usin' your noodle

This past week I have been a disgustingly good person. My inner bitch has laid low, I was exceedingly helpful and I just need a vacation from it! (Or at least an opportunity to lay down until the feeling passes.) Earlier this week, I helped with the Annual Noodle Day, which entails the ladies of the Mt. Zion United Methodist Ladies to group together at McDonald Grange in McDonald Township in Hardin County, Ohio (read: out in the boonies) and make egg noodles for the upcoming Mt. Zion United Methodist Ice Cream Social. The ladies arrive and set with tables for noodle making extravagenza and a smaller one for snacks (with few exceptions, they are all grandmas, so we a had some very lovely snacks and gossip). We rolled the dough into circles, laid them out to dry and then cut them up into the actual noodle shape. This only took about 4 hours and by noon, there were a boo-qoo of noodles and a floury Laura. It was so humid that day, that the noodle did not dry completely before cutting, so we decided to let them dry and under the fans we had jerry-rigged and a couple of ladies came back later that day to bag them up and put them in the freezer with the Schwan ice cream. Come the 20th of this month, Amy H and I will be in the kitchen of the said McDonald Grange Hall to cook these noodles without the benefit of a/c or personal slave. Being 27 and 28 respectively, we are the youngest ladies there and befittingly we are the lowest on the totem pole. We are the step and fetch it. I think that is why our moms had us, so that they could raise the next generation of go-fer. Maybe this should be some sort of incentive to get knocked up. Child Labor. The only problem with that is they the kids will probably need feeding and caring and they aren't good for much the first several years... A lot of putout with not alot of potential incoming... I may need to rethink this whole kid thing. hmmm....

Well, the point is, come out to McDonald Grange Hall on July 20th and get some good homecooking. Don't worry about me and Amy making the noodles... we just stir the pots. (We typically make about 7 pots of chicken noodles.) Marge is the only one allowed to put in spices and is the General Taskmistress of Noodles. We are just the Stirrers. Until we reproduce our replacements. I think we might have this job for a few more decades.

i didn't forget you...

... I just had no life. However, I now able to report that I have gotten my Causualty and Property insurance license and will be working at the family insurace agency as of 1 July 2006. Woo-hoo for me. Now, I just have to figure out all the lingo and good crap like that for the respective insurance companies. FUN.

I am still on the search for the ideal grad school that will offer what I want and won't put me into debt until I'm dead (they'll take the life insurance, thank you very much!). Any and all suggestions about what I should do when I grow up, please just email me.

Sad news... Sweetie has moved to Chicago for a very good promotion. Good news on the promotion part, bad news for the leaving me in Ohio after I finally moved back into the state. Glitch.

OK, gotta go and look productive. Take care and give me a buzz when in town.

its been a while

It has been a while since I've last written... Sorry! I have had sort of a boring life, as of late and then BAM! stuff happens.

Last week, I was in Columbus for Insurance Class and now I am somewhat ed-u-ma-cated on the subject of insurance. I don't suggest anyone take these classes for fun, but I know feel somewhat knowledgable. Who knew? I'm sure if I lay down, the feeling will pass.

While I was in Columbus, I housesat for Sweetie and poochsat for Trevor, his dog. The outcome of Sweetie's trip to CA was a promotion and by June 1st, he'll be in Chicago. I'll have to travel abit further for a Sweetie fix. Glitch. However, I am so happy for him, that I won't begrudge him the additional 5 hours of travel. And then I get to see Megan and Matt at the same time. Will Chicago ever be the same again? I think not.

As for the rest... I'm still trying to get into Case Western and figuring out funding for these lofty grad school plans.

Maybe I need to start with a nap.

just a simple update

Nothing exciting lately, except for the pearls. I brought back a large number of pearl earring/necklace sets back from Bangladesh and I just got them appraised by Ernie the Jeweler and I found out I was sitting on a crapload of moola. So, if you are one of the folks that received a pearl set from me, while they aren't AAA quality, they are still worth quite a bit. I cracked up Ernie the Jeweler when I told him that I walked it onto the plane and didn't get taxed for it. He thought it quite rich.

Let me know what your spring plans are and maybe we can get together (yeah, yeah, yeah) and have a swingin' time! This goes for everyone!

i am so stinkin' happy....

.... that the GMAT is taken and over! I visited the testing center today and a few hours later, I left with a headache and a lighter heart. Yeah for me.

Next week, it's off to Cleveland to visit Case West and their program and finish up the apps. In the meantime, I'm going to work on my before 30 goals and enjoy Spring springing.

Keep a look out for Sweetie, especially if you are on the West coast. He's going to be there for the next 10 days or so.

Ok, I've gotta take an asprin and lay down until the math problems float out of my head.

PC/Bangladesh gone

Peace Corps/Bangladesh is being consolidated/evacuated as I write. For those not familiar with PC-speak, that means all the Volunteers in-country are being pulled into the capital city of Dhaka and being flown to DC and the program will be closed - probably for good. This makes me so upset! There are a ton of details that I won't go into on a public blog, but I truly believe that they are being pulled out prematurely. I was in-country with the other B5s, 4s and 3s at the begining of the Iraqi war, when they were burning effigies of President Bush and you got harrassed if you said you were American. This sucks majorly for the Volunteers who really wanted to stay to the end of their service. I hope that the kids who came this past August will sign up to go to different countries and get a full 2 year PC experience.

blackberry wine.... fruit of the vine...

As I sit on my comfy couch and drink a glass of Dad's most recent purchase of blackberry wine from the lovely neighboring state of West Virginia, I think back to this past extended weekend. Chicago was good... very good. I got excellent Megan time and I enjoyed Matt. I saw their wedding video, which will have to do, since I couldn't make it to the real thing. How lovely! Megan got me walking and enjoying the ability to do so! After living in the Midwest (where we drive everywhere) and Bangladesh (where you ride a rickshaw everywhere), I enjoyed just hoofing it and I have the blisters to prove it. The school was good and as of 1 August, I can get 40% off of the tution for being an RPCV! Isn't that crazy? And if I get a second degree, I can get it for 50% off! Who knew?

As for the actually roadtripping itself... Megan can attest that I had a long and extended self-guided tour of Chicago, starting on the South Side, going through China town and eventually (after several mobile calls to Megan) I made it to the very big lake and then went a touch North to Megan and Matt's place. Going home was not as adventurous, but I did not end up going the way that Megan's map told me to go. Nevertheless, I made it home in time for dinner. All's well that ends well.

yeah! almost march!~

Cousin Nolan is leaving in a couple of days for Marine Corps training down in the Carolinas. Semper Fi! After completing basic training, he's going into a Military Police training and then be deployed someplace on the planet. So, folks, keep him in your prayers.

As for Case Western... I really like it and will be applying soon. I'm going to Chicago to visit North Park U and to visit Friend Megan and her brand-new, shiney, just-out-of-the-package hubby. I am very excited! And before you know it, it'll be warm and all kinds of delightful here in Ohio. I am soooo looking forward to Spring.

Eat well today, for tomorrow is Lent and some crazy folk give up stuff. I'm doing a De Facto Lent... Mom isn't buying the things she's giving up, so that goes for me and Dad also.

OH! I got a new mobile yesterday. It's a Verizon, so if you don't have it yet, email me and I'll give it to you.
Take care.

while i've been away from my computer...

... doesn't mean that I haven't been thinking about blogging. Cousin LeeAnn wrote concerned, so I am proclaiming to be alive and kicking. The last three weekends have been busier than a one-legged man at a butt-kickin' contest! I went to Columbus and stayed with the forever wonderful Sweetie and ate much and well. The next weekend I went to North Carolina with the 'rents to watch the SuperBowl (or actually the commercials) with family friends and the weekend after that found me in Maumee and the greater Toledo area for Kristin and Chip's wedding. The had a beautiful hitchin' and I ate the best wedding food ever! That Sunday also saw Cousin Jamie's little Jilli getting baptised (at which she did not cry, but actually smiled throught the whole process!), so I have been busy! This weekend, I can say the exact opposite and I enjoyed every minute of not going out into the cold. However, there is no rest for the weary or the wicked...

Tuesday and Wednesday nights are going to see me at Cousin Jamie's house for an extended sleepover. Yep... us 5 girls for 48 hours of fun, fun, fun! Jamie's friend Rachel might even join us one evening for dinner and possible fun crafting or baking or something like that. And next weekend Dad and I are going to Cleveland on Saturday to look at a grad school and then Sunday Cousin Nolan is having a going-away party. He's joining the Marines. Add him to your prayer lists, ok?

OK, kids, it's been fun, but I've got to get some shuteye. Take care and be safe in all you do.

hardly working or hard at work?

Working for Joe and Jamie is pretty easy. I type data of customers in, answer the phone, make lunch for Joe and Jamie on occassion and schlep Grandma whenever necessary. Nothing exciting, but I'm liking it.

On the personal front, I'm looking up the requirements of a motorcycle permit and I want to take a Honda Riders' Center course on how to ride a motorcycle. And I'm going to check out Ebay for guitars or go to the G-Note in downtown Kenton... I can hardly wait! And as soon as it warms up, Dad and Chad are going to take Cousin Jamie and myself out shooting rifles and pistols. Maybe this summer I'm going to start up riding lessons from Cousin Jamie. This keeps up, I'll have my To Do list finished before I'm 29, let alone 30! Yeah for me!

Friend Megan is doing good (check out her blog!) and I'm going to see Sweetie, Heather H and Alison this coming weekend. Bigger plans in the works.... I'm going to N Carolina for a long weekend to see the Keith family. It's been ages and I will meet Avery for the very first time! So, Superbowl, you will be watched or at least be in the background. And hopefully, a trip to Mexico will happen to visit Friend Isis and her family for the first time in a decade. It's going to be a ton of fun! And somewhere in the mix, I'm studying for the GMAT. oof!

Take and be safe in all you do. ~Laura