big money! no whammy!

Kirstie & Nathan (my sister & brother-in-law) visited last weekend, and we had a really good time. Most ridiculous thing we did? Well...Nathan decided that because he'd never been to a casino before, it was absolutely necessary that we go. So Saturday night, we did. I encourage you to visit any casino's website. You will see many photos of lovely, young, well-dressed people having the time of their lives. I think these people must have been hired, because do you know what we did see?

• Rows and rows and rows of slot machines
• A bright red plastic ashtray at each and every slot machine
• Old ladies clutching dollar bills in the left hand and a burning cigarette in the right hand
• Five middle-aged men on stage playing country music (and they weren't bad, really)
• A "non-smoking area," which measured about 100 square feet and was immediately adjacent to a cigarette vending machine

It was pretty crazy, and Nathan was less than impressed. I suspect this might have something to do with the fact that he put $10 in a slot machine and lost it all in about three minutes. "Big money! No whammy!" he said. But it was big whammy, no money.

We surveyed the despair around us and decided we didn't want to become senior citizens clutching their Social Security money at the penny slots. So we left and went for frozen yogurt.

Kirstie fared pretty well, though. Here she is with her winnings!

how i came to love my favorite pie

I'll admit it: though I'm definitely a foodie, I am a picky eater. A few years ago, my mom said to me, "Leah, you're the only person I know who's gotten more picky as she got older." That's certainly true. As a kid, I ate a lot of stuff I can't imagine putting in my body today. Spaghettios with meatballs. Kraft macaroni & cheese. Chicken McNuggets. Gross, gross and gross.

Like every kid, I was always afraid to try new foods. It was a battle to get me to take a bite of anything that I thought looked yucky. Especially yucky-looking to me were any foods that were brown. I just didn't dig brown stuff (exception: peanut butter, of course).

So, one Thanksgiving, when I was four or five, we were celebrating with my grandparents like we always did, and my family was feasting on pumpkin pie after the meal. My dad tried to feed me a bite, and I refused. After all, it was brown! It looked weird! Surely it would taste weird, too! My dad tried to persuade me again to take a bite, and I was uncooperative. Because he's determined, and because he knew I was a whiner, Dad tried a new tactic. Ready with a fork full of pumpkin pie, he kept badgering me to try it until I started whining about not wanting to. Then, when my mouth was open (mid-whine), he shoved the fork in my mouth.

To my dismay, I liked it. Oh no, I thought. This is really good, and I want more! But they will laugh at me if I ask for more because, just five seconds ago, I said it was yucky and I hated it! I think it was at that moment that I decided I would never let embarrassment keep me from enjoying pastries or baked goods of any kind. Sheepishly, I asked, "Can I have a piece?"

My family roared with laughter, but I didn't care. Dad was proud of me. (I think he was also a little proud of himself for discovering his new force-feeding tactic.) And that pie was de-licious.

It's still my favorite pie.

How many days until Thanksgiving?

tell me something bad about tulsa

I'll tell you something bad about Tulsa: Ross is moving there on Saturday!

It's not all bad news, though. Ross got a job! It was a totally random and serendipitous thing. In early March, we went to Tulsa one Friday to check out some potential housing options. We stopped at Whataburger when we got to town, and while we were eating, Ross got a phone call from a Tulsa number. Turns out it was the manager of Guitar Center who wanted to interview Ross for a full-time job. He went in a few hours later and got an offer the following week! Ross starts next Tuesday at his new job in pro audio sales! Hooray!

Only bad thing: Ross has to move Saturday, and I can't move until May. So, that's kind of a bummer. But I'm really glad he'll have something to do, and the money will be nice, too.

The Saturday Ross got his phone call was one of those days where everything just kind of fell into place. Ross got an interview. We found an apartment. I felt really great about our move to Tulsa. Hey, Big Guy Upstairs? Thanks.

what was i thinking?

Yesterday was my birthday.

I'm...twenty-seven.

*Sigh.*

A few days ago, my sister got accepted to nurse practitioner school. I would make a big hoop-la and congratulate her endlessly on the blog, but we were all expecting her to get in. She has an excellent job, and she made a 4.0 in college. It was a given!

Anyway, because of the large number of applicants, and because she expressed an interest in the part-time program, she was accepted into only the part-time program. She was glad to be accepted, but I think she was a little bummed. She'll have to go to school for three years instead of the two she'd planned on. "I'll be twenty-seven when I get out of school," she told my Mom. The tone in her voice said, That's just so old! 

In a way, it is old. I remember being a senior in high school, thinking that by the time I was 25 I'd be married and have a few kids already. Ha! What was I thinking?

It's strange how often that's a theme in my life. I lived in Yocum Hall for five semesters. Gross! What was I thinking? I repeatedly dated idiots throughout high school and college. Stupid! What was I thinking? When I was sixteen, I requested AND received a 1995 Ford Probe. What on EARTH was I thinking? When that Ford Probe's battery died, my then-boyfriend and I tried to jump the car and hooked up the battery cables backwards, blowing every fuse in the car! What was I thinking?

I think those moments are critical, though. Without those what was I thinking moments, would I be too prideful? Too confident? Too judgmental? Probably yes, yes and yes. So, I'm happy for the failures and the moments of idiocy.

Look at me. I'm so much older and wiser!*

*I'll bet you ten bucks that on my 35th birthday, I'll look back at this post and say, What was I thinking?

meet molly, our cousin/niece/whatever

Last weekend, before heading down to Conway for the Ward-Barron Extravaganza, we headed north to Springfield, Missouri, to meet this little two-day-old:

This is Miss Molly Abigail Floyd, the newborn daughter of Ross's cousin, Sara, and her husband, Justin. (Whew! That sentence had a lot of commas. I apologize!)

Isn't she a cutie?

She didn't open her eyes much when we were there, but she was only about 52 hours old. I guess we can't blame her. She'd had a traumatic few days, what with being born and all.

Even Ross held Molly for a few minutes.

You can read lots more about Molly on her momma's blog. She was born on Tuesday, February 16. She's almost two weeks old already! I'm sure by now she's, oh, twice the size that she is in these pictures. Kids today. They grow like weeds.

Now, to the purpose of today's post. Technically, Molly is our first cousin once removed. Or, if you don't do that "once removed" stuff, she's our second cousin (although technically, that's incorrect, and all you people who don't do the "once removed" stuff are confusing your future generations, genealogically speaking!). But "first cousin once removed" just sounds BORING. What kid has ever said, "Mom, I want to go visit my first cousins once removed Ross and Leah!"? Answer: no kid.

So, I hereby announce and declare that henceforth we shall be known to Molly as Uncle Ross and Aunt Leah. I reason that this is only fair because I only have one sister who hasn't had kids* yet, and because Ross has no siblings, so his opportunity to be an uncle is unfairly limited.

Note: We haven't actually discussed this with Molly's family yet, so this announcement is official pending further review.

*My sister and brother-in-law haven't had human kids yet, but Ross and I were thrilled to become aunt and uncle to our favorite niece-dog, Margo!