Cleansing...

Cleansing seems to come in so many different ways. One of my favorite forms and it seems to be one of my most rewarding tasks is redecorating and cleaning. I got on a terror-streak last night. Mike went golfing with Charlie and came home to find the house literally tore apart. Heh. You should have seen the look of confusion on his face.

I had pictures down, paint out, curtains and blinds, picture frames, knickknacks and power tools strung about the lower level of the house. It was a sight of utter disarray and craziness. Here I am in leggings and a t-shirt, corona in hand scrubbing the baseboards and filling nail holes and Mike just smiles and shakes his head. I flew through the living room, dining room and bathroom changing out, cleaning and re-arranging everything I got my hands on.

Mike adjusted rather quickly and began to pitch in. He hung some pictures and a window covering, fetched cleaning supplies for me and gave opinions when asked, like a champ I must add. He began to fade at midnight or so and I was just picking up steam. I pushed on into the bedroom and by 2:30am decided it was time to call a truce. I did have to get to work eventually. In my frenzy, I even moved the bed, while Mike was sleeping in it, to put in a new side table. He barely even noticed, even though I moved the bed a foot and a half! heh.

This morning I hadn't even lost steam. I got up and hammered away at the laundry and my closet. I began a clothing/jewelry purge project awhile back and I finished bagging stuff up for that this morning before going to the Secretary of State to get a real license plate for my car. I even did some cleaning in the kitchen before I left as well. What's gotten into me? I have no idea, but I'm loving my design sense right now. When I was turning on the Today show this morning I looked over and saw the side table, then I patted myself on the back, and thought about what a genius I am... Heh.

Going to use all the creative/project juices I have while they last. Wish me luck!!

Yes! I Knew Beer Was Good For Me!!!

This new discovery has made me jump for joy and thoroughly validates how much I love beer! It's good for me!

Check this article out, Beer May Strengthen Bones, Study Finds.

Maiden Voyage for the Forester

For those who missed the car debacle... I wrecked the civic and bought a new car. I guess there really is more to the story, but who wants to hear it? No one, so I will move on to the good stuff. I bought a shiny new 2010 Subaru Forester. It's black with black interior and it's pretty. I love it. I miss the civic, but green was not ever a great color choice for a car. Pardon me, anyone who thinks forest green is the bomb, I just tend to disagree. Mike and I decided to take a road trip to meet our newest niece in New Hampshire. With the new car it sounded like a grand idea. And really... it was!

Last week we left for New Hampshire approximately 9pm on Tuesday and arrived Wednesday morning. It was a beautiful drive across the boring part of New York in the dark and then the sun came up somewhere in the Catskills. Gorgeous! We drove through the Green Mountains in Vermont and down to Manchester. When we arrived the precious Helena was catching some beauty sleep, so we took a little nap as well. We all woke up later to give hugs hello to Doug and Helena and to eat some excellent Indian take out. Vegetable Vindaloo = yummy.

Thursday with Doug at work it was the best day for Mike and I to scoot up to the White Mountains and go hiking. Christy and Doug recommended some hikes and we settled on Mt. Peirce and Mt. Eisenhower in the Crawford Notch. Mt Pierce was our main uphill and we summited the 4310 ft in time for some lunch. We met a nice couple from CT that had a huge camera and a nice dog named Juno. I really liked Juno. Mike did not like our other visitors for lunch. Little black flies that ate the living crap out of us. Still itching some of those bites as I type, ugh. We continued onto the Mt Eisenhower Loop and summited the 4761 ft mountain. It had some amazing views all the way to the top and we took some fantastic pictures. After a small snack... leftover candy from Nate & Tara's wedding (heh)... we headed back down to re-summit Pierce and then take the Mizpah Hut cutoff down for some different scenery. The 10 mile hike was a little bit challenging and lots of fun. Doug made an amazing stir fry that night with Thai Basil. Still can smell the basil. So yummy.

Friday Mike and Doug were on a mission and so were Christy and I. Mike and Doug dug a drain field for the sump pump in 96 degree weather. Boy did they smell awful and Christy and I got pedicures. Sounds fair right? I thought so. We also went to dinner at this fantastic kitchy tex-mex place in Milford for an an adult night out. Christy re-aquinted herself with Jose. They missed each other terribly. Delicious food, a gluten free menu, local beer and great company.

Saturday Mike and I took a very hilly bike ride and we played with Helena since we were leaving soon. Christy and I also made a ton of food for dinner. I mean a ton of food! Delicious but I kinda ate way too much. Then we took off at 3am to head back home. Will definitely miss Christy, Doug and Helena. Helena is beautiful and I whispered all kinds of things in her ear about the exciting Auntie Niece trips we will go on one day. But, the good news is that we will get to visit them again in a handful of weeks in Columbus. Hooray!

Tonight, has been a nice relaxing evening, we got the bikes over to D & K to get them tuned up for our big ride. I cannot believe it's only 2 weeks until we'll be headed to the Mackinaw Bridge on bikes! I stopped by to see all of the Sageman's tonight as they were all gathered at Charlie and Sarah's. Was nice to see all three of the little cousins together. Very cute and very rowdy. During chores I also have been trying to do a few extra things each night and Pepsi got a pedicure tonight. She wasn't that enthused, but then she was glad once she began to walk about and her feet were shorter. Guinness was doing pretty well, but awful shy still. Mike and I banded him last night and gave him his pedicure. I'm pretty sure he wasn't a fan of the whole banding process. (Note. Banding for those non-farm friends is the process of poor Guinness losing his sperm producers.) Tomorrow night hopefully I can get Bell's front feet done and maybe some garden work. I want to get some more garlic in and maybe some late onions?? We shall see. I better get to the checkbook reconciling that I've been avoiding by blogging instead.

August is Exhausting

We have been doing so much in August that I'm exhausted! After our excellent trip to see the concert, we got ready to camp back at the pond for the Community Group Campout weekend. It was really nice that a whole bunch of us actually camped there back all weekend this year, instead of going home at night. There were so many people because everyone is having babies! I swear we've tripled the size of the group in just two years with all of the new kids. It was fun seeing all of the new community group babies do what we grew up doing all those years ago.


The biggest adventure of the weekend was roasting a goat. Mike & Will have been talking about eating a goat as long as we've had goats (approximately 2 1/2 years). I have absolutely denied them a taste of any of my goats. So, they found an alternate route to the goat feast they were looking for. They bought the grand champion from the Clinton County 4-H fair and we ate it this weekend. It was quite the adventure! I was in charge of cooking reconnaissance and supervision. The boys did all the hard work. They butchered the goat on Friday night. Then I seasoned the two halves up and put it in the fridge for the next day. All in all I bet hanging weight it was maybe 35 lbs. (note. Much smaller then they lead me to believe, I had lots of extras for seasoning.) I did copious research and came up with some guidelines for cooking it. The most astonishing thing I learned while researching is that goat meat is even healthier than a skinless chicken breast, amazing!! We kept the roaster around 200 degrees and it took about 7 hours. The boys tended it all day and then cut it up for dinner. I seasoned one half with lemon, olive oil, rosemary, garlic, oregano, basil, salt and pepper, very traditional and the other half got a treatment of tomato and Worcestershire. There was much like and dis-like and a great divide between which flavoring was best. I guess I'm glad I did two different ones! I have some adjustments that I would make for the next time, but for a first goat roasting experience... it was a good one. I will say that seasoning such a large hunk of meat is tough work.

I had so many laughs and a fantastic time over the weekend with all of our family and friends. Now we're excited to head out to New Hampshire! Mike & I began packing up last night to go visit Doug, Christy and our new niece Helena!!

Lists

I've had this internal list for quite a while. Like most people (I assume) I have this list of things I want to do someday. A "Bucket List" if you will, or even if you won't... He.

I recently got to complete one of the items and I am super excited to say I am still basking in the glow of this item. I have been in love with one musical artist, more than any other, since I was in high school. I cannot deny that if I had to choose a favorite artist, it would be her. Tracy Chapman and her soulful, touching music and songs have captured my life and helped me decompress from the adventures that life has thrown me.

Tracy Chapman made a stop in Ann Arbor, MI on her short US tour (only 15 stops!) promoting her new CD Our Bright Future. I was lucky enough to get fantastic seats - 4th row center - for Mike & I and we went to the concert on Tuesday. Now, I know that Ann Arbor is not the most fantastic place in the world to see a concert. Especially because Mike & I get ill as soon as we get a whiff of that blue & gold toxicity (GO SPARTANS!), but we had an amazing time. Tracy sounded perfect and I even teared up a bit as she began the concert with a few of my very favorite songs. I knew every word to every song and to the annoyance of those sitting next to me, I'm sure, I sang every song at the top of my lungs. Pretty much the best concert I've ever been to.

So I'm excited to continue marking things off my internal list of things to do and heck maybe I'll even see Tracy in concert again before she stops touring.

Sometimes You Want To Go...

...Where no one knows your name... duh duh duh...

I have been struck by the most terrible flighty bug of late. Probably for the last 8 or 9 months I've been craving an adventure. I want to leave my responsible adult life and try something new. I've really been struggling with it. I'm not really sure what has triggered it. My possible answers to my own questions are (in no particular order) 1. Finally finishing up my last few classes for my bachelors degree? 2. Having a child for a year? 3. Living in the same place for too long?

I just feel so locked down and permanent. Most people enjoy that feeling and unfortunately, it's driving me crazy! What to do? Thank goodness my wonderful husband said he'd follow me the world over if he needs to. What an amazing man.

I watched this expedition show on Discovery and it made me just want to take my pack and start walking. I read about another explorer that trekked from Beijing or something back to Germany. It was 3000 km. A totally insane idea, I know, but I want to do something crazy. Push to do something that few others have. Discover new places, new people, new things about myself...

I picked up On the Road by Kerouac after my visit to Hilary in January. It didn't help the itch I was already having and then my obsession was only fueled more by my recent discovery of my heritage. My grandfather traveled the railroad during the 1920's like a hobo. **Hello Revelation, my name is Becki.** He even got arrested once for being a vagrant! He just hopped on a train and went across the US. I had been wondering where my wanderlust came from and I don't think I have to ponder that question any longer.

But, the question that still remains is what to do about it???

**On a side note, I would like to emphasize (and re-assure all of my family that is reading) that I do not want to be arrested like my grandfather... for being a vagrant... or for any reason. He.