life, lately

• Time has been passing in the blink of an eye. Probably because I have nothing much to do. I fill my days with crocheting, gardening, cooking, job searching... and sometimes even cleaning [though Thomas likely wishes cleaning would be first on that list]. I'm more of a creative housewife than a practical housewife. Which is probably why I was attracted to a practical man.
• Thomas is working hard, as he always does. We are grateful for his good engineering job in this economic climate. 
• Back to the time thing... I could have sworn just yesterday it was February. And now we're nearing June. I don't remember March turning into April turning into May... it all seems like a big blur.
• In about two weeks, Thomas's parents and two youngest brothers will be visiting us here in Dallas. We haven't seem them since Christmas in Oregon. They're in the U.S. for the year, so we get to see them more than usual. It's going to be so fun to show them around this city that we call home [for now].
• Texas is well on its way to being unbearably hot. Lucky for me, I'll escape one of the hottest months by spending July in England with my family - hurrah! [for escaping the heat, yes, but mainly for seeing my family]. To give you an idea of how long it's been since I saw some of them... the last time I saw my youngest brother Matthew was at our wedding in South Africa. He was eleven then. He is now fourteen. I hardly recognize pictures of him! Thomas is coming along for the first week of July, but then he has to come back here to work.
• Right after I get back from England at the end of July, Thomas and I fly straight to Oregon for a Congdon Family Reunion. Thomas's father is one of twelve Congdon siblings. And Thomas has over sixty cousins, just on the Congdon side of his family. It's going to be lovely to finally meet everyone... I've met many of them already, but with a family this size there are always more people to get to know!
• I've been really wanting to read this book... I've heard lots of good things about it. I want to see the movie as well, but I have a rule than I only watch a movie after I've read the book.

• I also really want one of these. The Kindle 3G. *Drool* ... then I could read Water for Elephants on it.

• A few days ago I discovered Pinterest. I have been pinning and re-pinning all my favorite things to my boards non-stop. I love it. [You probably have no idea what I'm talking about... basically, it's a place online that's one big virtual creative idea board].  I'm getting so many brilliant ideas... good books to read, new recipes, fabulous designs and concepts for my future dream house, ways to better organize space in our little apartment... you name it, Pinterest has an idea board for it. You can follow people's boards, kind of like on Twitter. If you want an invitation (for some reason, you have to get an invite to join), let me know. It's awesome.
• I feel obliged to share something about Thomas now since most of this post is about me. How egocentric of me. This is the Congdon Chronicles, after all. Not the Sarah Chronicles. So. Thomas. He likes this site called Gizmodo. It's all about newfangled gadgets and technology and world events relating to such things. He keeps up with all that, so he always knows about stuff like the newest smartphone and when space shuttles are taking off. 
• Currently, Gizmodo [along with much of the media] is ablaze with comically satirical articles about how today is apparently the beginning of the end of the world... May 21st 2011... which, according to a fellow called Harold Camping, is the day of the rapture. I don't know about you, but I'm still here. *Looks around* So is Thomas. Gasp!  We've been left behind!
• Anyhoo, back to Thomas. He's just smart, and he knows everything, and he can fix anything. When the computer isn't doing what I want it to, I tend to bang on it. Thomas comes over to rescue the poor inanimate object, and makes it do what I need it to do with a few clicks. When a giant Texan tree cockroach gets into the house, he hunts it down and disposes of it. Things that fall apart in my hands are capably put back together in his hands. What would I do without him? {Confession: I just glanced over at him again to make sure he hadn't been raptured without me. Now that would be unfair.}
• Well, there you have it, folks... the happenings of our lives, lately.