Thank You's

Much of today was spent being grateful for what we have. Lots of people have been sending gifts and also have been probably been wondering where the thank you notes are...!

My problem is that I cannot make myself write a generic thank you note. I've talked with other brides, and they say they have about 4 different templates that they use. Me? no, I actually TRY to use a template, but I feel as though a person spent time and effort on a gift (or gave us cash - which turned into the sofa I'm sitting on right now) and I want them to know how we're using what they gave us!

So each note becomes a little bit personal -- which means it took me an hour and half to write 12 notes today.

But they are getting done! And as I write them, I remember how gracious our friends and family have been.

and the image is not actually my thank you notes...but they're pretty!

Housing Crisis

Nearly 60 percent of the loans were made in California, Florida and Arizona, where home prices rose — and subsequently fell — faster than almost anywhere else in the country.

Yahoo News/The New York Times

So, What NYT is telling us is that the mortgage lenders, home buyers and home builders were dumba**es, Sold people homes and gave them mortgages for WAY over what those people could afford, because basically, everyone "should" have the American dream.

I know I'm not sounding very hardcore republican right now, but a bail out will only do so much, and I'm not really for it that much. Frankly, Americans need to have a very long lesson in personal financial responsibility, work ethic and humility. If you can't afford it, don't buy it.

Listening to:

But this is the way I need to wake I wake to you
You never left me all that I had dreamt had been untrue
Open my eyes, I see sky

Oh oh oh, oh oh
The way you keep me on my toes,
I, I,I will be fine
just say you'll stay forever mine
till we fall asleep tonight

Joshua Radin
feat. Ingrid Michaelson
Unclear Sky
"Sky"


(Our first dance was a Joshua Radin song, so his songs have special meaning to me!)

Best

As I was making tuna casserole for dinner tonight, I was trying to figure out what standard wedding gift I will get everyone who marries within the next 40 or 50 years.

I started out with the little colander. It's cute, it's practical, it's great. Then I thought, no, the really helpful and great thing are those little, tiny white spatulas. They get all the soup out of the can (and honestly, it was a wedding gift because we used money donated, not because we unwrapped it as a gift. But I knew I wanted one!)

THEN I thought, "no, it's this little tiny casserole dish that came in the package of three knock-off-brand Pyrex dishes. I bought it a while back when I was on campus, making dinner and didn't have a pyrex dish. Originally I thought the little one would be the one I use least. Oh no! I use it most! Mini Casseroles for Mr. Porcella and me.

But then I changed my mind. Nope, it's the slightly-larger-than normal toaster oven...which actually I've been using more as a mini oven than as a toaster, and it's GREAT. it cooks, and we don't heat up the entire apartment.

So basically, wedding gifts are great. They make making dinner so much better. I used to have to figure out how much of a recipe I could fit into this or that wrong-sized dish. No longer!

And with that, I'm sitting down to watch "Opportunity Knocks" and write Thank You notes.

A day

We've consolidated our music onto my iPod, and two seconds ago Rachel Yamagata was singing, "He lights a lamp inviting him, He's a bandit and a heartbreaker, Oh, but Jesus was a crossmaker."
The first time I heard her light voice and the chords that remind me of Simon and Garfunkle, Adam and I were driving down to he Covenant housing to drop him off at the end of the night. I'm still amazed at the power of music to bring a scene directly into my mind's eye.

He just walked into the kitchen to pour himself a bowl of cereal...Which I suspect is "Chocolate and Peanut Butter Spheres." What? Kix, but flavored by Chocolate and Peanut butter. Why don't they call it Peanut Buttery ChocoBlast Kix? Because we just returned from what Adam calls the Thrift Store for Food, "Aldi's". (It's a super inexpensive grocery store -- German style! yay! ....and you don't get the best quality food, but when you're working part time through grad school, you shop at the cheapest thing available.)

Life has been good, and we're on the eve of our 1 month anniversary. Hebrew has dominated his studying, "Integrative Psychotherapy" has dominated my reading. We've got 4 couples coming over to hang over this weekend - whoever thought that newlyweds hide away got it wrong.

I guess the best part is waking up in the morning - usually having kicked off all of the blankets, or stolen all of them, and knowing that he'll be there for the next night too.

Quote

"Well, the point is, we all agree that it's a ridiculous place to live."

My boss,
after a office-wide discussion of the drop in temperature from Wednesday to today, and in the recent St. Louis past.