New Home

The duplex we're moving to is by no means a palace. It's pretty humble, but when compared item by item to HC, the title "palace" makes a little more sense. Here's why I love our new place:

1. New House has a hall coat closet AND a pantry (instead of a hall coat closet that we use as a pantry and kitchen chairs used as coat closets).
2. New House has more than four feet of counter space AND half the counter space is not blocked by a dryer.
3. New House has a "grown up" sized oven and stove top.
4. New House has a garbage disposal.
5. New House has a garage.
6. New House has carpet. New house will have new carpet in February.
7. New House has an upstairs.
8. New House has cupboards under the bathroom sink.
9. New House has space enough in the bathroom for 2 people of similar heights to brush their teeth without elbowing each other in the face. (In the current bathroom, one of us sits on the toilet or the edge of the bathroom while the other stands.)
10. New House has a "small" bedroom that is bigger than our biggest bedroom.
11. New "small" bedroom does not need to house our dryer.
12. New House walls get to be painted the colors of our choosing.
13. New House allows new family members...of the canine variety!

However, I don't want anyone to think that I don't appreciate where we've been living for the past 2 years and some months. Here are some perks of HC that New House may not provide.

1. HC has a bathroom small enough that if someone tries to open the door while you're in there, the door will hit you but nothing will be seen.
2. HC is small enough that if you have a party you don't need to plan an icebreaker. The decreased personal space will take care of that.
3. HC never lets you be lonely. It provides you with bugs--both company and agility training.
4. HC increases storage idea creativity.
5. HC encourages one to purge unneeded items. (see previous posts!)
6. HC provides lots of awesome neighbors!
7. HC is sometimes like an international vacation with great culinary experiences!
8. HC is a place where other people take care of my lawn and the snow.
9. HC had a broken gas meter for 2 years (not to our knowledge) so we just started paying for heat this fall.
10. HC has cinderblock walls which I believe are tornado proof.
11. HC is like a diet coach because the oven is so small you can only make a few cookies at a time.
12. HC is small enough that it only takes me 5 seconds to find Dexter without even talking.
13. HC builds character.

HC, I will miss the other people that live in you and very few other things about you, but I am glad I lived in you so that I have stories to tell my kids someday.

Free CDs (in paper cases)

Let me know if you want any of the following CDs. I don't want them, and I've lost their cases.

Ten Shekel Shirt - "Much" (You'll know TSS for the song "Meet with Me"
Delirious - "Cutting Edge" disc 1 (includes "Shout to the North")
Delirious - "King of Fools"
MXPX - The Ever Passing Moment (it's embarrasing, but Dexter and I had 2 of these between us when we got married)

Such a great crowd of witnesses

Hebrews 11:8-10, 16
"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God...Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."

I found these verses so reassuring today. We are praying that God will lead us to "a city where we can settle." My heavenly Father will provide an eternal city for me, so how much easier should it be for me to have faith that he will provide a city on earth!

Vegetarian Thanksgiving

I am one of four vegetarians (all ranging in degrees of commitment and strictness) who will be at my family's Thanksgiving celebration this year. I want to bring a vegetarian main-dish that can also be a side for the meat eaters. I've looked at a few websites but haven't found anything too fantastic. Any suggestions?

All Packed Up and Nowhere to Go

For the past two weeks, I've been finding all of our non-essential items, organizing, purging, and packing. It's made me realize how much we have that we could really live without. Right now, ten boxes have been packed, padded, labeled, and stored away. Ten boxes of books, picture frames, various home decorations, and dishes that I know will not be essential for us to have in the next two months, or ever really. We don't even know where we'll put the things we do "need" in December.

We also have one gigantic, heaping box of things to get rid of. I've been thinking of how to get rid of some of these things, and I've decided to pawn them off on you, dear reader. So, if you see anything on the following list that strikes your fancy, let me know. I'll probably edit this post to add more items as the packing continues and to remove things that have been taken if this turns out to be a successful way of getting rid of clutter.

So, here it goes.

1 large green plastic watering can (probably holds 2 gallons)
1 pink 5" x 7" multi-pocket file
1 Michelangelo action figure (the Ninja Turtle, not the artist)
1 package with 2 iron-onto-fabric velco strips with velcro letters
2 Motorola phone chargers
1 navy blue and black spaghetti strap dress from Express, size Small (FYI: this is not originally mine and I only tried it on once--on me, it was not a pretty picture.)
1 black men's wallet, used, has a sticker on the inside
2 floral teacups and saucers
40 (plus a bag of extras) Christmas cards that are light blue and say "Peace on Earth" in silver
1 cast-iron (I think) bowl holder (the bowl is broken but it can hold other like-sized dishes)
1 bill organizer with small storage drawer
1 white baseball cap with a grey tree on the front
20 mini bungee cords
1 owl beanie baby with a graduation cap that says Class of 2004
1 large glass vase
1 ballerina doll that spins on her toes, clothes for her and a full length ballet mirror
2 contact cases
1 unopened bottle of contact solution, equate brand
1 L.E.D. head lamp
1 small navy blue make-up bag
1 bright light green short-sleeved sweater with a small stain I didn't want to try that hard to get out
1 light and dark green striped shirt with stars on it, Junior's medium
1 silver Faith Hope Love bracelet
1 bracelet/ankle bracelet, pink suede ties, flower on a piece of shell
3 stretchy pink beaded necklaces
1 faux pearl necklace with silver chain
1 set faux pearl earrings (a bunch of small faux pearls grape-style on each earring)
1 set stud earrings with faux pearl flower
1 bracelet with pink and purple crystals

Kitchen items:
2 plastic goblets, 1 blue and 1 pink
2 very large pink plastic cups
3 ice cube trays to make skinny ice cubes to put in water bottles
1 pinapple cutter
1 citrus juicer
1 thermos
1 black sake set
1 corkscrew
1 pasta serving measure
3 plastic spoons
1 large whisk
1 pasta server
1 somewhat dull chopping knife
1 plastic lettuce knife

Books: (I don't vouch for all of these...)
Mr. Darcy's Daughters by Elizabeth Aston
Waking Up American: Coming of Age Biculturally edited by Angela Jane Fountas
Tokugawa Religion: The Cultural Roots of Modern Japan by Robert Bellah
Asthma for Dummies
Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free by Nancy Leigh DeMoss
Trends of Civilization and Culture by Charles Gray Shaw
Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren
Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas
The Mammoth Book of Roman Whodunnits edited by Mike Ashley
258 Great Dates While You Wait by Shelenberger & Johnson
Perfect Peace by Hannah Whitall Smith
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
An Open Heart by The Dalai Lama
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Volkswagen Blues by Jaques Poulin (written in French)
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
The Greek View of Life by Dickinson
Storm Front (Book 1 of the Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher
Fool Moon (Book 2 of the Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher
Grave Peril (Book 3 of the Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher
Dead Beat (A Novel of the Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher
The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Tricky Business by Dave Barry
The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (if you like to build fires, this one's for you)
Lord Peter by Dorothy Sayers
Vanity Fair by Thackeray (very poor condition)
The Complete Book of Creative Scrapbooking

My yo-yo is God's straight line

I have a countdown for graduation on my google homepage. For a long time, I've seen it as a beacon of hope for my escape into the real world. Once that timer went off, I was going to live somewhere else, have a job, and have a plan.

Now, my countdown has begun to taunt me. One month and seventeen days until I am no longer a student, no longer qualify for student health insurance, no longer can live in university housing, no longer can pay for food with student loans. One month and seventeen days until I need to know what I am going to do for money, where I am going to live, how I am going to take care of myself when I'm sick.

We've had these decisions in mind for years and have been trusting that God would come through. First, we were really attached to the idea of moving back to Des Moines. Beautiful Des Moines with its free parking downtown on Saturdays, its plethora of movie theatres and restaurants, its non-college-towny feel, its crowds of family. Then, we realized that obedience might take us to other places. For a while, we wanted to go to Korea. We were always "open" to the idea that God might keep us in Iowa City.

Two Sundays ago, Dexter and I prayed, read scripture, and made lists, concluding that maybe it really was God's will for us to go to Des Moines. I excitedly sent out letters of interest to school districts around Des Moines.

But as soon as we started telling our house church what we thought God's will could be, I did not want to leave. I wanted to stay in Iowa City with my church that I knew and with people that I knew would encourage me. At some point during the week, Dexter talked me down from my violent rejection of the idea of moving to Des Moines.

Yesterday, Dexter and I prayed, read scripture, and made more lists. We concluded that maybe it was God's will for us to stay in Iowa City. Dexter would have a job at Capanna, I could substitute teach, and we could keep our close relationships with our spiritual brothers and sisters. We spent the afternoon looking up apartments that would be available this winter. Maybe by August there would be Capanna business to be done in Des Moines and an ESL job there for me.

Today I got a call from the Des Moines Public Schools asking me to interview for a substitute teaching position. I have an interview next Monday. I've heard that "getting your foot in the door" can be a surefire way of landing a job when one becomes available.

I keep reminding myself of Psalm 107:7, which says, "He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle." I believe that our considering these different options is a step along the path God has laid for us. Even though I feel like I am being jerked back and forth by different ideas, I know that God knows every step in the process and sees each step as step forward in his "straight way." I'm praying that God's straight way includes us knowing where we should live by the time we graduate, and I'm praying even more that I would trust him even if it didn't.

Proverbs 15:22 says, "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed." So, if you have any wisdom to share, my ears are open.

Starving

Between now and my last post, I've realized that I have an addiction-like issue with food. I eat it when I'm bored, when I'm sad, and even after I decide not to eat it because I'm not hungry (and then I realize I'm eating it when I'm putting it in my mouth or when I feel yucky because I'm too full). When I'm at student teaching and I'm bored, I start thinking about when the next recess or special class will be and what I'm going to eat then. My choices for those times are usually healthy, so thinking about my banana or carrots isn't that bad. But I just get uncomfortable when I realize how much time and energy my thoughts about eating are eating up.

At school, my thoughts seem to be, "Will I have time to eat? What if I don't get to eat enough? What if...gasp...I get really hungry?!" I'd been thinking about fasting a day or skipping a meal to help myself get over my irrational dread of hunger. I don't know why I have this fear because I've never had a serious lack of food at any time in my life.

God must have agreed with me and knew that I wouldn't follow through on the fasting front, because I left my lunch at home today. I couldn't think of any fast food places nearby and didn't want to eat school lunch because it had meat in it, so I decided to take it as my opportunity to experience and survive hunger.

Luckily, I had a bowl of yummy home-made oatmeal with soy milk and pumpkin puree in it for breakfast, so when 10:00 rolled around and my students were at recess, I could tell myself I didn't need a snack, even if one was available. I even resisted the Nilla Wafers my students had as a snack because of their PHOs. I was so proud of myself.

Lunchtime came and I was hungry. I bought a chocolate milk from the cafeteria to tide me over and drank plenty of water throughout the morning. We left for a field trip at 12:30 and I still felt hungry but not sick or crabby, which is how I usually feel when the word "need" can start to come into play with food. It wasn't until about 2:00 that I began to feel really really hungry, get a headache, and have crankiness creep in.

I'm glad I have the Holy Spirit, because I don't know how I would have otherwise dealt so patiently and nicely with sitting by "the naughty kid" on the half-hour bus ride back from our field trip (which involved smelling an unpleasant smelling nut he'd acquired on the trick, lots of rock paper scissors, and saying "Sit down! Sit down on your bottom. Turn around. Leave Riley alone," more times than I can count) or reading Spot books on the floor to ten arguing first graders while both my legs fell asleep. Instead, I was even able to be pleasant to my husband, who usually experiences the brunt of my hunger-induced moodiness, which probably increased his sympathy for me and made him happy to warm me up a plate of squash/butter/milk/cheese noodle leftovers.

So, I've learned that when I get really hungry, I get awful headaches and my whole body aches and the aching lasts for a really really long time. However, almost anything can induce this type of headache for me, so hunger is by no means the only enemy. I think I'll take my lunch to work tomorrow, but I feel like I've at least conquered part of my mental battle.

Weighty Thoughts

My mom has always told me that I would stay thin without effort until I had a baby or turned 30, whichever came first, because this is what happens to women in my family.

I never gained the "freshman fifteen." However, over the past two years, between the ages of 21 and 23, I've been working on the "marital fifteen." At the beginning of the summer when we stopped eating meat, I was thinking that my new diet chosen for ethical reasons would probably slow down or stop my gain. This theory, along with my mom's theory about my future weight gain, proved to be wrong. There have been some pros--I can wear more clothes from the women's section, which is helpful when one wants to look like a grown up. There have also been some cons--I have some jeans I really love which are now difficult to put on and give me some lovely muffin tops.

I've been contemplating why I've been gaining weight and have come up with some new explanations.

• My ridiculously sedentary lifestyle
• Emotional eating (which includes eating out of boredom or because it sounds fun)
• I really like cooking and really hate wasting
• Stress from school (emotional eating trigger)
• A husband who really likes eating
• Having fun activities/dates revolve around eating
• A newfound love for cheese
• A love for the deliciously sweet and sparkling taste of cola

My solutions:

• Exercise sometimes
• Only eat when I'm hungry
• Cook fewer desserts and more healthy meals
• Find new ways to deal with school stress (exercising, reading)
• Finding non-eating-related hobbies
• Chill out on the cheese--find other protein sources
• Save pop for a more rare "dessert" option
• Avoid high fructose corn syrup

My questions for you: Any unhealthy areas that trip you up that I should look for in my life? And, what are your favorite ways to exercise in the winter that don't involve gym memberships or treadmills (and like equipment) at home?

A Good Man

I left for student teaching this morning at 7:15. During the day, I picked up a headache, massacred a math lesson, and taught a science lesson where kids got to mess around with rocks and water. I was hungry and tired and was expecting the door to be locked and that I'd have to put down my heavy bags, dig for my keys, and unlock the door. As I walked up to the door, I saw that it was open and saw that my kitchen table was on the carpet in the living room. Then, I saw Dexter scrubbing the floor tile by tile because it wasn't clean enough after he swept and mopped. I love this guy!

Why I Love My New Bread Maker

Or, The Things I Accomlished While Simultaneously Baking Bread

1. Washed two sinks full of dishes

2. Reorganized the pictures and magnets on my fridge

3. Helped Dexter with Spanish

4. Did two loads of laundry

5. Cleaned the bathroom

The Things I Did Not Do While/After Baking Bread

1. Get flour all over my clothes/in my hair

2. Spread flour all over my kitchen

3. Break the folding leaf on my kitchen table while kneading

4. Wonder if I was letting too much flour get into the dough while kneading

5. Eat bread with high fructose corn syrup or other chemicals in it

Things I Am Unsure About

1. How can a machine do that?

2. How does the salt keep away from the yeast enough to rise?

3. Is my bread supposed to rise a little more than this?

4. Where can I find good recipe for this size of bread maker? (1 lb loaves--a little on the small side I think)

5. How do I get the kneading blade out of the pan?

It's a real good thing

I read Psalm 103 this morning, and it reminded me of the old Newsboys song that says, "When we don't get what we deserve, it's a real good thing, a real good thing. When we get what we don't deserve, it's a real good thing, real good thing."

I always think of salvation as the thing that we get that we don't deserve. And in my very human mind, I think that if I gave my life to save humanity, I'd want to stop there--do the saving, get the glory, and what more could humanity expect from me? Psalm 103 reminded me that God's love does not stop at the cross (although what a magnificent place to stop), but that he continues to show us his love in the small, everyday things in our lives, as well as in the huge life events during which we're very aware of our need for him.

So, here are some Psalm 103 gems about His love:

4-[Praise the Lord...] who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
5-who satisfies your desires with good things.
8-The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
10-He does not treat us as our sins deserve.
11-For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him.
17-But from everlasting to everlasting, the Lord's love is with hose who fear him.

Verses 5 and 15-16 also admonished and encouraged me for a different reason.
5-[Praise the Lord...] who satisfies your desires with good things...
15-As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16-Ths wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

It seemed to me such a relief that I don't have to waste my time on this earth satisfying my desires. Obviously, I'll be tempted to do this, but what a good reminder that God has our best interest in mind even more than we do. And how humbling that our place on earth will remember us no more when we are gone and that what we do on earth is only significant if it has eternal implications.

Praise God for teaching us what we need to learn and for lovingly reminding us of things that we should already know.

When in Portland

On our trip to Portland in May, in addition to seeing two friends get married (they were sisters with weddings four days apart), Dexter and I ate at two great restaraunts. During the trip, I also read In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, which I became interested in when I read about it on Alicia M.'s blog. So, while eating at these restaurants, my definition of food was in the process of changing and I was feeling very idealistic. I've been thinking lately that both would be successful in Iowa City.

First, we ate at Hopworks Urban Brewery. It's in half of a yellow building on Powell Street, not far from the Hawthorne shopping district. (Hawthorne Street is basically a mini Iowa City, lined with coffee shops, independently owned stores, and homeless people.) The other half of the building is under construction and if you park on that side, you'll be in a tiny one way parking lot with no outlet. We were finally guided into the correct parking lot by cardboard signs with lettering in black paint that were propped up in various places outside the restaurant. The restaurant was much cleaner and more professional on the inside than on the outside. The menu was completely organic from the wheat in the pizza crusts to the hops in the beer. They had lots of vegetarian options, which was great since we were in the beginnings of our vegetarian experiment. Dexter ate a portabello burger and he is now in love with them. I had a calzone which was gigantic as well as mighty tasty, although I felt it had more artichoke hearts than necessary. Our entrees were so good that we wanted to get dessert, but were both too stuffed from the big portions. Next time I go there, I am definitely getting the apple crisp. Dexter got a sampler of the beers, all organic and brewed in the basement of the restaurant, and one was made with espresso, which we though was cool. Each booth had a little compartment in the wall with ketchup, salt, and pepper. I associate the decor with construction because it was wood/metal/yellow, but also because the other half of the building was being constructed upon. It was a little bit pricey, but you can order whole pizzas, and organic foods are more expensive at the grocery store so it makes sense that they'd be more expensive at a restaurant.

Enter

We also ate at Vita Cafe, a tiny and very progressive restaurant that served mostly vegetarian/vegan fare. It was really crowded, but I thought they had a good system of having you write your own name down on the waiting list if they didn't have a table open where you could seat yourself. We happened to go on a Wednesday night--the one night where they have a few discounted entre options and cheap beer and cocktails. I ate Thai noodles for $5 and Dexter ate "fish" (tofu) and chips. The Thai noodles could have had quite a bit more flavor, but were good. Dexter ordered some Hopworks beer (on tap) and I had a raspberry cosmo. When the girl finished making my drink, she drank the leftovers. She later knocked Dexter's beer off the table which made me wonder how many leftovers she'd been drinking. Lots of alternative lifestyle adds on the community bulletin board. However, there was a real sincerity about the green-ness of the place. Bikes crowded the sidewalk in front, everything was printed on recycled paper, they had cardboard rather than styrofoam to-go boxes. It was a little depressing though, since it seemed like being green and leading an alternative/tolerant/whatever lifestyle were the things the people there put their hope in. But, I don't make a very good postmodern.

Half-ass vegetarianism

Excuse the title of this post. I tried to think of something more savory to all ears, but this was the most accurate wording.

Over the past few months, I've been going back and forth about our decision to go vegetarian. I've never had any doubt that given a little extra time, we'll be able to easily come up with lots of vegetarian meals that we love. Dexter's as strongly convinced about our change as I am...and sometimes even more than I am. I'm not even really concerned about wanting to eat meat, although that has entered my head a few times.

Mostly, I'm concerned about offending, distancing, or inconveniencing from other people. What if our neighbors in Hawkeye Court want to share a traditional Korean/Chinese/Romanian/something meal with us that has meat in it? What if we go visit Korea when our friends return home and their sweet Korean mothers fix us a delicious but beefy meal? What about house church meals? (If we made every dish so that everyone could eat them, we would be a no dairy, no gluten, no meat house church. What a challenge!) What about people we see and eat with a lot, like my parents, who are still scrambling to feed my sister meat-free meals when she's home.

One possible compromise we're considering is being "at-home vegetarians." Basically, food we make or choose to eat at restaurants would be vegetarian. And, in settings where meat can be avoided without stepping on any toes, we'd choose extra meat-free side dishes in lieu of a meaty main dish. But, we wouldn't feel pressure to abstain when there was pressure to eat, like with new friends or in non-vegetarian friendly environments.

Part of me likes this solution because I think moderation is good. And I know that I'm compromising on so many other levels that I feel like the occasional meat-eating would fall under the category of buying milk from farms I don't know anything about, or buying products from brands like Johnson & Johnson, Colgate, or Suave (all of which test on animals). It really bothers me that I can't afford to switch to using entirely cruelty-free products, but I've been telling myself I have to draw the line somewhere.

However, the other part of me doesn't want to be a half-ass vegetarian. The vegetarian fad really irritates me. I've definitely seen people say, "I never eat meat!" while shoveling their faces with it. I don't feel like I could really call myself a vegetarian if I was okay with it sometimes, but I don't know how I'd explain my mostly meat-free lifestyle very easily if I totally avoided the terminology.

Whatever compromise we land with, at least at home we'll be lacto-ovo-style vegetarians. But, we'll try to eat cage-free/free-range eggs at home and be picky about our milk (although the milk may end up being frighteningly expensive in itself). No meat-based broths, gelatin, or sneaky bits of meat in convenience foods either. The plan is to start soon, and I've actually been cooking mostly vegetarian meals the past few weeks, but I feel like I can't commit till I've decided about where to draw the line.

Spring Fever

I don't know if I've ever been so anxious for the semester to end and for summer to begin! I signed up for two online classes at the beginning of last summer. At the beginning of April, I had a lot left to do for both classes, and they must be finished by May 1. So, I've spent the majority of this month holed up on our sofa with my laptop on my lap, doing Spanish homework, reading about Parent-Teacher communication, and jamming my homework from my "real" classes in as well. In that time, I caught a cold from my beloved kindergarten class. I am thankful for my patient husband who has done an amazing job helping out around the house, doing laundry and the dishes, even cleaning the bathroom and sweeping.

Lately, though, my concentration has been lagging. I've spent the last three weeks working nonstop, so I'm actually surprised this hasn't happened sooner. I've started a summer reading list (partly inspired by some books on Alicia McCain's blog) and I have some boring but very productive and helpful projects for around the house in mind. I want to go through our student loan files and DaveRamsey-up our budget. Luckily, managing our finances is kind of a hobby for me--the fancier and more efficient my excel sheets are, the more excited I get.

I'm also excited because Dexter and I are planning to "go vegetarian" starting at the end of the school year. It may even start earlier since I'm feeling like my stress will let up slightly sooner than I expected. I'm excited to try out new recipes and hopefully, to feel healthier and feel good about my decision. We're also renting a garden plot which I am excited to cultivate and work in. Walking back and forth between the garden and our apartment should be good exercise too! I bought a freezer full of Morning Star fake meat products today. I'll probably avoid cooking with these most of the time, but I wanted to try them out so I'd know what my options are. They were on sale at HyVee AND I had a $20 giftcard that I got when we signed up for our cellphone plan. (I was inspired, after booking an expensive trip to the wedding of my best buddy, by Dana to pray for a HyVee giftcard after reading her blog.)

Now, I'm writing a lesson plan on the Cinderella story from a variety of cultures. After a 6-8 page nonfiction essay on doughnuts, some wrap up assignments for my practicum, a reading assessment project about my kindergarteners, and three tests, I'll be in the clear. May 9 is only 18 days away!