Wingnut World

Top ten things I love about fall:

1. Football. Yes, I know that the football teams I pledge allegiance to are in rough shape right now, but I truly love football! What better way to spend a Saturday than tailgating, going to a game in the Shoe, then watching the rest of college football all evening while ordering pizza and drinking beer with friends?! I miss Columbus...

2. Sweaters. I bought three cute new ones today, one has a matching hat and scarf and another has matching mittens. When there's a little chill in the air but it's not cold enough for heavy coats yet, I love to wear sweaters!

3. Trees turning colors. It's especially gorgeous around here in Central PA. I wish I would have taken pictures to post to show you just how pretty it is. Oddly, the prettiest trees I saw are near the Rockview State Correctional Institution...Maybe I shouldn't have stopped to take pictures of those.

4. Candy corn. I had some at the hair salon while waiting to get my hair trimmed. It's gotta have some cancer causing agent in it but DAMN it's good. And I swear, it was all made in 1989 and just gets re-released to the stores every October.

5. World Series baseball. Come on, who doesn't love the playoffs!? It's America's pasttime and I love to watch. Since I don't really have a team, I can always find one to root for in the playoffs (or at least one to root against).

6. Pumpkin. Pie, bread, cookies, pumpkin spiced coffee...I love it all. Gotta put on the winter layer somehow :-) Check out the pumpkin spiced latte at Starbucks, it's yummy.

7. Hot apple cider. There's a great farm down the road that presses it on site and sells it by the gallon (but only on the farm b/c they don't pasturize it and therefore can't sell it to stores). Heat it up with cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, splash of cranberry juice, orange zest and plenty of dark rum. Warm and fuzzy like my sweaters.

8. Thanksgiving. The official end to fall and the start of the Holiday Season. Again, putting on the winter layer. Turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie, homemade rolls, and the company of extended family at Lone Mountain are some of my favoritest memories in the world.

9. Fireplaces. If we had one, I'd make a fire in it every night. Cuddle up under my fleece Red Wings blanket with a hot apple cider and watch the baseball. Or football. Back when Andy lived with Shag, Lambert and Breck they'd make fires all the time and we'd do homework in front of it like Abe Lincoln.

10. Daylight savings time ends. Finally, I get that hour of my life back!

hehe, okay, that's all for now.

luv
jen

I need to get a can to put on the nurses' station at work...how funny would that be?!

So kudos to Vicki's on their pink collection-I just bought oodles of underwear in lots of fun pink patterns (yes Amanda, you heard that right, I bought pink) and got a cute pink stuffed puppy as a free gift. YAY! Anything for Breast Cancer Awareness month, October. I'll even buy pink.

Go Red Sox! This is the second two cups of coffee morning in a row at work b/c I stayed up watching baseball. IT WAS SO WORTH IT! After my shift ended at 730pm, I did a complete workout (watching on tv in the gym), changed clothes, drove to campus (listening to the game in the car on XM ESPNRADIO), went to Wendy's (heard it on the TV back in the kitchen), visited Andy in the lab (watching the score updates on ESPN.com), drove home (XM radio again), and the GAME WASN'T OVER YET! Caught the end in my living room jumping up and down and scaring the bejeezus out of Bam. Thank goodness I don't have to work tomorrow, maybe I'll get to take a nap and catch up on my sleep!

OH yeah...JR is finally here. He's awesome, it's been crappy weather so I haven't ridden him outside yet but that might be better. He's pretty wound up from not getting much attention for the last couple of months. It's good for me though, gives me another man to spend time with when Andy's busy or out of town. ;-)

Damn Titans. Damn Buckeyes. Damn NHL.

Still an undecided voter, but yes, Amanda, I will encourage all my swing state friends to get out and vote. It's our civic responsibility.

and one final thought: I saw an "Exclusive TV Offer" for Everclear's Greatest Hits. I just laughed. First, I feel old that Santa Monica is now considered the first hit of a band that has a Greatest Hits album. Second, are they just giving those things away now? That should be an elite club, bands with greatest hits collections. discuss at your leisure

bye for now
jenni

Quick post to say HOORAH for the Titans. Though I saw none of the game b/c I was at work, and I didn't even know until an hour ago the final result, I am SO HAPPY that the Titans had a big night on MNF. Maybe the football tides are changing...

So I have officially become a rotater now. Rotating shifts at the hospital that is. The past two nights (night means 7pm-7am) I have been at work, while the rest of the town sleeps. I think I like night shift, the pace at the hospital is much more chilled out. The people who work night shift are interesting as well...Tonight I work a true night shift, which is 11p-7a. Once I am off orientation I will only work eight hour shifts so I'll end up working a lot of those 11p-7a shifts. It's hard to spend time with Andy on this shift, but I'm not on it all the time.

JR gets here on Wednesday! He is currently laying over in Western PA at Steve Culver's farm, who will bring him to me on a truck Wednesday. I'm so excited that get to see him. The weather here is perfect for riding outside and enjoying the fall scenery. Saturday that might be my plan...ride the horse all day...don't watch football...

Andy is going to the Berkshires this weekend with the GeoSci department. They're staying at a professor's cabin in the woods near the Mass/Conn/NY state borders. He says there's not really a website to look at the area so no link to this trip. They'll just be looking at the rocks all day, hanging out at night. What a rough life...

Amanda has left Capetown and is in Johannasburg for the rest of her trip in Africa. She will be back in Brentwood Wednesday night, so look for new posts on her personal blog after that. She's a beautiful person and I am excited to hear what she did for the remainder of her mission trip. I'll also be happy when I know she's safely landed home (so will MamaB).

I have to tell you all that I have taking up another hobby: scrapbooking. I decided to make a really organized memory book of my trip with Nana to Europe this summer for her as a special surprise. BTW, if you talk to Nana, don't tell her. It's still a surprise. The world of scrapbooking is WAY overwhelming. I think I jumped off the deep end here with the project, but I am determined to finish it. I went to the Scrapbook Store here in State College and I bought up loads of cool papers, stickers, borders, and other decorative odds and ends. I'm about 5 days into the 14 day trip and I already have about 12 pages. It's going to be a long book!

I'm not even going to comment on the Buckeyes. I don't want to talk about it.

(going down my list of things to write about...)

Went to a great party Friday night with Andy. I had met a lot of people in his department by now, but this night was the first where Andy really let me circulate as my own person and get to know people better. I made a lunch date with Harley and a bet with Dan. We watched the presidential debate and Sean (sp?) tried to convert me but really we just discussed the issues. I felt better about finding a 'group' here in State College and not just tagging along as Andy's girl.

okay, my list is exhausted...talk to you all later :-)

jen

This blog is a bit like a journal for me. I was never one to keep a journal, I thought the idea of writing to myself was strange. This is different though, b/c I can speak to a general public that might possibly be interested in what I say. Or not. Either way it's not as strange to me to post these messages.

Two things need to happen though soon. I either need to start writing ideas down for the blog at home, or I need to get internet at the house so I can do this daily. As I sit here in Andy's lab, I have forgotten everything I wanted to say in this blog.

Ok, I remembered a couple things. Keep checking out Amanda's Africa Trip. They are doing amazing Christian things and I'm envious of her fortune to have this experience. I'm so happy for her I want to cry.

Second, I'll be working nights this weekend Monday night, so if you call me during the day be aware that you won't get an answer. I'll be sleeping.

Thirdly, everyone keep watching the presidential debates. I'm not an overly political person, and I don't often express my views on national issues, but I believe that everyone needs to get out and vote. Find the issues that mean something to you, take a stand, and vote accordingly. Use your own head.

Andy and I had a very good discussion after the VP debate. It was nice to calmly discuss politics with him. I usually follow the rule that you avoid religion and politics as topics of conversation if you want to stay friends, but this time we remained civil. Signs of a maturing relationship...

I love you all! Welcome J, if you read this. I'll try to have more to say next time.

luv
jen

ps- sympathies to Rich W., who lost his mother this week. I know his pain too well.

If you follow college football at all, you'll know why I'm depressed today. All I have to say about the ugly horror that was the Buckeye game last night is WE DON'T HAVE KRENZEL ANYMORE. We have a sophomore quarterback and a struggling o-line. And if we can't beat Northwestern, the next eight games are going to be ugly and heartbreaking.

So I guess that leaves me the Titans. Oh wait, they're sucking it up too. I guess I can root for Penn State. Wait, no. They're REALLY AWFUL. Well, maybe my old homestate favorite, UT. Hold on, they lost yesterday bigtime. With Gameday there. To Auburn. I remember when Auburn was a joke in the football world. I also remember when UT and OSU had National Championships.

I'm getting old and cranky.

The good news is that Amanda finally clued me in to how to put links up, so now I can post the links I said I did last time. Check out her Africa trip, it sounds like they're having an amazing experience so far. She got attacked by a babboon! It's because of that ugly hat, everyone knows pink is not Kentucky's color. I haven't put up OSU's page, they're in timeout this week.

After waffling for a week about the horse, I finally made the definitive decision to bring him out here for now. Now I have to get people to call me back. I gotta get JR out here, for my own well being! If I get a digital camera someday I'll put pictures of him up on here. Today there is an IHSA show at the Penn State barn I'm trying to board JR at, so I am off to check out the scene here in a minute. I didn't realize how much I missed riding until I almost sold the horse. I was at home bored b/c Andy went on that field trip and I realized that I need something of my own to do.

I got in touch with my old chem TA Jason from PA on Monday night. I finally decided to track him down through the small-town method: call his parents. I knew he was from Nicktown PA so I called information and gave them his last name and the hometown and I ended up talking to his dad. The thing about Central Pa is that everyone knows everyone and it's very small townish. So I don't think I seemed like a total weirdo, just a girl out looking for her friend. It was good to talk to him, he suggested some hiking spots in the area and promised to call if he ever came through State College to see his brother. He lives in Philly now, and if Lambert checks this, he says hi.

Thanks for the comment Lara! It took me a while to figure out who you were, but after a mental checklist of the B's and Z's in my family, I put it all together. Hope the kids are well, and Rich too. BTW, Andy's the one who plays poker, I just pretend. And that night we ended up playing euchre b/c the guy who was supposed to bring the poker chips thought that Andy had them (which he didn't) so we all ended up watching football and playing euchre instead. Now there's a game I can really play.

Work is good, getting paid is GREAT. Got paid on Friday, wrote a bunch of checks, paid some bills, now I'm near broke again. Two weeks til next paycheck. That's ok, I think Andy has plenty of money and we at least went grocery shopping :-) Getting out from under the move is gonna take til Christmas!

Alright, Andy is hungry so we're going to eat. Go Titans! (seriously, go. take my pride with you.)

jenni