I learned today that this year there were 500 applicants for each opening in the local public schools.

I know a lot of people that can't do anything but wait and hope that they'll be one of those lucky few, even though schools are starting in two weeks.

It makes me very thankful for the job that I have, even if it's not my dream job.

It also makes me thankful that we will soon (well not that soon) be moving to a much smaller community.

Autumn weather...will come someday.

If you want to come visit me you'd better get over here quick. Today we are having the first day with cool, cloudy, breezy weather that is actually under 80 degrees since April. Now I know that Fall is not yet in sight, instead we have another long month of summer ahead.

But the weather outside today is beautiful. It makes me want to dig out my sweaters and jackets prematurely. It also gets me thinking about adding a bread maker to my Christmas list. mmm. Warm, soft bread, fresh cinnamon rolls, breadsticks. I need one.

I love Fall. I need to move somewhere where it comes when I'm ready for it. Not just after 6 months of humid summertime.

Today is Ryan's first day of the new school year. Yes, it's Saturday, but we've already established that everyone going to law school is crazy. I've stopped asking questions about the specifics.

That leaves me, with the first Saturday in a while at home, to relax with a bowl of golden grahams, a little apple juice and an extra large, extra comfy Packers sweatshirt.

Unfortunately, my peace has been interrupted by a rowdy maintenance crew working on the empty apartment next door as well as the strong fishy smell from last night's dinner that forced me to turn on our over-zealous dishwasher (for those of you who have visited us, you know how ridiculously loud that thing is).

At this point all that is left for me to do is to take advantage of the cool 88 degree weather of this morning and use those muscles that I used to have back when I did more than sit all day. Or I could just climb back into my soft bed and pull out a book. hmm, tough choice.

I'll get back to you about that...

Dutch words.

With only one week until classes start, we have been scrambling to fit in all the fun summer activities that we can. While we haven't been climbing mountaintops, we have been welcoming back many of our friends who had spent the summer elsewhere.

Yesterday, we also welcomed a new law student who was a fellow college classmate, now a fellow alum, I guess, and who grew up just a few blocks from my cousins down in Iowa. She has made the trek out to the Atlantic, leaving behind all that is familiar in the midwest.

Ryan and I enjoyed the chance to talk about college and home (for him anyways) with someone with a delightful midwestern accent (I was apparently the only one who noticed the accent). I was also the only one who noticed the Dutch words that had slipped into the conversation.

After she left, I went on a mission to figure out what these foreign words actually, literally meant in English. The problem is that most people who still use these words have forgotten (or never realized) that they aren't actually English words.

I have found that one easy way to figure out if a word is English or just a Dutch remnant still used in the middle of English is to ask the speaker how to spell the word. Without a doubt, they stop and think, maybe start with a few letters, but never quite figure it out. Those words are only spoken in the gaps where our great grandmothers couldn't find an English word that quite said what they wanted to say.

So I have decided to go on a search to find the spelling, as well as literal translations, for all those little words that are still used.

Today's word is "benauwd" commonly pronounced ben-out. When I heard this word in conversation yesterday, I knew that I had heard it before, whether from my grandmother or someone else, I'm not sure. But I only had a vague idea of what it actually meant. In my head, I usually translated it as "bent out" like "I'm feeling a bit bent out of shape today."

What I discovered (after a quick call to my mom, and some searching on google translator) was that benauwd means something like "stuffy, uncomfortable, stifling, and cramped." Yesterday, it was used in reference to the feeling when driving through the bridge tunnel and realizing that you are actually driving underneath the river.

For my next words, I think I'm going to have to search a little harder. Maybe even give my grandmothers a call to see how much they can remember. I'm definitely going to start integrating them into my vocabulary and conversation. Even if no one around here understands.

With some extra time on my hands this summer, I've been able to do a few of the things that have been on my list for a while. Such as refinish this jewelry box that my grandmother gave me when I was a kid.

The light colored wood just didn't go with the other furniture that I had in my bedroom. Although I think that a certain husband of mine was starting to imagine last summer's humongous painting projects when I drug him through the home department and picked up sand paper, I tried to calm him by explaining that it was only one little project and I wouldn't ask him to help.

The wood sanded down really easily and after a

few coats of dark brown paint and a some more sanding, I ended up with a brand new accessory for my room:

I even surprised myself by pulling off a slightly distressed look.

The credit for the other part of our bedroom's new look has to go entirely to Ryan. We decided to stick to traditional gifts for our first anniversary (which would be paper), and technically, artwork is made out of paper. He picked out these lovelies for above our bed:

These pictures match the rest of our bedroom perfectly, and I love the vintage feel.

It's really starting to feel like I'm finally out of college and out of the dorm room. I won't ever have to use an old cardboard box for a table or tape pictures to my bedframe! Instead I have real furniture and real decor for my home.

From the west coast to prairies, back to the Pacific, again across the Great Plains and on to the Atlantic; this beauty keeps racking up the miles.

It's a good thing our value doesn't depreciate as we age.

As for my car, it's still just as lovable...to me anyways.

A quick sidenote: I was not driving and taking pictures at the same time. I was just the one taking pictures.