It's been quiet lately....

Sadly, it's been a little quiet around my blog. Apologies to my 3 readers! Hahaha.

It's been crazy in Huongy-Poo land. Lots of school work to be done but the good news is...*drumroll* I graduate with my MS in August! WOO! Finally! I thought I'd never be done! I'll be having a little gathering in celebration. Don't get too excited though, I'll still be in school, trucking along to get the PhD. Sigh. Another 3 years? Most likely.

If you like to read funny things, then you should check out me and Husband's blog Conversations With My Wife. It's pretty funny. Lee and I re-create (to our best ability) our ridiculous conversations. I like to re-read them and laugh often.

I'll make a more substantial post later. It's hard though, since Lee usually posts about what we talk about and he's a better writer than I am. Curses upon him!

Food + Celebrations

Have you ever noticed how much food plays a part of our lives? (You know, besides the whole nourishment of the body thing.)

We can't do anything without food. We can't:

* celebrate special occasions (birthdays, graduation, accomplishments, etc)
* go on a date (dinner, movie popcorn, etc)
* hang out with friends (dinner, snacks, movie watching snacks, potluck, etc)

I mean, I can't even be bored without food. I'm bored? To the fridge.

Food is tied up with our emotions. I often tell The Hubs that I'm "eating my feelings" whenever I'm stressed or terribly upset about something. (Also note: this is a gendered practice.)

Have you ever tried doing something without food? IT'S FUCKING HARD. The Hubs' parents take us out to eat every time they visit. Every time. Why is that? I think it's because going out to eat is a time-filler. It's a way to initiate conversation, without it being too "serious." I also think (just in general) that going out to eat as a way to socialize is safer. And by that I mean that going out to eat can take as little or as much time as you (the group) want. If the conversation is lacking, you can just leave and go your separate ways. On the other hand, if all involved are having a great time, you can just linger at the establishment.

People don't just get together to talk and engage in conversation anymore. People do it with their friends, co-workers (the inevitable "happy hour") and their family. After all, look at the holidays! I think for a lot of people, it's an excuse to eat an obscene amount of food and visit relations you only see a few times a year.

I have to wonder: Does that make our relationships superficial? What does it say to bonds between people that we cannot do anything without some sort of mediating "middle man" ?

I am not writing this as a judgment or to say "Look at them!"---obviously I do this as well. I'm reading some literature (to be blogged about later) that talked about a gathering of individuals (though it was a dinner party) where they talked about issues pertaining to their lives. Not superficial "How was your day? How was work?" talk. But deep seated issues that affected their everyday lives. This is the kind of thing I'd like to see, like to implement myself.

But how do I do that? How do you find like-minded individuals that are interested in conversation and dialogue? I think at my current point in life (graduate student)--that's probably a bit easier, as I am surrounded by like-minded people. But, I wonder, how would they feel about just getting together to initiate a dialogue?

The pups!

October 2009

Look at how big the kids have grown! My nephew is nearly 4 now and my niece is 6 months old. Jeez, how the time flies, eh? Jaylen is in headstart and Maryah is nearly crawling. I hadn't seen them both since July. Sad day.

Generally, not much is going on over here. I feel I should write more, but I often forget. Ha. School and work (new job) have been keeping me busy, along with procrastination and sheer laziness. The semester is nearly over and I still don't have my thesis, in fact, I've barely touched it since May. (I need to be punched, for realsies.)

Scout weighs about as much as Harper now, though she's still a few inches shorter. She's going to be a small boxer though, she's got a small frame. She is still crazy and I swear Harper deals her cocaine when we're not around.

Wedding/Hawaii time is fast approaching. We leave at the end of next month! The ceremony and everything is already booked so nothing to worry about there. We've got our rings. Now I just need to fit into my dress HAHAHAHA.

I saw a picture of myself from 4 or so years ago and could immediately tell the weight I've gained. Funny. You never think that you could "ever get any bigger" and ta-da! you do. It's like some sick part of me is self-sabotaging. Why can't I say no to a cookie? Why do I crave cheesey burgers and fries? Why are fries so freakin' delicious????? Ironically enough, I just watched Super Size Me and now I feel super gross. Even more ironic? I've got a friend visiting Friday and he wants to go to McDonald's. (It's a silly thing we do together--eat fries in mass quantities.)

I'd love to be able to eat healthier and know more about nutrition. Nutrition facts are hard to find and I can't seem to eat "healthier" without losing deliciosity. I don't know. And I've told Lee several times that he cannot be an enabler. This time, however, he seems to be doing well. He forever loves to surprise me with goodies. And of course those goodies are: chocolates, jalepeno cheese bread, and chips and salsa. I'm trying to be good! Of course, I could do better. *sigh* We've also started going back to the gym. Haha. Again. It's so hard when you have a limited budget--healthier food costs more unfortunately. You definitely pay to eat better.

Thus Far..

Large Puppy Bed Sharing

Underbite Deluxe Puppy Yawns

Aren't the pups cute? Scout has gotten so big! She's basically half of Harper's weight now (Harper is 40 pounds) and she's still growing! She's a terror though and we need to start training with her soon (it's been on hold b/c of the move and everything).

Speaking of which, we've moved out of our crappy apartment and are now in a duplex with a yard. Yay! Having a yard is certainly nice. Especially when the dogs are being annoying and jumping around on each other, on the couch, on you, etc. We've implemented a new "get the eff of the couch" rule. It's going pretty well so far and I think that's in part to the new puppy beds we've bought them (pictured above). It's soooooo nice to not have to battle a pup for a spot on the couch or have them PLAY on the couch (so annoying!).

This summer, academically, was a waste. I've not done the work I should. I kept putting it off and then other things would pop up and BLAH BLAH BLAH [insert excuses here].

And now I find out that we may have to do some adjusting to our Hawaii trip....because when we booked it, I hadn't planned on taking any courses this Fall. Well now plans have changed and the dates we're booked means that I would miss the last two classes of the semester.....which is an issue since that's when presentations/papers/finals are due. I think we could move the dates, but it would cost monies ($$$$) which we don't have to spare. Otherwise, I could suck it up and have a crappy end of the semester (super busy finishing work early) OR I could go with the original plan of not taking anything but Research Hours, but I kind of see that as a waste of a semester, just for a week's worth of vacation. So who knows. I can't really make any decisions until I see the syllabus for the courses. I emailed both profs and of course one said "we'll work around your schedule" and the other said "that's problematic." And naturally that's the course I REALLY want to take. Sigh.

So school/wedding stuff is stressing me out right now. So until I know what's up with the trip/school complications I can't book the ceremony part or the bachelor-ette parties. And we've already sent out the Save-the-Dates. I bought a dress online. Let's hope it fits and/or I don't look gross in it! Money is so ridiculously tight right now it's not even funny. Things will be sooooo much better in January once all of the wedding saving is done and over with. Phew!

Lee has started making his blog random conversations that we've had. Haha. They are rather amusing. =)

Meet Scout!

We got a new puppy. A female boxer we named Scout. Isn't she adorable??

She's still so tiny! She's 12 pounds now but she'll be much bigger later on.

Sisters! Harper & Scout looking adorable-licious.

She kept trying to sniff the camera...

Video Games

If we're Facebook/Twitter friends, then you probably know that I was on an eBay frenzy all weekend. I have no idea why. I rarely go on eBay, and it's usually for something specific and I do the 'Buy it Now' option because I always lose the bidding race.



Well, for some reason, I was on eBay literally all weekend looking at video games!



Here's a list of what I bought (hahaha):



Super Paper Mario (Wii)

Wario Land: Shake It! (Wii)

Brain Age 1 & 2 (Nintendo DS)

Iron Man (PS3)

LittleBigPlanet (PS3)


Today I got Super Paper Mario and Iron Man in the mail. I bought Iron Man for Lee, so I can't comment on it (he likes the game) but Super Paper Mario is fun! I've never played it before but it's just my type of video game. I've always loved Mario games. I'm just not into the whole "shoot things" and "build things" type of games. I like the straightforward 'beat the level' type of games. You know, or Street Fighter or something hehehe.

I've played Little Big Planet before with Lee (he's rented it) and really liked it. It's fun--and different. And it's actually two player! I have a feeling Wario is much like the Mario games in terms of beating levels and such, so I'm sure I'll like it. Lee has wanted the Brain Age games for a while as well.

He also bought Mirror's Edge last week and really liked it.

Why are so many games one player now? Jeez. It's hard to find two player games!

He also wants Bioshock. But I told him we've got enough for now, haha.

I also really want a Wii Fit. I'm working on that one....