I have restless fingers syndrome.
Not really, just need to type. The only time I really get to blog is at work. The official title of my position is LOCATE: Child Care Counselor. I work for a non-profit organization called the Southern Maryland Child Care Resource Center (mouthful!), an aspect of which is a referral service. I take calls from parents looking for child care, and I give them information on licensed family and center providers in the tri-county. There is also some counseling involved, such as how to screen providers and identify quality care. The process averages 30-50 minutes each. Some days it's crazy busy and I'm sick of talking by the end of the day. Other days, like today, the phone is s l o w ... On top of it, it's jeans Friday and I just want to go home and spend time with my sweetie! Although, that does give me BLOG TIME!
Life in Southern Maryland is what you make of it. St. Mary's County is a peninsula, so you can either go north, south, or....north or south. Waldorf is the closest "big city", but a friend of ours once stated most accurately by calling Waldorf "one big store." Basically, that means there's just a bunch of malls and restaurants crammed together, which makes both shopping and eating a most difficult task on the weekend. And with a 45 minute drive, we never venture there except for weekends, so it's just not fun.
However, one of the two perks of Waldorf is Bed Bath & Beyond, which is where we used up most of our wedding gift cards to purchase all our house necessities. But even that got old. How is it we all seem to need so much junk?! Those cards are long gone, though, so now we never go there. :)
The other perk of Waldorf is Thai Flavor. Jeromy and I have a running joke because he called it "Thai Taste" by accident one time, and now we like that name better. :) They make the BEST satay in the world! Ok, so I've only had it at a couple other restaurants, but that's about the validity of most statistics anyway, right? I didn't really like Asian food before I met Jeromy. But then I met Jeromy, and now Asian is my obsession!
I think I grew to love Asian because it's healthier and fresher than a lot of other restaurant choices out there. (Especially Mexican!) At least you feel it's healthier because you're eating rice and broccoli. Sometimes I'd like to hold onto my blissful ignorance. Because if you don't want me to ruin you, don't look up the nutrition information for the majority of menu items at Panera Bread. Panera Bread!!! Trust me. You might as well eat at McDonalds.
And then there's coffee. This county needs more coffee shops! There are three that I know of. One is a tiny, highly over-commercialized Starbucks with uncomfortable and dirty seating, and is always cold. Then you have Brewing Grounds, which was half my weekly employment from November to January. I loved learning how to make espresso and interacting with people in the community. It's got the best ambiance in the county as far as I'm concerned. But they they close way too early (5pm!!!), yet I can't complain because as a former employee, the hours were great!
On the other hand, the Coffee Quarter, which is where Jeromy and I met (besides on Myspace!) is also nice, but the quality of the coffee-making isn't worth the price for a decent latte. That, and the only time we can really go there is Friday night. But after a few Friday night outings at the Coffee Quarter, we've about had it with the obnoxiously LOUD teenie bopper Emo groups. We'd rather sip coffee together somewhere that doesn't require yelling in order to hear one another!
So...what's a young, Christian, newlywed, coffee-drinking couple without children to do on a Friday night?
Actually, since Jeromy and I get up so stinkin' early during the work week, we tend to feel exhausted and spent by 9pm, even on weekends. How pathetic is that? Personally, I enjoy the early morning better than the late night because the day is fresh; full of light, energy, and mercy. The day's events are a mystery, with an element of anticipation if ever I let it. Too quickly I find myself embracing the day through a lens of tasks and responsibilities that I make stressful or mundane, and that strip me of the day's initial wonder. Perhaps that's why I do love mornings so much. There's always a possibility that in all of God's prompting, He will actually get my attention; much greater a feat, and keep it. I long for that every day, but I'm usually too busy doing in order to be. Abundant life is what God offers, but sometimes I just grope for life at all. Maybe in the morning, things will be different...
Evenings are ok, if there is enough caffeine and liveliness to keep us going. However, we usually wait until in the moment before we finally ask the question, "So, what should we do tonight?" I don't recommend that because most everything spontaneous we can think of involve spending money.
Take Valentine's Day, for example. This year was actually our first Valentine's together because though we were a couple last year, I had to be in Charlotte that week. So then now we finally get to be together for the holiday, all thoughts and plans fail because we have a huge ice storm the night before and I hit my head and we spend 4 hours in the ER. So much for making that red velvet cake... But it didn't feel right not doing anything for Valentine's Day, but it's hard to be too sentimental when it's the day of and you have to rack your brain for something special. It's just not the same.
However, the evening ended in fireworks because we both suggested something stupid and fun, and just went with it. My suggestion was to order pizza (which we rarely do since we make our own most of the time). I know...it was Valentine's Day and all...but I just know Jeromy loves Papa Johns. So then Jeromy thought it would be fun to go to Target and purchase gifts for one another. That was that. A planned date night!
After calling in our order we drove over the bridge to pick up our order at Solomons. Since it was starting to get late, we decided to eat the pizza in the truck on the way to Target. In a strange way we felt like we were dating again because over the course of those nine single months we had spent more time in that Chevy S10 than any actual building. That piece of red metal is like family to us now.
By the time we pulled into the Target parking lot we had polished off the entire pizza! (That is, five pieces for Jeromy, three for me!) We turned the store outing into a sort-of game. We each were given a limit of $10, and couldn't let the other person see the gift until we got home. That wasn't all that easy, either! People gave us strange looks all throughout the store because we must have looked like we were about to rob the place, the way we were being all secretive. But it was so much fun!
I found Jeromy's gift almost right away. It was easy. Drum sticks. This is a long story, but I was going to give Jeromy drum or voice lessons for his birthday. I was given some names and numbers of instructors in the area, which I copied on a piece of scratch paper and stuffed down into my purse. On Christmas Day we visited some amputee soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital in D.C., and happened to run into some White House officials and others who had also come to encourage the soldiers. Also, my uncle introduced us to Bob Dole, a several times acquaintance of his. Former Senator Dole was looking very aged and thin, but was most pleasant to us. After our brief conversation I thought to give him a gospel tract, which he accepted. Well, I later found out that when I had shoved that piece of paper with all those numbers inside my purse, it had slid inside that same tract I gave to Bob Dole! I bet he'd make a rockin' drummer!
Conservatively, of course...
Jeromy picked out a card game and cartons of Play Doh for me. How romantic! We spent the rest of the evening chilling on the couch and comparing our Play Doh creations. Did you know they make confetti Doh now? It's white with colorful sprinkles!
Papa Johns Hawaiian pizza: $12
Silly gifts from Target: $20
Gasoline: $2
Funky, original, spontaneous Valentine's date with your husband, minus the overbaked red velvet cake and overpriced Hallmark card: PRICELESS
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