Roses, Movies, and Big Decisions

Boy do I have a lot to tell you.  I will try to keep it short, so as not to lose your interest though.  I didn't get a chance to blog yesterday because Evan was sick so I had to stay home.  Poor kiddo.  He literally slept all day.  He didn't wake up until 10am and then he fell back asleep around 12:30pm and slept all the way until 6:20pm!  Then he was up until 10pm and fell back asleep until 6am when I woke him this morning.  Hopefully all that sleep helped him feel better.  His fever broke yesterday evening so that was good.

On Friday I had an Acceptd Students reception at Hopkins that I went to.  Every time I go there I get so excited and feel like it is the perfect school for me.  Until I think about how much it costs.  Everyone was so nice and there are 35 Peace Corps fellows in the new class, which  I find very exciting.  I met one girl on Friday and it made me excited to meet the other former volunteers.  Even seeing the scrubs and uniforms was exciting.  I LOVE uniforms and will be thrilled to not have to pick out boring work clothes all the time.  I'm not sure if I have to wear scrubs to class though.  Check out these mugs they gave us.

Isn't that funny?  I guess even if I end up choosing not to go there, I will still have a mug!

On Saturday  Ivan and I celebrated our anniversary.  

It wasn't on Saturday, but that was the only day we had to celebrate so we went with it.  We even had a babysitter come over and watch Evan.  Of course that meant out date was $30 more expensive than it would have been, but what can you do?  Not everyone has family available who will watch their kid for free (and if you do,  I hope you appreciate it).  I had really wanted to see the Veronica Mars movie, because like I said we were practically best friends, but for some reason it wasn't in the theaters anymore.  At least not the theater we went to.  How crazy is that?  So we saw Divergent instead.  I had wanted to see that too because I read the book a few years ago.  It was a good movie and Ivan liked it.  Ivan has no preconceived notions about movies and what is considered a chick flick or not.  He just loves to go to movies and doesn't usually care which one we go to.  This is great for me!

After the movie I raced home, put Evan to nap, and made some Butternut Squash and Black Bean Enchiladas.  I made these a while ago and loved them and we were having a college friends reunion so I thought I would bring them to that.  It was so great seeing my old college friends and all their kiddos.  Evan was starting to feel sick so he was extra clingy and less active, but we still had a lot of fun.  I love those ladies!  Hopefully we can get together again before too much time passes.

Sunday we didn't do too much, just grocery shopping and the rest of the chores.  I made Sopa de Frijoles, Spaghetti Squash lasagna (which was delicious), and Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup.  Everything turned out delicious.  Ivan finished the Sopa de Frijoles in one sitting.  Nice.  

Yesterday I stayed home with sick baby and watched a lot of TV.  I couldn't really do too much because Evan wanted to cuddle so I just relaxed on the sofa and watched a bunch of TV.  Army Wives, NCIS, The Voice, and Call the Midwife.  All great shows, but a bit overwhelming.  Today it's off to work.  This winter has seen a lot of three and four day weekends between snow days and me taking a Friday off for one thing or another.  Got lots of work to catch up on!

What are some new recipes you've been making recently?

Spring Ahead People

I was going to post about the rest of my Disney trip, because I still haven't even told you about the race, but I am too tired.  Those posts take me a long time because I have to get all the photos organized and I have a lot too tell you, and my energy level is a little to low right now.  I am completely blaming daylight savings time.  Guggenheim (I am leaving this auto-correct word because it is so funny - I have no idea what I typed here, but it definitely wasn't Guggenheim!!!), I really dislike the dreaded spring ahead.  Somehow it makes it much more difficult to get up in the morning when it is 3:30am instead of 4:30am...even when my body adjusts, I am always a little more tired.  I enjoy the later daylight hours, so it's not all bad, but I need my bus nap today.  And, I am waiting for the bus in the dark again.

This weekend was a bit hectic and crazy, starting with Friday.  Evan had his 18 month appointment in the morning and I am in denial that he is already 18 months old.  That is a year and a half.  How in the world did that happen??  Where did my baby go??  He is still a peanut, weighing a whopping 18 pounds and some odd ounces and 33 inches tall, but he is not really my baby boy anymore. We are going to have to stop calling him Baby Evan soon. Boo.  And he wasn't really talking at all before we went to the doctor (just a few words like hot and gracias) and since that appointment he has started saying more things!  Yesterday he started saying "all done" and "book" and "ball".  I have a feeling his vocabulary is going to explode soon.

I also had my Hopkins interview.  I don't really want to comment too much on how I thought the interview went, because it's so hard to say when I am being compared to everyone else.  Maybe I did great but everyone else did better.  Who knows.  The woman who interviewed me was the same woman I had been communicating with during the application process so I was glad to meet her and be able to thank her in person for her help.  Here is what I wore for the interview.

This is a pretty bad photo and a pretty bad photo of me, but I made Ivan snap it as I was rushing out the door and there was no time for repeats.  I had run to TJ Max before the interview to get a new dress and I was quite happy with this one.  It looked better in person.  

I also picked up a few other things at TJ Max.  We needed a new pan because one of mine had seen its last days.   It was actually my favorite pan and one I had brought back with me from Peace Corps.  So it was at least 7 years old, but I know it was older because my friend Sarah had give it to me when she left so it had been used when I got it. 

I think all those scratched are due to Ivan stirring his eggs with a regular fork instead of the wooden utensils!

 I was sad to see it go, but love my new pan.

The lighting is a bit off, but it's a porcelain pan.

I also finally picked up some new work socks.  Ivan was making fun of my old as dirt socks and I found some for cheap, so I finally got them.  Time to throw away my threadbare socks for some nicer ones.

These pepper socks are pretty old.  I think I brought them to Honduras with me!

Straight from the interview I went to my sister's house to babysit the nieces.  I was excited because I love those girls and I hardly ever get to see them.  We had a blast watching Frozen, eating all the food in my sister's house, and hanging out.  It was a bit difficult with clingy Evan and my sister's baby both wanting to be held, but we managed.  I don't think I want four children anytime soon though.

Saturday was a blur but it consisted if grocery shopping and dinner at my bus friend Jacqui's house.  We grilled burgers and caught up on our lives.  I brought a veggie burger, since I gave up meat for Lent. 

On Sunday it was pretty quiet with some cooking, cleaning, and laundry thrown in there.  I made butternut squash and black bean enchiladas and then a teriyaki chicken (both recipes I got from Pinterest) for hubs.  And hubs polished my shoes.

He's been wanting to do that for a long time.  He thought my shoes were deplorable.  And ignore the sofa in that picture...I take the cushions out so Evan can pretend he's at a jungle gym.

Late last night I also realized that I had washed and dried Evan's clothes with a piece of chocolate.

I hope it doesn't stain! And a now I have to wash all his clothes all over again.  Boo!  I tried to take out the clothes without chocolate on them, but I didn't find any.  It's amazing what one piece of chocolate will do!

What's one fun thing you did this weekend?

I never thought I'd...Thursday

Have you ever done something that you never thought you'd do?  Yeah, me too.

I never thought I'd marry a Honduran.  Ever in my life.

Hubs and me in my Honduran house.

When I joined the Peace Corps, I specifically remember telling my PC friends that I couldn't imagine ever marrying a host country national - the cultural differences seemed immense and hard to overcome.  Language barriers, food differences, lifestyle differences, different moral codes.  How could it ever possibly work???

And then in March 2010 - I married a Honduran.  I sometimes still can't believe it myself.

And although my Spanish is pretty decent and we rarely have Spanish-English communication problems - we still have food preference differences and lifestyle differences and many other differences.  And sometimes it seems impossible to overcome these differences while at the same time they seem so small and insignificant.

And in all reality, I think most of our conflicts tend to be the exact same conflicts that all married couples have: who washes the dishes, whose turn is it to change the diaper, husband is golfing too much, wife takes seven hours to grocery shop, and we both pretend to need to use the bathroom when we want a secret minute of our own (i.e. Can you watch Evan while I use the bathroom quick sometimes = I'm going to go read five chapters of my book in the bathroom all by myself).

I'm not sure when I changed my mind about marrying a Honduran.  I don't think I really changed my mind completely.  I think I met Ivan, then felt like I wanted to marry HIM (as opposed to any Honduran).  And it's not like we are similar at all - we come from very different backgrounds and we have had practically opposite life experiences.  When I met him and we started dating, I just had a feeling that he was the one.  I knew shortly after we got together that I was probably going to marry him - eventually...after years of immigration paperwork and bills and expensive visits and interviews with embassies.

And the adjustments have been hard - him moving here, trying to learn English, adjusting to new food and new ways of doing things.  Our first year of marriage was tough and even now it takes a lot of work.  But it's worth it.  I remember when I was still in Honduras and I talked with a Peace Corps employee who had married a host country national 20 some years earlier - and she said that she loved her husband but if she had to do it all over again, she wouldn't marry him - that the cultural differences were so intense and her marriage took so much work, that it almost took the joy out of it.  She said she didn't regret it, but that if she had to make the decision again, she would make a different one.  Her opinion has stayed with me all this time - constantly making me wonder if in 20 years I would think the same thing.

On our honeymoon in Hersey Park.

Luckily, as of now, I would still marry my husband.  Hard work and all.  I think all marriages are hard and require a lot of communication, understanding, flexibility, and forgiveness.  Yes, my husband is obsessed with WWE wrestling, but I can forgive him for that.  :-)  And he hates garlic and most Italian food, but I can forgive him for that too.  :-)

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What is something you never thought you'd do?

What is the hardest thing about being married?

What do you do when you need ten minutes of peace and quiet?