Welcome to JoshandAllie.com

Mmmmm....crow.

*while searching for lost W-9's*

Allie: *irritated* I think we need to have a new rule. When I bring something out here, and you don't want it, don't just take it to the back room and dump it on the desk. Instead, put it somewhere where you know where it is. And then I won't "clean" it up. And we wouldn't lose things. And I think this would help us avoid incidents like this. *rant continues for a while as we keep looking*
Josh: *patiently* Okay.

Fifteen minutes later I found the W-9's in the bedroom, in a stack of stuff that I had cleaned off our kitchen counter one Sunday before we had people over for games. Yup, me. I picked up the W-9s, didn't want them and took them to the bedroom where I dumped them on my sidetable. And forgot about them. Blast it all. Hate it when that happens.

Getting around my holier-than-thou ego and out the door to apologize = tres difficult.

In other news....mmmmmm....crow.

Unintentionally funny...

The past few weeks have been spent getting together immigration forms to renew my green card - since the first one was issued less than two years into our marriage, the first green card is, essentially, a litmus test to make sure you intend to stay married before they give you the ten year card. So we have been scrambling to get things done, forms filled out, affidavits signed and notarized, and of course, there goes another hefty chunk of change turned over to the Dept of Homeland Security to cover the inconvenience of processing all forms yada yada yada.

Admittedly, time has flown over the past month and come this past weekend I was in a state of panic about getting this to USCIS (with a Post Box conveniently located in VERMONT? Really?) because it has to be received before my current card is up (Apr. 10th).

So Josh, being the good husband he is took it to the post office yesterday and priority overnighted it so I wouldn't be so stressed (and ornery) over it all.

And then we realized... they'll get our paperwork today.

Happy April Fools.

If anyone from USCIS is reading this - for the record...not a joke.

On the other hand...yay for the intrinsic comedic timing of my marriage. I'm amused anyways.

Josh's sock boy is a jerk.

Today in Little Big Planet Josh and I figured out how to have our sock people hit each other with frying pans. More accurately, Josh figured it out and spent ten minutes doing it incessantly until I insisted he teach me how so I could hit him back.

Josh: *thwack* *chuckle*
Allie: It's NOT funny.
Josh: *thwack* *chuckle* Yes it is.

A good five minutes later...
Allie: It's NOT nice to hit people with frying pans Josh.
Josh: It's not THAT not nice.

*Sigh*

Remember that time...

1) Bats flying at your head or just frantically around your livingroom look a lot larger when they're on the move than they do when they curl up in a terrified fuzzball.

2) Pandemic = a great co-op board game (go buy it). Also provides basis for developing excellent group problem solving skills...very useful to be playing this when bat shows up unexpectedly in your livingroom.

3) Panic is so much more fun when it occurs in a group...and that group contains at least one other girl...and everyone is not so much panicking as oscillating between frantic confusion and hysterical laughter.

4) Bat = added entertainment value to impromptu game night. Josh coming out to catch it in hardhat and with towel over his head a la Dwight = epic win.

Thanks to Jeff, Keith and Amy.... "remember that time we were playing that game and there was that bat..."

You all rock.

If at first you don't remember, make something up.

Josh: Just got a text from jeff, he's in Abilene now, seemed to think we'd see him tomorrow.
Allie: Okay...if he's here for UIL tho, that's pretty much a full time deal.
Josh: Isn't there a christian version of UIL?
Allie: Yup. Which one is he in?
Josh: Christian
Josh: Can you remember what the christian version of UIL was called?
Allie: WWJDIL.

Josh makes the paper....and I brag about him.

J made the paper yesterday for being awesome.

Here is the article:
Roberts, Garner. Connections made at Business Expo. (2009/03/26). Abilene Reporter News.

There's a couple characteristics of Josh that stand out to me in this article and I'm taking a few minutes to pontificate and be a braggy wife. Just indulge me. (Or quit reading, which ever!)

1) In a sea of people fixated on the past, my husband is the one letting that go and looking to the future. It seems to me a lot of people are stuck in the past, back in the "good old days," myself very often included in that group. Josh isn't one of those people - he lives in the now, and looks forward instead of back. I like that about him.

But, you say, the theme was "Connecting the past with the future...looking back was justified!"

Yes, says me...it was. Which brings me to my second point...Josh stands out because...

2) Josh is the one that took the second bit of the phrase... instead of the first bit and ran with THAT. In the opposite direction of the crowd.

Which just, frankly, makes him cool. And instead of showing up in a costume, or with some over-in-a-day gimmicky thing... my husband turned what was have been a 24 hour event into a 25 year cool as all get out time capsule project. He'll do it too... e-mail that stuff in 25 years. And probably be in the paper again. So prepare yourself for ANOTHER braggy post in 2034.

One of the things I love about Josh is that he's just different than everyone else...but different in a good way. He sees so many things from an unconventional point of view. He will quite happily plan waaaaay into the future - a talent I do not have, and often do not appreciate the way I should. He capitalizes on the overlooked. (No jokes about him marrying me!)

So yeah, props to you Josh. Way to be awesome. I'm proud of you!

A sappy blurb...and the "final four...." collection

Mark was here and now he's gone. Some night when I don't have to go put together wedding invites I'll wax eloquent on the joys of having family you actually LIKE...and who, when they show up, make the world a much more entertaining, comfortable and lovely place to be. Because that's what happens for me every time that Mark visits. But that night is not tonight. In the meantime, here are the last of the pictures... the final four days... of March Break 2009.

In all their high res glory...head over here and hit slideshow:

2009-03-19, marks trip (final four highlights)

Mark, I miss you already. Thanks SO much for coming down and brightening up my world. I love you so much! More than all the grains of dirt in the state combined.

See you next year??

Get your green on...

Have an inexplicable desire to see the bigger picture(s)? Head over to Picasa via the "Photos" link on the right hand side.

A few shots from playing with Boo last night.

Games, snakes and other weekendy stuff.

To see the bigger pictures version over on Picasa - click the photos link on the sidebar!

Nerd Magnet

While killing time chatting before Watchmen started:

Josh: I just started using Google reader. I like it.
Allie: I just started using that too, a couple of weeks ago. I like it. The only thing I don't like about it is, for reasons I don't understand, it refuses to pull the Garrison Keillor feed which is just REALLY frustrating to me.
(Guy next to me (the theatre was packed) starts chuckling and butts in)
Guy next to me: You know, I don't think anyone else in here would be that concerned over getting their Garrison Keillor feed working.
Allie: (affecting shame and excusing myself, while trying to hide surprise that someone actually knew who Garrison Keillor was) Well, y'know, we all have our quirks.
Guy NTM: I'm GLAD I sat next to you. I'm an English major.

And then we had a big long conversation about the Prairie Home Companion show here last fall. Which was delightful. (The show, and the conversation about it.)

At the end of the day what I took home from that is ... I'm a nerd magnet. That said...I quite adore nerd magnetism. It means I routinely find awesomely interesting people everywhere.

Yay for the nerds!