Ode to My Mother

Dear Mom,

You are awesome. You are the perfect mom for me. 

People say that I look just like you. Can I just say, I really really hope they're right?

Photo via Kim Brock

See? You're gorgeous.

Also, you're great with kids. Not only did you raise five amazing (if I do say so myself...) kids, you teach  other people's kids how to be awesome all day, every day too.

Your grandbabies are so lucky. Jefferson can't resist you, even in the most trying
of times.

Thanks for teaching me things. And helping me out when I get in way over my head. I love that you're the first person I call when I find awesome trash on the side of the road...

And then you're always there to help me turn aforementioned trash into something great (along with your trusty husband...but his post will come, okay? Also, you did a really good job of picking him out. Just so you know. Thanks for that. Really, really.)

In fact, looking back, a lot of our relationship revolves around "projects" like that one. You gave me the confidence to try things, and the knowledge to know how to make my crazy ideas come to life.

I always think of you when I go into a thrift store.

I thought of you the whole time I painstakingly filled my metal scoop with vintage buttons in one such a store on Friday.

Yea...I sifted through a giant vat of vintage buttons and hand picked only the very "best" into 1/4 cup scoop the shop allotted. 

Hey, at $2.00 a scoop, I'm only getting the good ones! Just like you taught me.

My definition of best also includes things like Jadite strainer measuring cups and old wooden spools of thread. You taught me that too.

I'm grateful I have a mom like you. Cory is grateful too. He says, "Thanks for making my Lindy!"

Also, he designed a card in your honor. We both camped out at my craft station this afternoon, and made some mother's day cards. Cory picked out the colors, and design. And had a little bit of a meltdown with a glue stick. But redeemed himself by teaching me how to properly fold paper in half. Like, exactly in half.

One for each of our wonderful mothers.

Yours should be arriving via post any day now.

Thank you for being my mom! I wouldn't be the same (or alive) with out you!

Love, 

Lindy

P.S. I currently have poison ivy poisoning. It sucks. And looks like leprosy.

Stick a Fork in Me.

Alright guys.  I am the proud recipient of a Bachelor's degree in English Literature, with a minor in Psychology! 

It feels so good to be done. Not that its been particularly difficult to get done.

Sometimes, when I look back on the past four years I've spent earning my higher education, I feel lazy. I see Cory slaving away at his desk every single day, working out problems that take hours of his time, and then making perfect scores on extremely challenging tests and wonder, "Should my education have been more like that?"  

And then I think, "Nah."

My degree wasn't that hard for ME to earn, but I know it would be the ultimate challenge for others. Writing papers, reading short stories, and interpreting hidden meanings in texts would be a nightmare for someone else.(And by "someone else", I mean "Cory"). For example, I just finished a class which required me to watch chick flicks and bromances and make coherent conclusions about our modern day society and its attitudes towards gender. This is not for everyone.  But the fact that it came so easily to me, lets me know that I choose the right degree for me.

There is something to be said for choosing the path of least resistance. I've really enjoyed my college education. I've learned a little about a lot of things. I can tell you about Pompeii, popular music trends, meteorology,  dinosaurs, poetry, Frankenstein and a lot of literary theory. I've written countless papers, and researched until the wee hours of the morning many a time. Earning this degree took work, but it was fun!

 But you know what else takes the path of least resistance? Water. 

And just look what water can accomplish.

Boom. The Grand Canyon, baby. 

That makes me feel better about my choices.

Four years ago I choose to attend Florida State University. This wasn't what I thought I would choose at the time. But, they liked me. They kept sending me informational packets with pretty pictures of a dreamy campus.

I'm such a sucker for southern charm. The scholarship they offered didn't hurt either. 


When I first applied to FSU, I told them I was planning on majoring in Elementary Education. It seemed like a nice, practical choice for me. Three things convinced me to change it:


1. I really, really love reading and stories. Ever since I learned to read, its been my favorite thing to do. Once I learned to read, I quickly changed my career goal from the vague "Artist", to the still vague but more prestigious "Author and Illustrator".  As in, "What would you like to be when you grow up little girl?" would be answered,  "An author and illustrator." ( For the full effect, you should also know, I pronounced my "R" sound like a "W" until I was about eight.)


2. I took ENC 1102 at the local junior college my senior year of high school. I loved that class. My professor was hilarious, and his excitement for the literature we were studying was contagious. I worked really hard on my final paper for that class, but felt sure that it would never measure up to his standard of greatness. We exchanged papers for peer review, and after reading a classmates argument, I was even more sure that my paper was not up to par. After class, I over heard another student talking about the paper she had reviewed. She said that the person who wrote it knew exactly how to say what they wanted to, and then said it hilariously. I got a little bit jealous of whoever had written that paper, and I was sure my paper was going to fail. When we got our papers back I found out that she had been talking about MY paper! And the teacher had added his own note to say that he agreed, and that I was hilarious. He also wrote that I needed to be more careful with grammar and spelling, but let's not dwell on that.


3. I was already wavering, but the final push to change my major to English came when I read Dave Barry's guide to choosing your college major. This is what he has to say: "If you can regularly come up with lunatic interpretations of simple stories, you should major in English."


And so, I changed my major to English. I then spent the next four years of my life in the Williams building at FSU. This is where I learned to come up with lunatic interpretations like a champ.

Good bye Williams building. You have served me well.

So, now that I've completed the major that I choose, what on earth will I do with a degree in English 
Literature?


In my dream world I would get to be the editor of the funny stories people send in to Reader's Digest. I don't think that is going to pan out for me so...yea.


I've been working at the Graduation section in the Registrar's office at FSU for almost three years. I like helping students, and I've learned a lot about the university, and myself. For instance, did you know that when I feel stressed for long periods of time I get nauseous and throw up for days on end? I learned that little gem last week.


All of last week. 


If all goes according to plan, I'll be working there full time soon! I'm excited to continue to help students and learn things, and to have a steady income while Cory finishes his degree in Electrical Engineering.


 Someone has got to support this lavish lifestyle we lead. Am I right?

So, FSU, you've given me a lot. And, it looks like you'll continue to give. I'm liking this little arrangement we've set up.

Easters

Easter is a holiday filled with secrets, deception, and surprise. At least it is with my family. 

My parents were driving down from North Carolina to spend the week here in Florida. When my mom got to town, she needed to make a big shopping trip to Wal-Mart. While she was there, she got a beautiful spring bouquet. 

Pretty, huh? She got more than she bargained for, because attached to the bouquet was her first born daughter! My older sister Kourtney and her husband Juan made the trip over from Texas to surprise her!

 I love that they had to hunt her down in Wal-mart. And so began our fabulous Easter holiday.

Friday night we hung out and watched "classic" movies. I'm not sure if they're classic to the general public. In fact, I'm positive they're not, seeing as Juan, Tayna and Cory have never even heard of them.

We have begun to compile a list of "Hansen Classics", that all new family members must watch in order to understand a great deal of the Hansen family humor and thought process. So far: The Shakiest Gun in the West, The In-laws, Singin' in the Rain, The Music Man, and Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang. I'm sure the list will continue to grow with time, as we begin to realize just how many of our jokes our spouses don't get. It little things like, every time I hear the name "Pierre" I cannot resist the urge to say"Oh Pierre! You shouldn't have come!"(Singin' in the Rain).

Fun fact: if you say that phrase in the presence of one of my family members, they will respond with "YES, YES, YES...NO, NOO, NOOOO..." Every single time.

Saturday we all went thrift shopping in Tallahassee. We found the BEST thrift store! I got a sweet retro lamp for Cory's desk (only $15.00!), and a ceramic ear that I thought was hilarious. For $.50, I thought it was worth it.

Cory has not been very amused at my constant requests for him to "lend me his ear." Whatev. I'm hilarious.

We started Sunday out right with Belgian Waffles. Yum.

My mom brought out the traditional Easter scrabble blocks.

It's like they're trying to tell us something. 

But what is it???

Oh. That makes more sense.

We also broke out the permanent markers and did a little egg decorating. If you must know, the fumes were a little, tiny bit strong.

Okay. The fumes were really strong.

Cory wanted to make a "Chuck Norris" egg. It quickly started to take a turn for the more "Homeless Vagrant" look, so he decided to run with that.

Daisy was not amused. 

Here we are with our masterpieces:

And here they are, being the master peices:

What a bunch of egg heads. Am I right?

After our little eggstravaganza, my parents sent us out into the wilderness for a bit so the Easter Bunny could stop by and hide our eggs and baskets.

Yea...we still do Easter egg hunts. They get more intense every year. My parents really, really enjoy hiding things from us.

It was hot in the wilderness. I tried to look brave for the camera, but Cory couldn't even fake it.

That is the opposite of his excited face.

 The wild flowers were very scenic though.

Eventually we caught up to Tanya and Jesse. But not before taking some very stalkerish pictures of them. They didn't even know I was there!

I'm still trying to decide if I should be concerned about the thrill sneaking around in bushes while taking pictures of unsuspecting people brings to me. 

My Dad helped the Easter bunny hide our baskets and eggs this year.  It took us, six fully grown adults, over  thirty minutes of vigilant searching to find the first one. Eventually we had to give up and beg for hints, and at that point he came up with riddles to point us in the right direction.  Our egg hunt lasted the better part of three hours. And even then we had to give up the search with one egg unaccounted for. Easter really is my parent's time to shine.

Of course, there is a lot more to Easter than eggs and bunnies. I love the opportunity to remember the sacrifice He made for us all. It was a much needed reminder for me.

I just loved this weekend. (Now I'm even MORE excited to spend a week with my sisters and Mom this summer! We missed you Jackie!) It really was too bad that it just happened to be the weekend before Finals week. Not that I let that tiny little detail interfere with my plans...

In other news I turned in my last final today at 6:05 PM!! I can't believe I'm done! I promise I'll address the question I'm sure is burning in your heart now: "What next?" in my next post. It's gonna be good.

Pinterest. It's so hot right now.

Hey you guuuuuys!

I can't say that without channeling The Goonies. Which is interesting, considering I've never seen all of that movie. Also, it kinda scares me.

A few weeks ago I heard about this thing called Pinterest. And I was intrigued. If you've already heard of it, good! If not, you really need to look into this.

It's pretty much the equivilant of tearing pages out of magzines and putting them in folders for future reference. Except with the internets instead of paper. And the ability to link back to the original source every time. And see other people's inspiration, and then claim it as your own inspiration.

I was only mildly interested, until I found out that you have to either be invited by a current member, or request to be a part of it! Once they got all elite on me, I desparately wanted to be a part of it. Those sly dogs.

Anyway, I sent in my request a while back, and a few days ago I got accepted! And it has seriously blown my mind.

Anytime I see something I like that I might want to remember, I just click a "Pin It" button on my toolbar, and viola! It's saved, categorized and linked back to the original source for easy peasy referencing!

Seriously. I love it.

This is what a board looks like:

This is my "Kitchen" board. I've got some serious plans for our new place!

 If you wanna check it out, click here to see my boards and get a feel for it. It's a little addictive, but definitely one of the most useful bookmarking tools I've ever used.

You can request to join yourself (it takes them about two weeks to acquiesce to your request), or I can send you an invitation! You won't have to wait as long if I send you an invite. I think. If I can figure out how to send invites...hmm.

Also, I like how I'm calling them "invites." Very casual.

Anyway, I like it.  And if you've ever seen an amazing idea on a website, but then can't find it ever, ever again fwhen you try to tell other people about the awesome idea you found, you might like it too.

Now...back to school work. Only 15 days and one monster final paper stand between me and my undergraduate degree! Where did the time go?

Graduation pictures and reflections coming soon. Look forward to that. I know I am :)

White and Nerdy

One of my favorite thing about this little blogity blog is the ability it gives me to look back and remember exactly what I thought was significant  during the past few years. It makes me laugh to read the things I wrote about, and I know I wouldn't remember most of the events if not for this documentation. History is made by those who write it down, people.

 My other favorite things are funny comments, and stalking people. But that's another post, for another day.

When I look back on April 2011 in a few years, what would I like to remember?

 Possibilities: Work was stressful. Finishing my bachelor's degree in English Literature has never seemed so close, and yet so far. I actually cooked dinner three times this week. All are true, yet none seem to really encapsulate what my life as truly been about recently.

What has taken precedence?

Yea. That's right. 

I'm blogging about Avatar. 

I'm not going to do a huge post about this, mostly because my friend Becca did one a year ago that says it all. Click here to read about her family's experience with the show, and her astute review of the plot lines and character development. (Yes, Becca. I creeped your archives.)

I've been watching it pretty regularly for the past week and half. And by "regularly" I mean, "every moment I can. I'm starting on the third (and final) season now.  All the episodes are on Netflix Instant Play, which has proven to be irresistible to me. I take my laptop around the house with me, washing dishes, cooking dinner, and....watching Avatar. I'm pretty cool.

Cory refuses to join in. He claims that he's not interested in a silly cartoon. But really, its because he's been a little preoccupied with his own nerdy little RPG love:

To each his own.