prayer because they are at some stage of the house-buying, house-selling, house-packing, house-closing process.  We were one of those couples.  After class dear friends of ours, Derek and Jenelle, asked us over for lunch.  Since we're in the process of eating the contents of our fridge and freezer (which often results in less-than-yummy meal combinations), we readily accepted their invitation.

We had a great time!  It got us out of our house (and away from the paint fumes) and got me away from the obsessive list-making, and gave us some time to relax with friends.

Some highlights of the afternoon:
~Eating yummy burgers and watermelon followed by ice cream dessert -- a perfect summer meal
~Chatting about everything from Chinese takeout to how to make the perfect Chicago-style pizza
~Playing hide-and-seek with their toddler Leiana, who didn't quite understand the rules of the game...

           Me (counting with my eyes closed): "One... two... three..."
           Leiana (hiding): "Four... five... six..."

           Me: "Is Leiana in the closet?"
           Leiana (hiding under blankets): "No!"

          Leiana (when it was my turn to hide): "Here, hide under these blankets!"

What a welcome distraction!

Life Lessons from Painting

Jason had never painted a room.  I've only helped paint two rooms -- my bedroom at my parents' house and my aunt's dining room.  We were not painting experts by any means.  Maybe that's why our most recent painting adventure taught us so much -- not just about painting, but about life.




Life Lesson #1: Plan Ahead
Once you're covered in dust, paint, and sweat, you really don't want to make a trip to Home Depot to pick up last-minute supplies.  We researched painting online, made lists, and tried to purchase everything we needed ahead of time.

Life Lesson #2: Just Do It
We've been talking about painting for at least a year now.  We first started bringing paint chips home last 4th of July.  Enough already!  Pick out colors and paint!

Life Lesson #3: Don't Assume Anything
Like I mentioned, Jason had never painted a room before, and all I had ever done was roll (someone else did the cutting in in both rooms), so we decided beforehand that I would roll and Jason would cut in.  Five minutes in, we were hating our tasks, and we switched places.  Jason's arms could handle the rolling a lot better than my wimpy arms, and I was a natural at using the paint brush (duh, I PAINT as a second job... geez, why didn't I want to use the brush at first?).


Life Lesson #4: Everything Takes More Time Than Expected
Our master bathroom and half bathroom are probably the smallest rooms in our house.  They should only take a few hours each, right?   Wrong!  We worked (I kid you not) 12 hours Saturday and 12 hours Sunday on those two tiny rooms.  And we've still got 6 more rooms to paint in this house!


Life Lesson #5: Start with the Most Difficult Tasks First
One reason things took so long was our lack of painting experience.  We thought it would be easiest to knock out large chunks of walls before working on the tricky parts.  Wrong again!  The toilet wall of our half bathroom is 3 feet across, and the toilet takes up over a foot and a half of that wall.  It's MUCH easier to get behind the toilet to paint when the two walls beside you aren't painted!  Case in point, I may have, um, backed into a painted wall...

Life Lesson #6: Everything is More Fun with a Friend
Maybe it's because I love spending time with Jason.  Maybe it was the paint fumes.  Either way, we had a great time painting together.  Thank goodness we like each other, because the half bathroom (6.5'x3') is the world's tightest space!  In 24 hours of painting, we talked about the new house, fixing up our current house, updates on friends, stuff from work, and other chit chat.  We made up songs, sang lots verses of "Everybody cut, everybody cut..." (from Footloose), occasionally painted each other's legs or arms, and just other little fun stuff to make the time pass more quickly.

Painting isn't fun, but it's tolerable when you have a buddy.

Before and After

Before: super-dark cavelike cranberry red half bathroom

(isn't that the funniest face ever?)

After: open, airy, "impressionist sky" half bathroom!

Why Doesn't Everyone Love Green and Orange Rooms?

When Jason bought our house in 2005, it was before the house was officially on the market.  His realtor was dropping off some paperwork and asked if Jason wanted to look at the house while they were there.  When Jason saw the walls in the master bathroom, he fell in love with the house...

The realtor told Jason the homeowner was planning on painting before listing the house.  No need, since Jason (and I, once I came into the picture) loved the walls!  Seven years later, however, we knew we had to say goodbye to our crazy walls to make our home more buyer-friendly.

Lots of sanding, priming, and painting led to our new bathroom...

A Different Type of "Quick Fix"

Since our lives are 100% house house house these days, meal time has become a game of "what's the fastest thing we can eat so we can get back to work?"  As yummy as sandwiches and corndogs are, eating them nearly every meal gets really old really fast.

At the grocery store Monday, I was trying to figure out something quick and easy to do with chicken (which was already thawing in the fridge) and rice.  Enter the international foods aisle and a new friend of mine -- curry simmer sauce.

I don't know what made me buy it.  I've never really eaten Indian food.  I always assumed it was really spicy, so I kept my distance.  Oh dumb Meg, you have been missing out for so so long!

Step 1: Start rice cooking in the rice cooker.  Yes, I own a rice cooker.  Yes, it's awesome.  Yes, you're jealous.

Step 2: Brown diced chicken in a pan.


Step 3: Add simmer sauce and simmer for 15 minutes.

Step 4: Eat.


25 minutes from start to finish, and we were eating one of the tastiest meals we've had in a while.  It was so easy to make and so flavorful without being spicy at all.  Now, I'm not claiming this is the same as authentic Indian cuisine.  What I am claiming is that this was a simple 3-ingredient meal that was well worth the risk.

Quick Fix

Our kitchen cabinets and drawers didn't have knobs or pulls.  Weird, right?  Well, if I think it's weird, I'm guessing prospective buyers will, too.  So a few bucks and a few minutes later and bing bang boom, we've got fancy cabinets!

Can You Love Someone You've Never Met?

We're just a week and a half away from closing!  Though I've never met them in person, I think I want to become best friends with the current homeowners of our new house.  They've just been so nice to us, and every interaction we've had with them (through email or through our realtor) has been so warm and inviting.

The day we looked at the house (May 29), the homeowner lady left us a note in the kitchen just saying hey and to let her know if we have any questions.  While walking around the house, we guessed from the mass quantities of cake mixes and canned vegetables that they may be couponers.  During the home inspection, Jason saw a note in the pantry from the homeowner saying "We're not crazy; we're just couponers."  I love that!

A few days after we went under contract, the homeowner contacted our realtor to let us know that they were selling some of their furniture and wanted to see if we wanted it first before posting it on Craig's List.

Too bad they're not trying to sell any of their family room furniture!

When I replied back to her, she told me to call her if I had any questions or wanted her to measure anything for us.  She said they've loved this house and that they were so excited for us!

After the home inspection, they not only agreed to make all the repairs, but also told us they're patching up and repainting the walls so that everything is "like new" for us.  Oh yeah, and they're also leaving the paint for us!

I can't wait to meet the homeowners.  They just seem like salt of the earth kind of people.  With all the stress of buying a new house, moving, and fixing up our old house to sell, it's such a welcome relief to have people who really feel like they're on our side and trying to make things go as smoothly as possible.

Mom's Birthday Celebration

On Wednesday, we celebrated my mom's birthday.

Mom told me years ago that she feels closest to God when she's in nature, so I thought she'd really enjoy walking around Duke Gardens.  She did!  As we walked from garden to garden, she told me the different names of the plants and said "ooh!" as she'd see a plant more beautiful than the one before.  We had such a great time, I only took TWO pictures, which is insanely low for me!  Here's one of Mom by the pretty pink hydrangeas and the Japanese garden.  Who knows why she's peeking from behind a plant.  Silly lady...

My aunt Carol joined up with us for lunch followed by pedicures.  I planned on taking pictures in the nail salon, but I was so relaxed and in the zone that it completely slipped my mind!  Here's the finished product:

I went a little crazy with the blue, but why get a pink or red color if that's what I have at home?  Jill, you and your pedicure colors have rubbed off on me!

Kara was in town teaching a class, so she met up with us for dinner at Sweet Tomatoes.

What a great day!

4 Years of Bliss

Happy 4th Anniversary to my best friend and most favorite person in the whole wide world, Jason!

This is one of my favorite wedding pictures because it was totally candid.  It was taken only a few minutes after we got married, and I think I was saying to Jason "We did it!"

Last week, our Sunday School teacher said that on the way to and from church, he and his wife pray for couples in the class.  He said they often like to imagine things, like "What Jason and Meg will look like on their 50th wedding anniversary." (yes, he used us as the example)  Jason didn't miss a beat before saying "We'll look awesome!"

Well dear, here's to four years down, forty-six to go!

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to the world's greatest mom!

My aunt Carol and my mom

I can't wait to see her and my aunt tomorrow and celebrate!  We're visiting Duke Gardens, getting pedis, and joining up with Kara for dinner.  Should be a great day!

A Day in the Life of Sawyer

Last weekend, Jason and I went to visit his family.  Sara, Adam, and Sawyer were visiting from Hawaii, so I've decided to let Sawyer guest-blog today.

Hey, everyone!  I love visiting Nana and Paw Paw's house, and I love when Uncle Jason and Aunt Meg come to visit, too!  I have jam-packed days when I'm in NC.  Here are some of the things I did last weekend.


I had a photo shoot with Uncle Jason.  He has all these funny things attached to his camera.  I like to play a game with him where I stand still long enough for him to focus on me, then I run away really quickly before he can take the picture.  It's really fun to watch Uncle Jason get frustrated!

I played with a daisy Aunt Meg picked for me.  It became my new best friend, and I carried it around with me for hours.  I sat in the grass with it...

 I walked around with it...

and I held it in my hand while I played with rocks in the driveway...

 I swung with Nana.  I made all the big folks laugh by saying "whee!" every few seconds.  I even convinced them to say it with me.  "Whee!"

I thought deep thoughts.  Not everything can be fun and games.  Every once in a while I get really still and quiet.  I like to think really deep thoughts and make the big folks wonder what's going on in that head of mine.

I got to work.  That lawn isn't going to mow itself!

Let the Eye-Rolling Begin

Q: What's a scientist's favorite tree?





A: A chemist-tree!

Most.Awkward.Dinner.Ever.

Jason and I visited the Selfs this past weekend, and Jason's folks took the whole crew (Jason, me, Sara, Adam, Sawyer, Jake, and Beth) out to dinner at one of their favorite restaurants.

We had the world's most awkward waiter.  By the time we had placed our drink orders, he had already shared with us that he was ADHD.  Not usual dinner conversation...

Sara and Adam were running a little late with Sawyer, so we went ahead and got a table but we were going to wait to order.  The waiter, however, did not accept that.  He basically bullied us into ordering, stating that there was going to be a mad rush and that we needed to order now if we wanted to get food.  Um... ok?

When we ordered, he couldn't understand any of us and had to ask everyone to repeat themselves.  Yes, most of us have accents, but we were in a town where those accents should be recognizable!  I ordered the "Brutus" (burger smothered in cheese, spinach artichoke dip, and bacon... *drool*) and he thought I was ordering burritos, something they don't serve.  When Jason ordered fish and chips, he looked very seriously at Jason and said "You know that 'chips' aren't really chips, right?  They're french fries."  Thanks buddy, we've never heard of fish and chips before.

Sawyer (my nephew) came into the restaurant squalling because he had fallen asleep on the ride over and he was cranky.  Our waiter came over to get Sara and Adam's order (five seconds after they had arrived) and just kept saying "Is the baby ok?" over and over as everyone tried to calm Sawyer down.  Then, he turned to Adam and said "You'd like a beer, wouldn't you?"  Adam said under his breath to me, "Yep, I always drink when my baby cries...."

Once Sawyer calmed down, the waiter told us our food was ready and that he was bringing it out.  Sara and Adam hadn't even ordered yet.  We asked him to hold the food.  He came back a minute later and said that his boss told him he had to bring the food out.  Ok then, bring it out, geez!  Fortunately, the manager came out a few minutes later and apologized for the situation.  He said the food wasn't going to be as good if it kept sitting and then said that our waiter shouldn't have put in our order so early (no kidding).  He offered to make our meal half price for the inconvenience, which I thought was a really upstanding thing to do.

Other tidbits throughout the meal:
~He spilled water on my foot when refilling my drink and spilled on the table twice, once when refilling Jason's drink and once with Adam's drink.
~He couldn't remember who ordered what drink or what food, so he just started placing them in front of people, and we had to switch among ourselves.
~Jody was on the phone with Sara before they got there and signaled the waiter to place their drink orders by raising her pointer finger.  He came over and asked her "Did you just give me the finger?"

At the end of the meal, he stopped by to ask how many checks the meal would be on.  We were a big party, so gratuity is usually automatic, but he asked us if he needed to include gratuity or if we were going to tip him.  Yes, the waiter asked us about his tip!




Um, so yeah.  It was a quite a memorable dinner!  I've had rude waiters before or ones that barely show up twice at the table, but I've never had a waiter like this before!  Needless to say, that's a dinner I'll remember for a long time.

Quote the Raven, Livermore

Jill sent me this article yesterday announcing two new elements to the periodic table, Livermorium and Flerovium.

I have a love affair with the periodic table.  It combines three of my favorite things -- chemistry, organization, and some trivial thing to memorize that no one will ever ask you to recite.  Out of all of science, I love the periodic table the best.  The fact that elements with the same number of valence electrons line up in columns together and all have similar characteristics to each other baffles and excites me.  That Dmitri Mendeleev was able to predict the characteristics of undiscovered elements down to their precise atomic masses impresses the crap out of me.  I'm not kidding.  I don't have a lot of books at school with me, but one of them is The Disappearing Spoon, a book Jill gave me about how every element on the periodic table was discovered.  It's awesome!

Ok, I'll continue this geek-fest with a couple of neat elements and chemistry facts.

Did you know that the first column (family) of elements on the periodic table, the alkali metals, all explode in water?  You can see a video here: Periodic Table of Videos

Did you know that table salt (sodium chloride) is made of an explosive metal and a poisonous gas used in chemical warfare?

Sodium metal

Sodium reacting with water

Chlorine gas

Did you know that there are only two liquids on the periodic table -- mercury and bromine?  In fact, mercury was originally named hydragyrum (symbol Hg; Latin for "liquid" and "silver").

Mercury droplets ball up and join back together

Bromine is a dark red liquid that readily evaporates into poisonous fumes

Did you know that all of the last family of elements, the noble gases, are used to make "neon" lights?

The noble gases and the color "neon" signs they make

Ok, that's all the geeky element stuff I have for the day.  Congrats livermorium and flerovium, and welcome to the family!