An Invasion of Sorts

It is no secret that I hate bugs, flying insects, and creepy crawlies of just about every size, shape, and form.  The only bug I can somewhat tolerate is a ladybug.  By tolerate I don't mean that I want them in my bed or crawling on me, but I do not feel the need to stop everything and kill them right away.

Something mysterious is going on in our apartment.  Let me explain that we live upstairs in an old house.  I don't know the year this house was built, but it is so old we have a light switch that I saw in one episode of "The Waltons".

Let me share my story, if you please.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a wonderful chicken dish cooking in the crock pot all day long.  Brian came home from work, and while sitting down to relax, we noticed two flies roaming about.  (No, they did not come through the door.  We have a long staircase between the outside door and the door to our apartment.)  There were two more a bit later.  Brian and I tag teamed, one with the all-natural bug repellent, and the other with the fly swatter while we chased them around until our place was free from the creepy things at last.

Fast forward to last night.

I made a turkey stew, and it was a quick meal to prepare.  No crock pot cooking for hours, permeating the entire house.  The whole thing took a half hour at most.  As soon as I was done and scooped myself a bowl (Brian had a late night, so I was on my own), what buzzes past my head? You guessed it.  I covered my dish and decided to deal with the intruder.  Fortunately, he landed on the sink and I swatted him and flushed him down the drain.

It wasn't over.

There were two more, but they didn't go so easily.  I armed myself with my all-natural bug repellent and trusty fly swatter, and I donned a hat for good measure.  Why of all nights did Brian have to come home late this night?  I couldn't do anything else but chase these flies.  It took a while, but I FINALLY got the last of the suckers, and Brian came home moments later.  He was proud that I am slowing becoming a country girl at last.

So I wonder, is this a PA thing, having houseflies, or an old house thing?  I can remember growing up we only had a housefly if the door was held open a little too long and the intruder managed to get inside.  Here, we have nothing open, and they only seem to come out for dinner, so I think they must either be in the attic or in the walls.  I shudder to think they are lying in wait, ready to fly out when I cook my next meal.

Brian and I hope to have good news to share on this blog soon about a new home.  Until then, it's a battle in here!

Rhubarb Coffee Cake

Years ago, my friend Debbie introduced me to rhubarb by means of a strawberry-rhubarb pie.  It was love at first bite.  Yum!  Since then, I have made quite a few strawberry-rhubarb pies, but it is sometimes difficult to grab rhubarb at the grocery store for the small window of time it is there each spring.

Two summers ago was my first time at Brian's home in NY.  Much to my surprise, his mother actually grows rhubarb in her backyard.  I left that visit with an armful of rhubarb, and when I returned to my home in NJ, I had so much that I had to figure out what else to do with it.  I ended up making rhubarb coffee cake in addition to my much-loved pie.

Brian, however, strongly dislikes rhubarb.  Just a couple of weekends ago, while visiting his parents', Brian's mom again allowed me to walk away with plenty of rhubarb.  Since he dislikes it, and I can't very well eat a whole strawberry-rhubarb pie by myself, I turned again to the rhubarb coffee cake.  I got a little bit sneaky, and decided to cut up the pieces of rhubarb really small, and I figured that the taste would not be noticeable if I did so.  I was right.

When Brian came home from work, I told him that I made coffee cake, and I didn't mention the dreaded ingredient.  He tasted it, thought it was delicious, and that was the end of it.  I told him just before writing this post that it did, in fact, have rhubarb in it.  He was only momentarily shocked to find he had eaten his sworn enemy, but I think I maybe proved that rhubarb can be good, even for him.

If only he would like to eat strawberry-rhubarb pie!  Perhaps I will make one anyway.  More for me!

Sharing Each Other's Interests

I have been looking forward to this summer for some time.  For the first summer since I met Brian three years ago, we don't have to travel back and forth to see one another.  Last summer was particularly crazy.  Between trying to plan our wedding and packing up/preparing to move, it was a whirlwind.  After our honeymoon, Brian was right back to work and that's when I began to look forward to this summer... a hopefully and expectantly un-chaotic, calm, peaceful summer of my dreams.

Perhaps I should not dream TOO big.

In our excitement, we often speak of things we want to do this summer. Earlier today, one thing came up in conversation that I did NOT want to do. Whilst cleaning our DVD cabinet, Brian came across his Yankees World Series DVD (I believe it was '96?), and casually asked me if I would watch it with him. I said an emphatic "no" included with a very strong "I will not". Yikes, I hope I didn't sound like an unreasonable wife, but I did watch the Superbowl with him (a thing single Courtney would never have done in a million years), and I've endured my fair share of listening to recordings of junior high and high school bands over the past few months.

As my husband continued to ask me if I would please watch it with him, I said that I would not unless he would sit down and watch Jane Austen with me. To both of our satisfaction, an agreement began to take form. "How long are those movies?"  "Well, 'Pride & Prejudice' BBC version is something like five hours, and that's just one." He decided to throw in another baseball thing to even out the difference. I tried to tell him that I have three versions of 'Emma' and at least two of everything else, but I won't make him watch all the versions. I won't be that mean.

So now the only challenges that remain are preventing my mind from wandering during baseball and keeping Brian from falling asleep during Jane Austen.  Think we can do it?

Memorial Day Weekend

Since Brian's school district tacked two unused snow days onto Memorial Day weekend, we decided to head up to see his parents.  Brian's folks escape the winter cold at their second home in Arizona for a few months each year, and we hadn't seen them since just before Christmas.

I really like Brian's hometown.  Every time I'm up there, I stare in awe at the landscape- rolling hills that seem to go on and on- so unlike where I grew up.  Yes, I had the beach, but everywhere else in my neck of the woods was completely built up.  If there was a speck of land, they'd build something on it.  Another store, another strip mall, another Dunkin Donuts, etc.  It was convenient all right.  It just wasn't very pretty.  Driving on Brian's very own street, it looks like a postcard.  I can't get enough of looking at it.

We had a great visit.  We spent time with Brian's parents who seem to enjoy my stories of what it is like to live with their son.  We also had a lovely visit with our niece and nephew, Brian's sister and brother-in-law, Brian's grandma (I call her "Grandma", too), and Brian's cousin Debbie.  Oh, and we absolutely cannot forget Puttitat.

Here are a few photos of our time with Lauren and Ethan:

Aren't they cute? :)

Busiest Week of the Year

Since Brian and I had a long distance relationship, I never got to see him conduct a concert until this past December.  Now I think he is getting used to me waiting in the wings, camera in hand, as I proudly watch him lead his band make some pretty terrific music.

I don't envy his work.  It's a job I could never do, I believe, even if I were a musical genius.  This year has been a learning experience for me as I've observed just all the craziness his job entails.  And just having to cart the large, heavy instruments from here to there would be enough for me to turn in my resignation.  Or maybe I'd have to get a gym membership in order to lift the cumbersome things. Anyway, I digress.

Last week was the busiest week of the entire school year for Brian.  If there was an event to be had, it was.  His spring concert was on Tuesday.  This was excellent preparation for the upcoming competition for the band on Thursday as the students performed two of the three songs they would play before judges.  In my opinion, I thought the band sounded great, and I am always so proud to see Brian throw himself into the song he is conducting in order to bring out the best in his students.

On Thursday he and his junior and senior high bands went to the yearly competition where they would be judged, critiqued, graded, dissected, etc. before some pretty important people in the state of NY.  His senior high band was at a great disadvantage due to the absence of Brian's best all-state player whose father had just passed away.  Both bands performed well, but I can say from my own listening experience, as least with the high school band, they performed better at the concert, no doubt to having the full band present.  In any case, both bands were challenged, and Brian was proud of them.

Brian finished the week on Friday doing some judging of his own.  It was a tiring week, but we are looking forward to things winding down in the weeks before graduation.

Here is Brian with his jazz band.  This is a new group that just started this year.

The junior high band gets ready to play.

Brian works with his senior high band before their performance in front of the dreaded judges.

Terrible lighting, I know, but this is the high school band about to perform in an auditorium much larger than what they are used to.

Band Mom

My career as a band mom has officially begun.  After Brian and I got engaged last year, he didn't tell his students right away.  He wanted to wait for an important moment to do so, so he decided that the right time was when his students just performed at their band festival and he was giving them their ranking.  He said that next year, he'd be bringing along a new chaperone... the Mrs.  They were very glad for him, and no doubt surprised, since he never mentioned he had a girlfriend.  For the record, neither did I to my students (a boyfriend, that is), and while happy for me, they couldn't believe I had never informed them of such a significant detail.

Truth be told, I do miss my students.  They brought both joy and headaches to my life, but I miss interacting with them.  Some of them may have given me grief, but I also received plenty of love, and it was hard saying goodbye to them.

So when Brian asked me to help him chaperone his students at their solo festival, I was happy to do so.  Brian was so excited to introduce me to his students and break me into my new role.  I only met a portion of his students, but they were very receptive of me, and I even had a couple of nice chats with a few of the girls.  It made me miss my kids even more.

This week, I'll be helping once again as all ninety-four of his students will be heading to their band festival.  I'm glad to have the opportunity to join my husband in his work and interact with teenagers once again.

But for the record, the term "Band Mom" makes me feel really old.

A Daily Surrender

I read this in one of my devotional books a couple of weeks ago, and it's been with me ever since.

"But is it our business to pry into what may happen tomorrow?  It is a difficult and painful exercise which saps the strength and uses up the time given us today.  Once we give ourselves up to God, shall we attempt to get hold of what can never belong to us- tomorrow?  Our lives are His, our times in His hand, He is Lord over what will happen, never mind what may happen.  When we prayed, 'Thy will be done,' did we suppose He did not hear us?  He had indeed, and daily makes our business His and partakes of our lives.  If my life is once surrendered, all is well.  Let me not grab it back, as though it were in peril in His hand but would be safer in mine!" ~ Elisabeth Elliot, "Keep a Quiet Heart"  (Book given to me by my friend Ruth.)

I can always count on Elisabeth Elliot to put things into the right perspective.  Oh, how wonderfully true these words are!  Lately, I have found myself worried about various things in my life, all of which I cannot control and cause me grief in one form or another.  When I read these words, it was like seeing my reflection in a mirror.  Did I walk away immediately transformed?  I wish!  No, it is a daily surrender.

I remember reading Elisabeth Elliot's "Through Gates of Splendor".  In that book, she writes of the journey that resulted in the death of her husband and four other missionary men in Ecuador.  When the men were on what would be their final mission, "Operation Auca", they had planned to contact their wives by radio at a designated time to let them know of their progress.  At the appointed time, the radio was silent.  The women knew something was wrong, but they didn't give in to despair or grief.  Elisabeth, in fact, went on to teach one of her classes even as the fate of her husband was still uncertain.  She didn't do what I would have done, which would have consisted of canceling everything so I could sit and fret until I heard word.

When the ladies did finally learn the truth, no one lost control or threw themselves on the floor in a fit of tears.  No one cursed God and pounded the floor with their fists, nor did they start saying, "Why me?"  They understood that His plans are infinitely bigger than ours.  Though they did grieve the loss of their husbands and the fathers to their children, they did so with dignity, all the while trusting in their Savior.

What a lesson for us all!  How I wish my faith were as strong, and I pray that God is not done with me yet, but that as He keeps dipping me back into the furnace, I will eventually, even faintly, resemble something of His image.