Funny notes at work

So I got a raise this year, amazingly enough with the rough economy and all….and strangely enough they like to announce the well-doings amonst the floor in a mass email.  And thought I would share the news with my sister in the land of far, far away.

Me: OMG, everyone is saying congrats and how deserving I am!

Sis:  Wow, aren’t you amazing

Me:  Yeah, it’s funny, how many people are responding 20+ emails.  It’s like they all really love me!

Sis:  OMG, you won’t be able to fit your head out of the building

Co-Worker:  Congratulations!  Very deserving

Me *turning around with a big smile on my face* Thhhhhaaaaaaaaannnnnkk

Then I realize she is on the phone saying the same spiel to another lucky associate…

Me:  Maybe people just say deserving maybe it doesn’t mean anything special at all.

Sis:  You are crazy!!!

*sigh*  oh the roller coaster of the middle childs mind

2 years and not really counting

Me:  OMG, I was just thinking about all the things you did when we were dating that you don’t do anymore!

Hubby:  What are you talking about?

Me:  First of all, you never cared about all the sports – if a game was on you would gladly leave it to go out on a date with me or hang out with me.  Now I can’t drag you away!

Hubby:  Laugh – that’s not true.  Besides you could always watch them with me!

Me:  Right – yuck.  You gave me a false image of you…I would talk and you would listen.  Any request and you would be there…You gave me a false idea that I could control you.

Hubby:  What – I wasn’t listening to what you just said.

Me:  Case and point!

Lost Limb!!!

Why does it feel like there is a member of my body missing when I have lost my cell phone?

Why is it everyone’s solution is when did you have it last? If I knew that then I wouldn’t be having this issue, huh.

OMG, I have lost my alarm clock, my contact with the world, my ability to check my checking acct – my on hand calculator, my calendar with reminders…how does  a girl go on?

How Cute???

Imagine this – me coming home from an uneventful attempt of christmas shopping with my lil sis and bff and the garage is left open yet again.

Me:  Oh no, did he do it again?  Is he even outside?

BFF:  Yeah, I think I see him, but what is that on his face?

Me:  Oh, that’s how he looks when he cleans

BFF:  How cute, he’s doing it to prevent the allergies, huh.

Me:  Is that what you call it…so sad.

Lil sis:  OMG

My husband's cleaning style...although this is not his face. You get the idea.

Here kitty, kitty…

So I woke up at the crack of dawn today getting ready for work, running 10 minutes behind, and opening the garage door to be greated by a freezing breeze.  I look down and there are leaves everywhere from last nights wind/rain storm and I look up and the garage door is left open. 

“Oh, no” – I quickly look around and try to interpret our losses, if any. 

My husband’s drum set? – Check

My car? - Check

Umm, yeah, that was about as far as I could remember at 5:40am, however I go to my car and open the door and out whisks a light orange kitty who made a home for himself in my garage. 

“Kitty, kitty?”

Crap – this would for sure ruin my morning – a homeless kitty hiding out under my car. 

After a thorough check, I hope for the best and head off to work.

When I come back home I am half convinced the kitty will show up again upon opening up the garage.  However this was not the case.  Instead I hear Cullen (my mixed puppy) barking outside.

Husband:  There’s a cat that’s been out on the wall all afternoon

Me:  Is it light orange?

Husband:  I don’t know, is he fat?

Me:  I dunno, I saw him for a moment

Then out of the rectangle long window next to the front door I catch side of him on top of our roof!

Me: That’s him!  Because you left the garage door open he thinks he found a new home last night!

Veggies and fruit in their bounty!

So I have been on the get healthy train for some time now.  It started with the weight watchers, which worked, however I’ve been a little lazy on my counting of points – Fat, Fiber, and Calories that is what it’s all about. 

Well on to my latest gig, jogging.  This did not originate with me however, my bff suggested running for a half marathon.  And i gladly did not commit, but agreed to joining her on some of her training runs.  And let me just say, even though I have never been a runner in any way shape or form, it has made me feel pretty good.  So we’ll so how long that continues.  Strangely enough I found myself still trying to walk the two dogs of mine (day 3 in a row, impressive huh) and I decided to start a slow paced jog with them.  We’ll see how this continues.  I’m sure the tangle effect could get a lot worse given their 8 legs.

Anyways, what has also helped me along the way is bountful baskets.  It’s a co-op that fills up two of the round laundry baskets – one with fruit, one with veggies.  You get whatever is in season, typically the tomatoes, lettuce, apples, and whatever new veggie/fruit that is fresh and amazing.  It’s how I got on a speghetti squash kick.  Grilling my many zuchinni spears, getting those fancy pears.  It’s like a surprise every other Sat – I pick it up at my location in the early am of Sat – that’s what I was doing this week, hence the freezing cold weather in the am in my last blog.  It forces me to figure out how to cook acorn squash, or whatever the newest produce is for the week.  And those 2 laundry baskets full are only for $15.00 .  You can’t beat that. 

So here’ s the information, they have them in AZ, Idaho, Utah, Washington currently.  Take a look at the website – but the key is eat more fruits and veggies.  

http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/

Baby, it’s cold outside!?!?

Whoever said living in the land of Arizona, where most would probably think of desert, sun, and cacti, would have a cold winter.

Well typically I’m fond of the colder regions, because being raised in the desert you don’t see alot of the greenery or white stuff falling from the sky.  That’s what we call it out here because it is that foreign!

Anyways, so this morning on a very cold Saturday I found myself getting out of bed with my knee high socks, long panted pajamas, and tshirt and still cold.  Typically I can get away with not turning on my heat, because it is a beautiful thing when your Electric bills are below $200.  Those summer days of 110 degrees are long gone, and turning of the AC is a financial relief!  So I look at my thermastat and am surprised by the 63 degrees indoors. 

So I throw on my sweatshirt and head out for the fruit and veggie co-op I’ve become a part of.  I’ll explain more about that at another time.  Possibly tomorrow if nothing more exciting happens. 

I talk to the sis in the car exclaiming how cold it is here and then *ding* my amazingly smart car decides to tell me it is way too cold to be outside. 

A cute little snowflake appears on the dash next to the temperature below.

Can you even believe it!?!?

My attempt at being a good mom…

So it started like this – a confession of sorts to my sister.  Let me just preface this first by stating I would really appreciate your support, being that I am trying to turn a new leaf.  So please don’t judge me.

Me:  I have never taken Cullen on a walk

Sis:  Are you kidding me, I can not believe that!

Me:  I know, I am a horrible mother…it’s just he gave us Giardia when we first got him last April…and I didn’t forgive him for awhile.  Then he just grew up…and I found myself for the first on a leash, taking him to the vet to get fixed.  That was the first time he ever experienced a collar.

A week later the guilt sunk in, and I found myself determined to change the situation.  Although that is when I realized I only had a harness and leash for Sydney.  So Sydney would get her walk that night…

So today after work, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to take Syd and Cullen on a walk.  The hubby was at happy hour with his co-workers, the little sis was still at work…and I was home alone…

Considering Syd was a perfect angel the other day on her walk, I figured I could handle Cullen’s beginner issues.  Plus it may be good for him to see how he should handle himself.

Big mistake!  Not only was I tangled, but my wrists have rug burn, my ancles are tender, and I was covered in hair from my head to my toes!

So, will I attempt it again.  Of course, but maybe next time I need someone else to tag team, because my attempts at being a good mom were sorely lost in the shuffle!

Twinsies, no times 7 or more

So I go into work today and find myself cream cheesing my bagel when to the left and right of me are my co-workers.  Then I can hear the voice of my carpooler laughing behind me…

Carpooler bud:  Oh my gosh, you guys all match!

Me:  eww, not a fan of this, what is going on.

I look to around me, only to see my two co-workers in the khaki pants and blue top. 

One Co-worker:  Yeah, we planned it, isn’t it cute?

Me:  no way, my mom did enough of that with me and my two sister growing up.  I’d rather not look like everyone else.

As the day progresses I must of seen 7+ more co-workers with the same idea.

Guess I got the memo!

My confession

So even though I may appear to be a somewhat put together adult…nice job, nice house, big family (aka:  Koda, Emme, Cullen, and Syd)…I have a confession whereas I am not all together.

And me and my husband are in the same boat when it comes to this – hence the buildup.  And somehow I got the gusto to work on it tonight, and let me just say I am ashamed and disgusted.

My whole backyard with Cullen, Sydney and sometimes Patches(sister’s dog) help was covered in every inch with dog pooh!  So nasty!  I think I may have carple tunnel using that tool thing and lifting the heavy scooper to the trash across the yard 50+ times!

Yuck!

Signs and wonders…

Well…what can I say?  My sister is addicted to this blogging world and thought I had some words of advice to share with everyone.  I have a lot of psychological theories; look for the things that “click” for me in the world…

Like yesterday, weirdest thing happened I found myself thinking about a song “Return to me”.  Singing it in the shower that day, had a nice time getting a massage, going to lunch with the little sister and there it was, the song playing in the background.  Is that not a sign people?  Things like that happen people and and what can I say, I’m just more aware.

Anyways, for now I thought I would give you a site I was looking up today that litterally made me laugh out loud.  Though I’d share it with the world:

http://mingle2.com/dating/phases

Birth Order At A Glance

The theory goes like this:

Oldest Child – Productive, organized, perfectionist, stable.

Middle Child – Overlooked, competitive, observant, enjoys appreciation

Youngest Child – Social being/life of the party, free-willed, spirited, spoiled

So of course this is a shortened version, and I’m sure I’ll expand on such – But I wanted to give you all a quick lesson.  Typically this is how it goes and throwing marriage, gender, and split families mixes up the equation.  

So when a middle child, such as myself marries an oldest child (my husband) it is a paradox.  Every day one likes to be assured that they are loved and appreciated.  Is it really a bad thing to want to feel loved every day?

The joke of my wedding when my husband and I had to give our top 10 reasons for loving eachother  (cute dj idea)…he’s #1 was him saying…Because every time I tell her I love her she responds with…Why?

What can I say the Marcia Brady syndrome is in my being…and I know some of you would call it the Jan brady syndrome, but she was so overlooked it doesn’t even get classified with her name.  For those of you not aware of the Brady Bunch classics, it goes like this…Marcia was the prettier, smarter, more wonderful person so Jan was always overlooked.  Some may roll their eyes at the exaggerated process but the core of it is true.  I am a self doubter, thriving on positive feedback, kind words, and love. 

That reminds me, one day at Target you can imagine my surprise by seeing the wine label here directing something to the forgotten middle kids out there…it was a beautiful thing.  Note the cool hair do, sunglasses, shoes, and dress that the middle sister is wearing.  Someone out there was very clever.  It was like a theraputic hug from all those years the middle child was overlooked!  It’s definitely something that those of you not stuck in the middle will never understand…so for the time being, offer some kind words to a middle dweller, cause it’s nice for it to be all about them sometimes!

Marriage Advice from a Newbie

Well I’ve been doing some research lately on marriage. We’ve been married a year now this September, but dated for 7 years prior so we’re not that fresh out of the bag.   Yeah i don’t know what i mean by that either

Anyways, I’ve learned about several words of wisdom from various resources and I thought I’d share one of them.

Lesson #1 Commnication comes in all forms.

1. Adult –> Adult

Talking to an adult as an adult is when full respect for the other person comes across and is a healthy method of exchange.

2.Parent –>Child

If someone speaks down or in a commanding way then the natural response for a person is to respond as a child.  Now that child may be compliant or rebellious…but regardless this is not an ideal communication method.  However I know I’ve seen myself go along this road when dishes are left or the bed is unmade

Child –>Child

Another form of communicating, however if you are both responding back and forth like children you can imagine how much really gets resolved.  My sister tends to play the not it rule with her husband which would line up with this method.

Lesson #2

I can only control my own actions/emotions…

Yeah, I’ve come up with this theory about married life versus dating life.  Let me know if you agree…it goes like this:

When dating – the boy (and the girl for that manner) are on excellent behavior with eachother…no farting in front of eachother, cleaning up after themselves, putting their best foot forward at all times.

Well, when one gets married the boy then doesn’t have to pull out all the courting tactics.  They got the girl, they have the ring…and they are now free to be themselves 100% completely.

Let me tell you after dating someone for 7 years or so…(long distance and all)  it was a bit of a shock to me to not have the 100% full adoration 24/7.  All of a sudden everything I was doing wasn’t so perfect anymore.  And his clean bedroom wasn’t so spotless anymore.  And that unmessy bedroom of his became ours. 

(Yeah we were one of the few who didn’t live together before marriage)…

Lesson #3 (spawning off of my thoery) – It’s all about the approach.  Utilization is a psychological theory having someone help you by pulling on the theories and ideas that they love.  For example:  My husband is an avid lover of sports…football, baseball, basetball.  But especially football as of lately with his underdog Cardinals team go to the SuperBowl as of late.  So this was one of the things before we were married that showed up after the fact.

Before marriage, big game playing:  I come over to visit my boyfriend and his eyes light up and he shuts off the tv at the drop of a hat and takes me out on a to lunch and a movie.

After marriage, big game playing:  I walk into our family room and husband doesn’t hear/see me because the game is on…

So being that the sport is such a love of his…I can use the utilization method and pull on that love of the sport mindset and use that in our marriage.  AKA chores.  I divy it up, make a goal for us to meet, then applaud our teamwork after the fact.  It connects the dots for him…I get want I want out of my hubby and he gets  the satisfaction of feeling like he’s doing someting he loves too.

Let me know your tips you’ve learned throughout the years…I can always use more

One year later...

In Wells Fargo I trust…

So, I have a confession.  I had a mildly scary almost misdemeanor occur this weekend.  So here it is:

Here I was waking up at 8:30am on a Sat morning, doing some dishes, laundry, feeding the animals, bills, etc.  You know, being a good wife and all.  So I was paying some bills with my husbands account.  Yes I am the financially minded one in our household; I guess that’s what you get after getting a finance degree.  Anyways, I was pretty glad realizing this was one of the few months that he happened to have 3 paychecks.  So I decided to transfer a couple hundred to our joint account as a cushion for a rainy day.  (Technically that rainy day will come sooner than later with our mortgage going up based on wonderful taxes, but I won’t bore you with any details).

So I transferred some money and as soon as I clicked out of the transfer funds.  And like a good OCD individual (we’ll expand on this later) I checked the new balance of our joint account to smile at myself for a job well done.  And much to my demise, the balance was not there.  I quickly realized I transferred the money erroneously to my husband’s Visa.  After several unpleasantries passed my lips I decided to call Wells Fargo and do what I could to transfer the money back into a transferrable account.

WF Rep:  Could I have you name please?

Me:  Alan Last Name

WF Rep:  Could I have YOUR name please?

Me:  Alan

WF Rep:  What’s the last four our your SSN?

Me:  1234 (technically I spoke the correct numbers)

WF Rep:  Mother’s Maiden Name, Middle Name, Acct #

I got them all right, and decided to keep on with the game. (I knew I wasn’t on his account, but there was no need up to that point, I had all the access I needed online to do my bills, and it was never required.)

WF Rep:  Please hold…

Me:  Oh, Crap…*under my breath*

I guess at this point I should further explain myself.  My husband works for an identity theft company.  So it was not part of my better judgement to act falsely upon his behalf.

New WF Rep:  Hello, could I have your name?

Me:  *more timid* Alan Last Name

New WF Rep:  Hi Miss Last Name, I am part of the WF Fraud department, and lately we’ve been having a lot of concern when it comes to fraud.

At this point I folded like a lawn chair and admitted my lies.  

Long story short, I called my husband (who was faithfully at work protecting other identities for the day) and left a sobby message on his cell phone.  

Me:  So you’re going to have to go to WF and take the fraud hold off your account.  Bring your id.  I’m, sorry, I love you.  Please have them transfer the money back for me.

Several hours later, my husband comes home from work.  I guess it didn’t help he had his company shirt on, which was well recognized for the identity theft.  He had to tell the story of his wife pretending to be him.  

I can’t help but wonder why my husband didn’t have a gender neutral name.  Yeah, maybe I don’t learn my lessons very well

Guilty pleasures?

I was one of those kids growing up.  I wasn’t very socially prone.  An observer of sorts.  My mom would always say I would have to figure people out first before I decided if i wanted to share my well thought out words with them. 

Since I’ve grown up that has changed a little.  I’ve learned in order to be functional in a corporate office one must be friendly, talkative, and outgoing.  So I pretend to be for the most part.  j/k

So there was this time when I was little when tv was the most important thing to me.  Here I was with my port-a-potty learning to use it…dunno what age that is anymore 1/2? Yeah I don’t have children.hahah

And I hear the muppet music in the other room..and I would grab the port-a-potty and head to the room with the tv and my favorite show of the time.  At the time it was a way for my mom to know how acute my hearing was.  I sopose I wasn’t very responsive as a child.  But I think it was just my choosiness. (I may of made that word up)

Well,  I have gotten over the Muppets, but since then tv still has a soft spot in my heart of hearts.  So, I went from the Muppets to Julia Childs.  As you may be well aware my older sibling (Good Bad And Ugly) is no cook…but I would love watching those shows and learn, and have my hand in the kitchen as well.  Today there is just something about me and the Food Network now. 

I don’t know what it is, but even when they are make sardines and sauerkraut (K so techinically they don’t make such things, but if they did) there is something about the way they make it.  The technique, the care, the chopping.  I can’t get enough of it.

My favs of the moment, that I actually DVR is Giada at Home, and Barefoot Contessa.  It just doesn’t matter how bad the day, I turn on the show and instantly am at peace.

Is it just me?

It’s the Jewish Guilt…

Being raised in a household with a New York, Jewish mother has it’s benefits, such as matzah ball soup, Matzah Brie, macarones, etc.  They are very protective in nature.  You do not want to get on their bad side   Hilarious, spunky, and witty…I hope that I live up to all that.

But there are some hardships that come along with it as any person can imagine.  It’s called the Jewish guilt.  Now I’m not sure how this was passed down to me for sure, but it comes out in spurts.  Primarily upon my loving husband, then it falls to my sisters, and eventually my friends/co-workers.

Ah yes, then it comes back to me.  I remember the song…did your parentals ever sing the song… “No body loves me, everybody hates me, I’m gonna eat some Wooorrrrrmmmmsss” -I swear it came from a Jewish mom.  Well at least mine would always sing it.

So that’s my philosophy in life.  If you can’t get the help you need in such things as cleaning, attention, assistance this songs comes out inside my mind.  And the Jewish guilt that is put upon me (depending on the situation) or put upon others is very apparent.

My Family in a Nutshell…

So here are the children, I figured they should be formally introduced if we are all going to get to know eachother.

Emme – Her full name is Emerson Grace, but she goes by Emme. Cute little girl about a year old now.  She’s very sweet hearted, spunky, and has a tendency for climbing, but we love her anyways .  My sister found her near her work, which sounds odd enough, but typical for her to find lost animals.  So we took her in.  The vet said based on the M on her forehead she was a mackerel tabby, so the name seemed fitting and was offered up by my little sister who has sworn off baby producing.  But that is typicall for her age of 22.

Emme's first day with us - she was so tiny and I think this is her seeing Koda for the first time.

More recent picture – I call these her bedroom eyes

 

Then we have Sydney Cherie, our yellow lab.  K so when I was naming her I was thinking of Cyd Charisse and thought I was being clever pulling from my dancing background and such.  Then I found out it’s one of those things I do where I learned her name incorrectly.  Oh well, I know what I was referring to, and it’s one of those things I can’t change anymore now that she’s almost 3.  So if you’ve seen/read Marley and Me then you get the picture.  I’ve lost 10+ very good pairs of shoes from her missing me, some furniture, carpet, office equipment will never be the same, but again we love her just the same.

Here she is, smiles and all!

And last but certainly not least, we have my baby boy Koda Reeses.  The middle name was a tribute to his coloring and my favorite candy.  He’s a prince to say the least…he gets his way, he’s charming, tempermental, and typically only sweet to those who prove themselves to him.  (Just like his mama).  He was given to me by my best friend/roomate at the time.  I was lonely with my long distance relationship at the time and she thought i could use some cheering up one bday.

Here he is, with his loving yet understated handsomeness

So there you have it, my family in a nutshell…hope you enjoy the pics of them as much as I do.  More to come on them.

My ghetto fabulous car!

Well, I wake up pretty early for work with my hour long commute.  What can I say, I’m a glutten for punishment.  So it’s fairly typical for me to get off to work before the sun decides to wake up. 

Well one morning, not unlike the others, I was pretty drowsy.  So here I am driving past the not so nice area (I have my shortcuts)…and next thing I know I hit a curb pretty nicely.  That was enough to wake me up and get to work alert the rest of the way.

However that night when my husband and I were heading out I look down at the front dark end of my car and notice I am now missing a hubcap.  I must of dinged it harder than I thought!

So yes, I’m not really loving the ghetto fabulous car…we’ll see if I do anything about it.  It’s one of those things for me…I’m not sure if it’s a girl thing or what, but when something like that happens to my car (I have had quite history with incidents such as these) I feel like my car is unhappy…Poor car, I’ve hurt you once again…

I don’t know, I was home-schooled…

For those of you that have always been in the public schools you may not know this, but there is a lot of social skills, inside jokes, and code you may of missed out on if you were homeschooled.

And thanks to the older sister…who complained a lot.  Me and my little sister were dragged into the world of homeschooling as well!  I know how rude, I was perfectly happy with my small circle of friends for the few years of elementary school (kindergarten to 5th grade to be exact)

Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t go willingly.  I gave my mom a very hard time about.  Who wanted to have to spend more time stuck with the sisters anyways.  However it did have it’s perks.  Such as knowing where the teacher’s manual was when mom had to go to appointments, more time with the tv when she was gone, and not having to get up and ready for school, staying in my pjs, etc.

So when Iwas able to go back to school my freshman year of high school I was in for a shock.  Not only did everyone go thru puberty while I was away, but everyone had this other language, innuendos , hand signals, etc. 

And to this day, I feel like there are so many things I have missed out on.  So when I go to work, meet new people, and hear their stories and slang comes out and i do a bad job at pretending to understand..it tends to all make sense to them when I say I was homeschooled.

What does that mean though?  So one day I asked my friend/coworker and they mentioned a South Park episode where it had a homeschooled student on it.

Coworker – You know, they are very smart, yet they lack the social skills…tend to stay on the outskirts cause they are not used to being arond people.

Me – But that’s not what I’m like, right?

Coworker – umm, no.

Yeah so I went to try to find a visual picture of homeschool-esqueness and here’s what i find.  hmmmmmm

DOES HOMESCHOOLING
MAKE KIDS ‘WEIRD’? 
Do kids seem “normal” after one or two or twelve years of homeschooling?

     The short answer is “yes, absolutely,” most of them.

Cleaning = Serenity

Every weekend growing up weekends were filled with our lists of chores you did.  They were expected and somehow rewarding all at the same time.  You would put your name next to the chore and cross it out to feel that satisfaction of a job well done…and then you could relax and go on your merry way.

Well now that I’m married those pre-conceived notions have come along with the package I must say.  It’s now a requirement that we must create a list every weekend …no not really, but I may make a mental one…

1.Laundry

2.Dishes

3.Bathrooms

4. Vacuum (3 animals people)

5.Groceries

Don’t all efficient adults do this?  Well they should if not.  But this is where the whole unspoken expectations come into play in marriage.  It’s typical for a person to see the mom do certain chores and expect to carry that out once she’s married and to expect the husband to do certain chores cause your dad did.

Anyways, what I’ve figured out is that weekend ritual my family so kindly created has psychologically connected the necessity for a clean house in order for me to enjoy my weekend.  Cleaning = serenity…after having this epiphony the other week I shared it with the other sisters and they agreed.  This is why the boys get such a hard time every weekend when they don’t follow suit!    Since then I’ve tried to make it a little easier for my husband. 

Now that I’m aware that all I need to be happy is for him to clean the whole house…I just have to make it known now, right?

It’s all about the competition!

So when I asked the eldest sister what she’s been eating for dinner knowing full well that her husband is out of town for the week.  (She has never been the cook, that was always my thing growing up. ) I wasn’t surprised when she told me cereal.

I then told her about my delicious and nutritous dinner menu last night, which was a Jennie-O All white Meat Turkey Loaf.  Alright, for those of you who are not of aware of this dinner option, let me inform you.  It is a great, healthy option when you’re are busy and need something quick for dinner.  My mom would make it for us on those nights we had the theatre practice, dance classes, National Honor Society meeting…k, I was a bit of an overacheiver, but I’ve since calmed down some.

Anyways, you get the point, it was my mom’s not so home-made cooking, and I have fond memories of the turkey loaf.  And even though my older sis was calling it the turkey equivelent of Spam, I find it enjoyable.

Here it is! Usually around $4.99 or so.

This is only a small glimmer into the true nature of our meal comparisons, however.  Let me expand on this…  The conversations are typically  received via emails during our very busy work days; it goes something like this:

Me: OMG, I made the best lunch today, you would be jealous…delicious smoked turkey, cheddar sunchips, 2 chocolate chip cookies and seedless green grapes. – yum

Sister:  Whever my lunch is totally better.  I have sunkist oranges, Diet Coke, ham and swiss, some hershey candy, and lime yogurt.

Me:  Whatever this new turkey meat is the best, my sandwich is totally better.

Sister:  Whatever I have a drink and you don’t.

Me:  So, my sandwich and soft wheat bread beat your gross sandwich.

You can imagine how much detail we get into with this…and some days there is an obvious winner, like when one of us gets lazy and makes the pb&j’s….but my point is it is a competition!  Life is a competition people and you need to bring your A game to it!

So what did you bring to lunch today?  Me and my sister had Jersey Mike’s so we beat you all!

Weekend update

So, I skipped the weekend blogging…unlike the sister…I feel like an unfaithful blogger, but when you have a turbulent weekend I guess that’s what you do right?

There is one story I wanted to share with you though…cause i did have unusual event over the weekend.

I’d like to think of myself as a passive, intelligent, well thought out type of person…sometimes paranoid, and sarcastic most of the time, but not too crazy.  So when I went to my bff’s bday party and had several drinks in me, my alter ego came out it seems.

Before we go into that though, let me tell you about some secret skills I gained over my bachelorette party 1 year ago now.  I had the very clever idea to have all my girlfriends over and take part in a class.  I wasn’t a fan of the strip tease male dancing historically.  And I wasn’t looking for that type of embarressment on my day so instead we hired a Pole dancing instructor.  It was a beautiful thing, we set up the pole smack dab in the middle of my bff’s living room and all had a informative session.  Needless to say we all loosened up with the jello shots, and it was just a good time overall.  Feel free to use my idea for any future parties of yours .;)

So this weekend when I had one two many beverages in me, and some suggested words whispered in my ear at the site of a pole in the middle of the “upscale” bar we were at…without even a second thought I went for it.

There I was, handing my drink off to my bff, jumping up on the little soap box, grabbing on to the pole and doing the double spin with my thighs wrapped around it.  And can I just say at the time, it was amazing.

Now that i look back, it may not of been in the best of taste, but what can I say…it was one of those weekends. 

Ridiculous!

So, you would think with the economy the way it is…I seem to be getting a little more anal retentive about doing my job perfectly, I’m reaching in my empty pockets and filling up my gas tank, I’m looking at my new mortgage based on the tax increases…the list goes on, but again you read blogs for an escape, right?

Anyways, you would think with the way things are right now people would have a little tact, right?  So I get this message on my phone on the way home today:

Message: Hi this is Shasta pools…we see you bought your house about a year and a half ago and we are wondering if now would be a good time to put in a pool.  We have some great deals right now, so give us a call back at 1-800-we are ridiculous.

K so I’ve changed up the phone number a bit. I just had to laugh at the idea of it now, given the way things have been lately it being a great time for a pool.

Yes, please.

Dinner for tonight

Well sorry for the week off…with the recent work overload, family fun, and computer issues I’ve been putting off writing.  And i do feel guity for it, because I know my fan base will never be larger than my sister’s if I don’t continue.

Anyways, I thought I’d add a recipe that is in my crock pot this morning.  I grabbed it off the internet and it looks delish.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  But there is one thing it doesn’t mention.  If the chicken should be thawed before putting it in the crock pot.  Too late if it should.  Hope it doesn’t ruin my dinner!

Easy broccoli chicken with chicken breasts and broccoli, cooked in the slow cooker.

Ingredients:

• 1 can Cream of Broccoli Soup
• boneless chicken breasts (as many as you need) – I buy the frozen ones with 6-7 in a bag – approx. 3 pounds
• 1 bag frozen broccoli
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup milk

Preparation:

Place chicken in the crockpot. Cover with frozen veggies and cream of broccoli soup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook on LOW 6 to 8 hours or HIGH 3 to 4 hours. (Boneless chicken breasts might be dry if cooked too long.) Add milk about 45 minutes before done, or 30 minutes if cooking on high. Serve poured over rice!!! Yummy!

Rude!

So I’ve decided this weekend is my official weekend of selfishness.  Not that I don’t get that way anyways.  But specifically because I’m going into a rough week and working thru the weekend next week at work.  So I deserve a relaxing weekend.

Although I don’t think I can go without cleaning a few things in the house cause cleaning = serenity to me…look back at former blogs.  I can postpone all the errand runs, grocery shopping, and event attending this weekend.

So if Ihaven’t told you all already, I’m quite the movie buff.  My first jobs were trying to balance working at the movie theatre and working at Blockbuster Video.  It was glorious for the short amount of time it lasted.  (I wasn’t able to balance two jobs though for more than 2 weeks).  But the benefits alone were 7 movies a week free at Blockbuster and I think it was a free movie a day at the theatre.  Eventually I would watch them all *evil laugh*.

Seriously though, I currently have Netflix and Blockbuster.com because me and the husband can’t get enough of the movies.  (I do realize I need to cut back on the extra expenses with the times and all, but me and the husband are still learning the ropes of a new marriage of 1 year and cutting back on expenses and still seeing eachother lovingly.)  K, another time though, the marriage blogs have not come out yet.

I digress…So for my Friday I decided I did want one night on the town.  So to be financially conscience we had a steak dinner at home (thanks mom for the frozen steaks for Christmas) and then I wanted to go see the new movie “He’s not that into you” and possibly a chocolate fondue for dessert.  Sounds amazing, right?

Well besides coming home to Syd (see my family blog) getting into our closet…I swear her and Marley were distant relatives…and the husband diciplining her and her peeing in my house.  I was already not having the smoothest, stress free, relaxing night that I intended on.

So after all the pet fun, we still decided to go out and follow thru with our intended nice night plans.  So wer’re at the movie theatre…got pretty good seats considering it’s a Friday night 7ish movie.  And low and behold people are saving rows and rows of seats in front of me.  Rude – I don’t agree with it…but when the whole row ended up coming and filing the row they looked back and me and the husband and asked us to save the 2 seats next to us as well.  I bit my tongue, because this was not part of the plan.  I do not agree with the saving of the seats…and I don’t know you nor is it my responsibility to save for your two friends that are coming very late to a movie.  But unbenowst to my husband he willingly said of course.

So we go thru tons of people asking if the seats are taken.  And here I am siting in my seat shaking my head and the ridiculousness of the “stress free” night…and then this couple comes up and looks us in the eye…

Girl:  Are the seats taken?

Alan:  Yes they are…

Girl’s Boy (looking directly in my eyes):  Are these seats really taken?

Me:  Yeah, they are.

So the trailers start and i get distracted and start feeling at ease.  Then out of the corner of my eye the guy comes back up in a huff back to my husband, and I just catch the end of the spat.

Rude guy:  If I look up at the end of the movie and those seats aren’t f** taken I’m going to kick your a**. (Alcohol was pretty strong on his breath)

Husband:  Yeah alright, I’d like to see that.

Now for those of you who do not know a thing or two about middle children…they are not drawn to the conflictions.  We tend to avoid them.  Well i do anyways.  We ended up talking to the theatre staff and they had some security officers walk in.  And the drunk guy and his unfortunate girl walked out without a trace.

Not the oh so wonderful weekend I was looking for.  I was annoyed at the people for asking us to save seats, and annoyed for being blamed for saving seats. *sigh*

My Friday night in a nutshell.

**Health Alert**Dinner Update

So, just in case someone’s pulls my recipe and tries to make it themselves I would advise them to brown the chicken first.

Yeah, so I looked in the crockpot and the now thawed chicken was looking liquidity.  Yeah it had 6 more hours but I kept thinking we  might get salmonella. 

So if you’ve already started your recipe and see the liquid junk from the chicken here’s my suggestion:

Take the chicken out and brown them on the stove top with some oil/ butter so you get the start of the carmelization.  Dump the crockpot cream of broccoli and frozen broccoli remainder that was cooking in the uncooked chicken liquids.  Start fresh with whatever cream of soup you have and new bag of frozen veggies.

So total loss:

1 can of cream of broccoli ~ $1.50

1 bag of frozen broccoli flourets ~ $1.99

Starting fresh with cream of chicken and bag of broccoli and cauliflower = new flavors and no one dying from sickness

We’ll see how it goes; I just didn’t want to be responsible for anyone getting sick off of the recipe.

Common sense and me…yeah I have issues! haha

Huh?!?

I had bouts with strep throats and ear infections as a kid. Not fun, and in the end all the ear infections (even with having to wear the ear plugs in the pool) lead to me being hard of hearing. Now for those of you that don’t know my family. It goes back for many generations. Even my pop would be told one thing and hear another. And even know in my old age (27 going on 80) I find I do the same thing.
Me: What did you say, pomegranite juice?
Husband: What?!? No, I said What are we doing for lunch.

Yeah it goes like that. Even my sister growing up would torture me with her mouth moving and no words coming out. And i’m pretty sure there was a distinct time in my life when my hearing was that bad that I would question if I would hear anyone again. So you know she was taking advantage – how rude goodbadandugly2!

Anyways, so you know how there is that theory of if one of your senses isn’t as keen another makes up for it?  Well, I do have a secret heightened sense, and it’s my sense of smell.

Seriously though, me at work:

Me: Do you guys smell that?

Cube Mates:  No, what do you smell?

Me:  It smells like Dominos pizza!

Cube Mates: (10 minutes later):  Ohmygosh now I smell the pizza

Me:  Yeah and it smells like Dominos – you know the scent.

Cube Mates:  *startled* umm, i guess so

Yeah, I pick up things sooner then the next.  So you could understand my concern when my husband’s cologne ran out.  I told him everything smells so bland lately.  So in my recent confession, we picked out a new scent…which is just the way a man should smell, fresh, musky, manly, outdoorsy all in one.  But the weird thing is ever since he’s been wearing the cologne Sydney (our yellow lab) seems overly excited to see him around.  Ok, I know what you’re thinking she’s a lab, and they are excited all the time anyways.  But it’s a little different – she lingers now  – and has to be practically in his lap lately when the cologne is on. 

We are starting to wonder if Sydney appreciates the new cologne as much as I do!

Here she is...in her younger years...

Do not Disturb!

So with my hefty workload this week, I may be having some days off blogging here and there.  It’s a busy project that is going to consume my entire week/weekend.  And my job usually isn’t that time consuming, so I’m putting all my mental powers, concentration, and amazingness into it.

So with the hectic times, people at my work have taken notice and have lovingly choosen to help me by creating a sign on the back of my chair for the week. 

 

So when my cubie neighbor took note of the sign and still heard people approaching me with questions about their day to day workload  (What can I say, I know my stuff people ) she asked me if there was anything she could do to make the sign more apparent to others.  Next thing I know she’s highlighting the Do not disturb portion of my sign and reattaching it to my seat.  Then when 3-4 other people come by she emails me: 

Cubiemate:  So I see my highlighting isn’t doing the trick, anything else I can do like direct people to a different area as they start approaching you.

Me:   Yeah, but I think you’ll need those cones things they use at the airports, that would be amazing.

Cubiemate:   It could be like that SNL skit where they come up with different ways to not go a certain direction.

Me: Perfect!

Failed!

The test I secretly failed:

Cubemate:  Hey there, can you help me for a second.

Me:  *hesitantly*  Sure..(kind of under my breath)

Cubemate:  Good job you passed the test.

Supervisor:  Don’t bother her, she’s busy with her work

Cubemate:  I was testing her to see if she would tell me no and she did.

Supervisor:  Good job.

I didn’t have the heart to tell her I said sure…what can i say I’m a people pleaser.

The shiny desk

So i have this cubicle at work and being in a confined space and all, I guess I can understand people can go a little crazy and all…but I have proof of the person who had the desk before me doing just that…

Let me explain; when i moved to the department I’m in, I exchanged desks since it was in a different section of the building.  Little did I notice any abnormalities at first but as some weeks passed a fellow co-worker came up to me and told me there was a story that came with my desk.

Knowledgeable co-worker: See that shine on your desk below your keyboard?

Me:  Hmph, yeah, weird…it feels all smooth and shiny there…weird.

K. CoWorker:  Yeah, I used to sit in near this area and the guy that sat there before you loved to eat peanut butter and rub his hand over that spot on his desk.  Hence the shimmer and smoothness of it.

Me:  Are you serious?

K. CoWorker:  Uh huh…he was a weird one…enjoy the desk.

Gross…now everytime i accidentally start reaching below my keyboard I feel the shiny smoothness and get creept out…what if he passed on the desk and the OCD behavior…Nah….

Decorating my desk!

So…as you may know, I’ve been a little sidetracked this week with my big work project coming to fruition.  And in spite of all my efforts to keep focused and stay on track, my work wife decides to go and decorate my desk for the weekend work that i had ahead of me.

But before I explain the decor, let me go back 17 years or so and explain the story behind it all.  So when I was 10 or so I wanted a kitten of my own more than I could express.  I would ask for it every birthday, christmas, and any other holiday that permitted gift giving.  At the time the answer was usually something like:

-I don’t think so

-You need to prove you are responsible first

-There are no kitties available right now (year right, I was naive at the time)

Etc…

So because my way was to be discrete about my hopes and wishes I decided to decorate my entire room with cats.  I had them all over the walls.  You walk into my room and that’s what you see.  And being that I didn’t get my kitten for a couple of years that became my theme.  Little did I know how creepy that could seem to others now that I have shared the story with some in my later age.  But it was a way to express my deepest desire.  I wanted a kitten of my own, and it was offically the theme of my room growing up in my preteen years.

So now that you know the background, you can understand the humor/familiarity/comfort I felt when I saw my cubicle Friday morning.  My work wife decided to decorate my entire work area with cut out pictures of cats of all sizes and ages.  It was everywhere!  She wanted me to feel comforted as I went into the long weekend of work, and see the furry feline’s starring at me.

The ironic thing about it all is that my desk was already somewhat busy, so as the day progressed I was pretty surprised when people weren’t mentioning anything.  Almost as if I purposefully decorated my desk that way.  Then again people have done stanger things.  But I had to make a point to everyone that my desk doesn’t typically have 30+pictures of cats all around!

Yeah, so if you look pretty closely below you’ll see all the cats on my shelf /walls, desk…they are there waiting for me to come back to work.  And I thought i’d share it with everyone too. 

 The irony of it all is that even now as I write this blog Koda is cuddling on my lap (look at family pictures in previous blog)…Maybe I am a cat lady after all!

I love me some Target!

So last night me and the husband ended up strolling into Target in search of a V-Day gift for his parents.  They invited us over for dinner and said they had a gift for us.  So naturally we thought we’d return the gesture.  Well, you know how it is when you avoid stores that you love so that you don’t try to purchase things with money you don’t necessarily have.  Cause it was one of those trips.

But I typically go first to the endcaps of housing decor first, it’s my weakenss, and being a first time home owner there are always things I’m looking to add.  And low and behold I find these beautiful paintings with a little red sticker in the corner.  (For those of you that are not familiar with Target it is their discount sticker)

Original $79.99

Sale $19.99

Amazing, yet could it be too good to be true?  So I find one of those price it scanner’s nearby to verify if someone was just teasing me and erroneously stickered the beautiful art peices.  But it was that good of a sale.

So I thought I’d share it with the rest of you all.  We already hung them because we were both so excited.  It matched the coloring in the house and everything.  These paintings were meant for our house!

I even already brought the little sister over to view them with her artist boyfriend.  Who by the way appreciated the way the pictures images of a rainy day.  Which of course made me appreciate them all the more because me and rain are in love!

So I thought i’d share them with you so you could let me know what you think!

My living room layout with the beautiful art work - It was made for my house - Syd wanted to be in the shot as well.

Moulin Rouge- Love the art and the movie!

My favorite - Paris! Note the Eiffel Tower in the background

Big headed?

Every feel like you had one of those weeks where you were amazing and everyone has yet to recognize the raw talent. 

Yeah, that’s me, right now.

Sometimes it’s just nice to be appreciated, you know?

Me & the boy

Well, it’s been a month or so since I’ve started the blog and I’ve decided to bring you in a little to my boy meets girl story.  Please note that I in no way or form am a love sap, so I was hesitant to go there at first.  But in the spirit of Valentine’s day passing, I decided to give it a shot.

I have to admit I started writing the blog and realized my story was good for my soul to reflect on.  It ended up being quite a bit to write…so with that I’d thought I’d introduce you to the boy…

So I’ve been married for about a year now, but we’ve known each other for …hmm 13 or so.  So here’s how it all started…

Yeah his mom was my youth pastor and he was the durmmer boy on the stage.  Of course that was when I was a freshman in highschool and him being 6 years older at the time, we were primarily acquaintances. 

Towards the end of highschool I do recall the friendship kindling.  We were going to Mexico trips together for the youth group, selling christmas trees together next to the church, and being part of the discipleship program.  It wasn’t until my senior year when we were traveling to Flagstaff for some sort of seminar that I even saw him in that light. (Which is probably a good thing given our age difference)

I still recall the youth trip we were driving back home and he offered his shoulder for me to lean on in the van on the way home.  And I gladly accepted.  Ironically his mom/my youth pastor was driving and mentioned to not make me feel uncomfortable and I meekly said i was fine.

After highschool we had one last trip with the youth group – Washington DC.  And that is where he found his way to sit near my in the airplane.  I was reading a book (the only time i read is when i travel) and had my hand under my crossed legs.  Next thing I know he timidly holds my hand and I feel butterflies.

After that trip he went to Bible college in Florida.  I finished highschool and got into my confused stages of life where I couldn’t figure out what i wanted to do with my life.  Stayed in my hometown of AZ, worked at a video store, rented a apt, went to community college. 

Two years come and go and I find him in my video store one day and my heart skips a beat.  We start hanging out more and more and I realize there is something there.  And much to my amazement I find myself calling him and telling him I have feelings for him.  Believe me, I was never the forward girl, but I found myself comfortable in this position with him.

Little did I know I would be the one deciding on many things to come.

I asked him out.

I asked him for our first kiss

And in the end I asked him to marry me.

Alright so I’m skipping some story here.  Let me go back a little bit and catch you up.

We dated for a year and I finally made the long awaited decision to finish out my education and go to a  University -3 hours away.  I could tell it surprised him, but he was supportive.  Up to that point in my life I knew I wasn’t living up to my full potential and I had always meant to finish out my schooling.  I knew I only had 2 more years of school or so with all the community credits leading the way in, and it was time. 

I still remember it was Christmas time and I was packing up to move to Flagstaff for school and he wanted to give me my present before I went away.  Next thing I know I was opening a box with a ring in it and looking at him with confusion.  He then tells me it was a promise ring.   Now for those of you who don’t know me, you may swoon at the nice sentiment, but for me it was the first of two times I turned him down on his nice gestures. 

First of all I was going to college and the sentiment was sweet and all, but in my book either you were engaged or not, and that was not in the books for me at the time.  So I told him I could not accept the ring under those pretenses.  He thought it over and said the ring was his promise he would wait for me while I was in school, and it had no other commitments after that.  So I accepted, under my defined terms

To be continued…

One of my fav pics...me and him before I went off to college.

The Question

Well, it’s definitely not the typical story.  But, that’s what makes it so good to tell …

 

I’d love to tell you it happened under the moonlit night.  He and I were on the island one night while visiting him in Havasu during a break of school.  He asked me to dance under the moonlight, and in the middle of the “Unchained Melody” song playing from my car’s stereo; he asked me.  But that was the time I said no.

 

 Ok, I’m sure many of you may sigh at the story, yet I was not the typical swooning type.  I was still in college and had other ideas at the time.  So you can understand he had some hesitation to asking me again until he was under the undebatable impression of how I felt.

 

 Knowing the pasts’ circumstances, I knew when I finally came around to the idea of marriage and realizing he was the only one for me, I got to thinking.  I could A.)Tell him I’m ready for him to ask me now.  Or B.)Ask him myself. 

 It wasn’t as planned out as you would think, but one day, in his apartment I sat down on the floor in front of him.  Looked up at his face and told him, “I think you should marry me…” matter of factly almost. He smiled and said that was definitely something we should talk about.  I shook my head and said “No, this is me asking you.”  After the shock passed his face, and I was able to gather my own thoughts of the unplanned situation…

 

 Well what can I say we’ve been married for a year now so he said yes.

 

 

 

 

Here we are right around the days of the engagement...

The scare

After college I decided to move to the city which offered me a job opportunity fresh out of school. I litterally had a couple weeks back home before he and his family moved me to me new home.

I did fairly well for myself, real job, real benefits, and was learning the whole meaning of commuting for the first time.  But at that point as you may imagine the long distance relationship was losing much of its fondness for me.

So the boy came down to visit me and we started looking for apartments for him to be closer to me so we could see how our relationshp would work, seeing each other on a daily basis again.

We found the perfect apartment, exactly in the middle of my house i was living at with my best friend and my work. Yes, I had an hour commute, so it was the perfect distance to drop by on my way home, or on the weekend if i fancied.

We had a month to go before his job would transfer him to the city and we would finally be in the same town as each other. And on my way home from work one day, (commuting home) I called him for our regular chat. Only this time it wasn’t him who answered the phone. It was a worried, wavering voice that i didn’t recognize at first….

It was his mom.  And all I remember from that conversation is a few things.

He’s in the hospital…getting air evaced…his arm was numb this morning…cat scan…brain aneurysm….going to Vegas hospital…I was in complete shock.  I still remember calling my mom frantically asking her what brain aneurysm meant.  Of course her knowing what it was and explaining it to me she didn’t tell me the whole truth, but enough where I could understand.

Mom – It is blood on his brain. It is a great thing they caught it and now that they are aware they can take quick action.

I drove home in a daze.  Called my best friend (my roomate at the time)  and left a message.  Next thing i know she and my little sister (who also was a roomate at the time) where home consoling me.  Sharon was helping me pack my bags and had who older sister coming pver to pick us up and drive us to Vegas.

My best friend’s sister was on her way to becoming a full certified doctor at the time, so if she was taking action to getting me to him I could tell she had a better idea of the situation.  And the urgency in all of their actions shook my core.

I don’t recall much of the drive.  I sat in the back seat with my best friend and her sister up front.  I do recall Jason Mraz playing in the background singing about love.  It was so confusing to me, everything was so fragile in my mind instantly.  But I couldn’t cry any more at that point.

His mom called me again and we informed her that we were on our way.  Then she told me he wanted to speak but I had to stay upbeat because his blood levels/heart rate was being montored and they just wanted him stable.  I talkd to him trying to hid the tears that came rushing and could hear his voice trembling as i was telling him I would be there soon.

Then his mom takes the phone back and walked out of the hospital room and said I probably should wait to talk to him anymore till when I get there cause they could tell from his readings he was getting upset.

It was the longest 2-4 days of my life.  The hospital was confusing and didn’t seem to be taking urgent actions.  They were rescanning his head, and running tests till we all turned blue.  It wasn’t until the doctors and nurses came arond and finally said they don’t see any need to operate we could breathe a little again.

It seems there was a shadow on the first catscan that was taken in our home town.  That was what diagnosed the brain annurism.  But after additional test the shadown was no longer there…so was this a misdiagnosis and we should be greatful or was this something God truly healed?  Either way we were thankful.  Frustrated by the whole circumstances, but glad to leave the hospital with him.

He came back with me to the city where he could go to specialized doctors for the week.  And a month and a half later he moved up to the new apt in the city with me; what a whirlwind!

Marriage – 1 year in

So, now that I’ve discussed the story behind me and the husband…now we can get into the real nitty gritty! 

No one ever mentions to you how hard things can get in a relationship when life comes at you fast.  All of a sudden things aren’t about dates, kisses, etc.  Now it’s the real world, with bills, job losses, house upkeep.  It’s a hard job people.  And now that I’m a year in, I’ve realized it’s all about the approach.  It’s all about the teamwork and getting things done.

Before - yeah, those are weeds people.

After - much better *sigh*

The Little Women…

Well, I was going to write an email about the eldest sibling who is pmsy and snotty.  But then I reflected on those bad intentions and thought I’d write a little about my theory on my sisters.

As far as reading goes, I don’t do much of it.  I know, judge me as you will…but i was always the one in front of the tv growing up.  What can I say, I love me some tv.  But besides that, I have read a fairly large book – I believe it had 500 pages or so.  Of course I remember because it was such a feat.   It’s one of my favorite books, “Little Women”.

This story, for those of you who read less then me…then again there’s an amazing movie as well (I suggest you watch it).  Anyways, this movie is about the bond of sisters.  Every one of the 4 sisters has a distinct personality, and they fight like any others, and burn off the others hair, fall in love with the same boys, laugh and cry together.  It’s an amazing story of true sisters.  The moral of the story is that their bond is stronger than any man that comes into the picture.  Their little tight knit circle is what gets them thru life.  Well that’s what it means to me anyways.

So my theory goes like this…me and my sisters are the Little Women.  Ok, now that you’re rolling your eyes at me, give me a second to explain.  We are meant to be close knit, not allowing any boy to ever come inbetween us.  (K, so that’s how I feel about it, hence my harsh judgement on all the boys in their life throughout the years!)  And we all take on different characters throughout our lives. 

Our little sister – She equates to the littlest sibling (Amy)sometimes, but she fluctuates to the eldest (Meg)as well because she is the most profound.  The old soul.  She has the street smart, me and the eldest sometimes do not.  She has the artist soul and wants to be rich; she is very critical of her appearance sometimes to a fault, and very aware fashionably of what is acceptable.

My eldest siter-She is Jo, no question about it.  She is quick tongued and gets herself into trouble.  She doesn’t care what others think of her and goes about her way untouched by the emotional “weaknesses” of others.  She is the rock and the voice of reason at times.  She even had our version of Laurie – who was the love interest that always loved her from a far, but could never have her because they were too much alike.

And me – Well at one time I was Beth…the sister with the intuition.  The one who couldn’t bear the thought of the others growing up and moving out of the house.  Again the issue with their boys coming into play.  I am protective and intuitive.  Introverted, yet thoughtful…K, I’m not as saintly as she was, which is where I fluctuate with Jo (cause I do have some of that spunk).  But she was the sister who died, and I have had my fair share of car accidents in my life.  So although God has saved my life time and time again…I was the sister that had threats to me living a full life.

So that is my theory of my sisters, and to end such a lovely story with a quitesential picture of them here it is.  Me on my wedding day, with the gazing at my soon to be husband knowing he would soon be coming into the sacred circle (Again they are more willing to open this circle to others than I have ever been)

I've always loved this picture because I think it catches each of the "Little Women" characteristics in it

RIP Mr. Snowman

Poor Sydney, her favorite baby died today…

See for youself…

Here's the last of his scarf and hat

 

Here's the final struggle. Sydney trying to save his life,Pooh putting up a good fight.

 

Poor, poor Sydney with what's left of her baby.

 

You were very loved Mr. Snowman...Rest in Peace

Some me time

Well, my BFF reminded me this weekend it is important to take some time out and gussy yourself up a bit.  And I have to say, after some hesitation I’ve found myself greatful for that “me” upkeep.

Which makes me think…it’s pretty easy for us go a day without showering, or maybe stop shaving for a day…or a week (maybe that’s more me), or just get lazy with our fashion wardrobe.  But it is refreshing to push yourself to clean things up a bit…

So my weekend consisted of the following

• Getting my car washed – My car is still ghetto fabulous with the missing hubcab ( I do plan on ordering it) from my sidewalk collision, but getting it washed made it run like new in my heart
• Mani/Pedi – my toes and nails were a site to see before…and now I can’t help but to gaze upon them all day now!
• Some work clothes – I heart JCPenny’s and their sales
• Dyed the hair – thank goodness for hair dye in a box! (I’m not made of money)

So these few things although may be the norm for some, it’s been awhile for me. 

Oh, yeah, and the shaving of the legs can be a good thing too

Point Systems!

Well for those of you out there that don’t know me, let me just say that i am a bit of a numbers freak.  I just think that way.  It’s my calculating mind…and not necessarily always pure numbers are running thru my mind, but situational things that add up.  So when I decided to join the Weight Watchers System to lose some of the 30lbs I put on since my wedding (Yeah who knew married life could be so grand   ) it’s kind of got me a little crazy I must say.

Did you know a tortilla is 7 points!?!  Can you believe that, it’s so flat and little and delicious as a wrap/cheese crisp, etc.  And that’s not even adding anything to it to make it tasty!

Yeah, and don’t even think about a burger at McD’s…that’s like your whole alotment of points for the day.

Even the butter you put on the bread, or the oil you cook with adds up…and I’m not always eating from the box that breaks out the calories, fat, and fiber.  Especially since I enjoy putting my chef hat on most nights.

So you can see where this can become perplexing/mind altering.

Almost made me think twice today about eating the delicious slice of apple pie today for a coworkers bday. 

Me:  Could I see the label on that pie?

Fellow female coworker:  No, you can not…

Friend coworker:  Please pass it over, we just need to take a quick peek.

Fellow female coworker reluctantly reads the label…mmhmm, sugar, more sugar, and some apples, no nutrition break down.

Friend coworker:  Well, that means it’s 0 points then!

Me:  Nice!

Morning Greif!

Koda standing his ground...and Emme's butt

So, here I am, all nice and cozy in my bed and dufus Koda wants to make my morning start at 6am.  (This is the usual time I’m out of the house and off for work, so I guess they gave me a 30min break)

He has this thing which his water dish.  You know those water dishes that have the half gallons turned upside down to fill with water as the level drops?  Yeah, genius invention right?  The less i have to fill their water dish the better.  However Koda has always had this thing where he likes to push it with his strong paw and all I hear every morning is the water slishing and sloshing!  My biggest fear is the water that constantly splashes out of the water dish will be sitting all morning on my floor boards and I’ll get mildew or something.

But I ignored them and tried to enforce who was boss this morning and didn’t get out of bed till 8 or so.

I’ve finally figured out the deal here though…my animals consider themselves as my owner.  I had a friend break it down for me at work once. (I’m pretty sure she got it from watching the pet whisperer).

So basically they own me, and tell me when they want to be fed.  Hence the obnoxiousness of Koda’s morning routines. 

How to break it you ask?

Well soposedly it starts with showing them you are the owner. 

Such as:  When it is time for them to eat, eat something in front of them first.  this shows them the owner always eats before them.  Even if it’s the crack of dawn like for me getting ready for work.  If you make them watch you eat a cracker, the recognition should start taking place. 

Now I know the Pet Whisperer primarily works with dogs, but don’t you think this could work for cats too?  I mean I’m pretty sure right now all of them “wear the pants” right now as far as they are concerned. 

But then again isn’t that just the nature of the beast?

I’ll start running some tests and let you know…

Hmm, even as I type Koda steps right in front of me and my computer screen – I think he’s aware of the situation and showing me yet again who is boss!

Motivation…

Why is it every day off you plan on getting a million things done, but all you find yourself is in your pj’s till the afternoon?

And that fact becomes even more apparent when you and the spouse are off on the same day.  And ideas of a day off are entirely different!

I heart Ikea

So after all the delays of the husband on the internet and me playing Dr. Mario more than necessary we ended up getting a couple of things done.

Our office has been clean/organized/a disaster area off and on.  Technically it was never really organized (that was just me shoving all of the husband’s things into a closet!)  But on our day off, I took it upon ourselves to go to Ikea for some organizational items for the office.

I really could of spent all day there, but I kept reminding myself I was there for the sole purpose of cleaning up the office.  Ok so maybe that was more so my husbands voice behind me as I was skipping through the showcases!

So here’s the partial progress.  Lots of hours of labor went into this let me tell you…Ikea small price tag comes with a price!

Shelving Unit $29.99

Red Mirror $1.99

Vase next to mirror .79

3 lights added under bottom shelf:  $14.99

Wicker baskets $3.99 each

mesh paper organizers 2 for $7.99

Time and explicit words used:  3.5 hours and 30 words or so later…

Here it is...the shelving, some baskets...little mirror vase and lights all from Ikea.

Boring Sister!

So after all the hooplah of taking Thurs off to help the older sister with her ailing kitty…

Long story short Americus was having trouble holding food down, then lost her appetite completely and was a mess.  It was her liver, but after shots, lots of love, and a couple of days she has started to eat again!  Hooray for Mer feeling better!

So in celebration of a rough week and some much needed tlc we invite the eldest sibling out for a half yard of beer at our treasured restaurant -The Yardhouse…and what does she do?  Declines her loving sisters offer!

How Rude!

Why I love the husband?

Why the odd subject line you ask?  Well the sister has “tagged” me,  I guess into writing one.

And of all the times to come back to my trusty wordpress account…this is not one of the times I care to be forced to write such things.

But alas, no one wants to hear Miss Crabby Pants…so I guess I will pull out of my long term memory the things I love about him…

1.  He likes my nightime burps…

2.  He plays with my hair at night until I go to sleep.

3.  He puts up with my cleaning crazies (see Cleaning = Serenity)

4.  He mostly understands the “prove you love me today” mentality

5.  He’s can be patient (see The Question)

That’s about all for now.  One can not be forced to expand on such notions at a moments wimb

Anniversary Trip Portrait!

I have a serious case of…

So as many of you may tell from time to time I tend to have a few grammatical errors here and there.  And if I took the time to review my writing I could possibly correct the issues, but I get lazy.

This phobia infested itself in me when I was a mere child.  In case I haven’t mentioned it before, I was home-schooled from 6th-8th grade.  My mom was quite the brilliant teacher.  She was a bio-chemist, editor, accountant, etc throughout her career lifetime.  So all the mathematical, grammar, and scientific skills she had was in abundance.  Genetics did pass on an understanding of the numbers, however when it came to the grammar/editorial skills, I think I was a bit jipped.

I would write essays and such in school and have my mom review/correct the paper.  I’m sure you know how it is, you finish the assignment, feel a sense of relief and then 5-30 minutes the assignment comes back into my hands dripping with red correction ink all over it!  It’s like a murder scene on paper.  Once where my words of wisdom and genius where untouched and out for the world to see where now covered with crossing out marks, underlined marks, striked through lines, and corrections over them.  Don’t get me wrong, if I made the changes my mom suggested for the public school teachers I would typically get an A.  But that red pen still sends shivers down my spine. 

So now when it comes down to it, it’s just too painful to go back and review the master pieces of english I have imparted on you all. So if you come across a mispelling, fragment, or run on sentence every now and again, I apologize up front for the frustration. 

Along with that I have recently found out I have a serious issue with spoonerism as well.  It’s were you (deliberately) or possibly subconsciously play on words. 

For example:

Wear do you want to go after work?  Of course I meant wHERE but my subconscious was thinking ahead of itself and typing the wrong word.  Again maybe this is a sign of genius in some potential form.  I always heard that if you couldn’t remember something and then think upon it later with the answer without knowing you brain is still contemplating it is a sign of genius.  I’d like to think that’s the case here as well…What do you think?

Digging for Gold

Some things just can’t be expressed with words or descriptions!

Gone with the Wind

I have decided this evening that customer service is no longer in existence.  And it’s a shame too, being that I put in about 5+ years in the customer facing role at good ol’ Blockbuster Video.

But as I try to figure out the new cable/phone line provider – speaking with first the Dish Network 3rd vendor and then back and forth with Quest since they gave us a slower than intended computer speed, I realize I was wasting a perfectly good evening.

And this guy seemed educated enough to understand the services and such, but I’m sorry whatever happened to the customer is always right?  Because tonight was more of a “I’m speaking to you and you are absolutely wrong” air. 

Augh, it’s enough to make someone go and get a cigarette and beverage and relax for the night. 

Seriously though, I think I can pin point this back to society and the birth order generations.  Those who were born in the Millennium have a “owed” mentality.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not much older than them.  I am a mere 27, but I believe that just puts me out of that generation.  Regardless I would like to think if I were on the other end of the phone I would recognize the frustration the customer was having hearing two different things and be kinder with my tone.

Regardless, makes me worry about how we are going to be 20+ years from now when I am older and the younger call center associates are working the jobs.  I shudder at the thought!

It’s my bday!

K, so I haven’t posted for awhile…but don’t think I haven’t been thinking up a blog or two…so lets sum up the past couple weeks…

1. It’s my bday today and I’m turning the big 2-8.  I know, I know…I’m still a younging, especially compared to the hubby who just turned the big 3-4 four days prior.

2.  For my hubby’s bday – we got a new family member.  A little Austrialian Shepherd Mix.  His 7 weeks old and pretty smart, confident, and always hungry.  My intent was to get a playmate for our lab Syd…but she’s not too fond of him yet.  And I have to say it has been a bit of an adjustment with the new one in the house.  Waking up at 3/5am taking him out to potty train him!

Here he is the newest family member Cullen Joseph

Here's Sydney's reaction to the new one.

3.  I had a bday trip to Miami Fl with my Bff.  I was able to tag along on a work trip and get out of town for some fun.  Fun in my book (since I’m so much more mature) is shopping, eating out, and seeing the ocean.  It was a really nice trip, considering I forgot my camera, gps, and was in the middle of a big work project that still got pulled off (with me working another saturday).

4.   I’m still attempting to do the Weight Watchers thing.  In fact, I even requested a healthy/delicious/& nutritious salad that I ended up making for myself since all the sisters were so busy were their daily events.  Still it was some good times tonight.  Got me some Wii Fit, PF Changs/Old Navy gift cards, and a great classic movie “How to Make an American quilt”- k, it’s classic to me, and some cute house decor.  All in all a great night.

A whole lot of crap!

So many things to share and yet I think I’ll spread them out a bit…

So I finally decided to be a productive individual and apply for my passport so me and the hubby could visit his brother in Canada.  Ok quick outburst here…Canada sounds amazing to me.  I have this idea that it is a beautiful green wonderland.  Primarily because my favorite movie growing up when I was a pure love sap was Anne of Green Gables.  And those films were done in Canada…so I’ve always had the idea that I must visit there.  For those of you who don’t know about Anne of Green Gables – she is a red head adopted child that is spirited and has a creative knack for descriptive verbiage.

Anyways, I digress…I went on my lunch break to a senior citizens center where they have a passport office.  Drove in to the parking lot and might of cut of this older gentlemen in his car…I don’t have the best driving record and I was just trying to run an errand.

I park the car, run in and am the only one in the office.  Went as smooth as you could ask for.  So as I proudly walk back to my parked car …thinking about how exciting my Canada trip will be, then low and behold there is a big splat of brownish tan substance on my drivers side car.  As if someone threw some poop at my car…It was’t right.  No bird could of had this much poop.  And they wouldn’t of been able to aim sideways to my car.

I couldn’t help but imagine that old man copping a squart and throwing it at my car.

Conspiracy?  I think not!

Your one thing…

You know how everyone has that one thing that is a guilty pleasure.  No matter how tight you are on money or how many of them you have you just can’t get enough of it.  It’s always the things you can purchase another of because it is so near and dear to your heart.  That thing you look forward to and makes your day a little better?

Well for the normal person it may be something intellectually stimulating like a book/magazine…or something more sensible like an article of clothing or shoes.  But for me nothing is sweeter and more exciting than a new shampoo & conditioner.  To me it is the thing that excites me and makes the showering experience like new.  It’s as if the next shampoo/cond i try may be the perfect product that I’ve  been looking for that makes my hair look just right.  The smell may be amazing and finally last all day.  It may just make me do better and work and make me more motivated to style my sometimes rebellious hair. 

It’s my one thing! 

It’s so funny because I was watching a movie “Friends with Money” with Jennifer Aniston.  There was  a scene where she confides her friend about her greasy hair and her friend admits that it was her one true desire to find the next great shampoo/conditioner and every time she was let down.  She realized that every product was made with the same junk and she had literally tried every brand/type.  That’s when she decided to give up on washing her hair.

My husband watched the movie with me when we were dating at the time and looked at me with concern in his face at the end of the scene and said to me, “Do you think that would ever be you?”  and I turned my head to the side as if I had just saw my future self in the movie and said it was a possibility. 

And with that I leave you with a perfectly beautiful cartoon that for now represents me…I’ll let you know if I fall of the wagon   But for know the latest greatest scent is rosemary mint because it refreshes your scalp.  I probably was on the kick about 2/3 years ago and it is now back in my life.  We will see if the hair brands of the world can come up with the most amazing product yet.  For now the search is still on!

Cullen – puppy pics

Hello all…It’s been about a month know and our little puppy Cullen has been sprouting up like crazy…he’s now about 9lbs – I believe he started at 4 or so. 

So let me know what you think

Here he is - with his ears all popped up - kinda husky like? Not sure

Playing in the yard with Sydney

Being held by his daddy

Playing tug of war

Hormones!??!?

So as of late, I’ve been pretty grumpy lately.  I mean I know the drill…time of the month = havoc on the hubby.  I don’t mean to be so snotty, but what can I say it brings out the best in me.

Why it was just the other week, and I was in line at Wal-Mart and was imagining horrible things on this guy in front of me who was moving at the speed of a snail.  Couldn’t he see I was in a hurry?  Did the world have to stop for him to empty his cart one object at a time?  As I was picturing ripping off his head with delight I realized there might be some heightened hormones rushing thru my veins.

Is it really just me though?  Doesn’t every girl have these days?  I’d like to think so…

Still maybe I’ll look into a happy pill of some sort for now so the hubby can stay in one piece.

Whirlwind Vacation

So I just came back from a fun filled trip with my bff.  I tagged along on her business trip which = free hotel/rental car/food (if we split).  So here’s the exciting times.

• First the weeekend started with a camping trip with her and her sister and our spouses.  We camped, ate smores, went swimming in the lake, and relaxed out in nature.  The best part of the trip was probaby the weather being that it was a little rainy = beautiful!
• Next came back and got on a airplane with my BFF
• Went to an amzing restaurant in Dallas Tx – Wolf Gang Puck – and for those of you who don’t know I am a food fanatic – so it was amazing
• Next drove to Oklahoma City and saw the sites

Here’s some pics!

camping rain!

Wolf Gang Puck 560 Restuarant

Oklahoma!

No Sweat…

Some of you may have your conditions…and I’m not trying to belittle anyone’s own issues or what not…but I was curious if anyone out there could relate to mine.

Here it is, and I am telling the complete truth here:  I do not sweat.

Ok, ok…I know what you may be thinking how is that even possible, wouldn’t you explode or something, don’t  you live in Arizona which is known to be over 100 degrees of utter, disgusting hotness?

Well, to you I say yes it is a bit inconvenient.  Especially given the habitat my parents chose to raise me in.  I still recall my mom telling me when I was a baby she would have to put a cold wet washcloth over my head to stop me from turning tomato red.

So what are the side affects you ask?  Well, depending on the degree of overheating…it is red in the face, dizzy, neasea, and weakness.  Someone once mentioned to me that meant my body had no ability to get rid of toxins.  But it’s not like I can’t go to the restroom – isn’t that what I’m doing?

Anyways, anyone else feeling my pain out there?  Just curious

Roomates

So for those of you who do not know – The Good, Bad, and Ugly is my older sister of 2 years.  She was providing housing for my little sister for about a year now and given that she has moved into smaller living quarters the little sister is now staying with me and the husband.

Along with that move her b-friend has also been connected at her hip since her stay.  So far he is fairly polite and friendly – so no big deal there as of yet.  However it is usually a bit of a surprise to get 2 roomates.

Anyways, I thought I’d share some recent events over the past week of our new living situation of my conversations with the new roomates.  Let me just advise you before you read on that I am fully aware that I am OCD about cleaning – if you have read my past cleaning = serenity…and I am a bit of a cooking extrodinaire given my obsession with food network .

 

Scenerio 1- in the kitchen @ the island.

Little Sister:  Where is my movie?

Me:  Where movies belong *eyebrow raised to teach her a lesson*

Little Sister:  Oh yeah, where is that, you have movies in the bedrooms, movies in that bookshelf, movies near the tv.

Me:  Well, if I plan on watching a movie soon then I put them near the tv – that is what makes sense.

 

Scenerio 2 – On the phone with the big sis in the kitchen talking loudly

Me – OMG there are so many dishes in my sink.  I HATE coming home to these.  I feel like a disgusting person having dishes sit in my sink overnight – super gross.  This is ridiculous!

 

Scenerio 3 – After a night of fun filled food, and beverages (maybe quite a few for some)

boyfriend (bf) -I just wanted to let you know how badly I feel when I put my dishes in the sink

Me – Yes, you should…I hate dishes left in the sink

bf- Well it’s just that the dishwasher is usually full, and I don’t know where anything goes.

Me – *in my mind* you should learn

 

Scenerio 4 – The next morning really around 8am ish – doing bills at the computer and the little sister walks past the office

Me – OMG you are awake!

little sis – uh huh

Me – Are you going to stay awake?  I’ve been up since 6am and have feed the animals, cut the trees, gone for a bike ride, did the dishes, did the laundry, did the bills.

little sis – you are crazy

Me – If you stay up I’ll make you breakfast

little sis – fine, I think my bf is getting up too

 

Scenerio 5 – At the island me making my breakfast feast…cutting bananas

bf – your little sis won’t eat those … she only likes the bananas that are partially green and fresh

me – are you kidding me, these are fine -besides you’ll just make the mushy with hot maple syrup!

little sis – no, they are mushy I won’t eat those.

me- you are crazy – what about these strawberries then, they will be delicious on the pancakes!

little sis – umm now, I don’t like them because they were frozen  – they have a weird taste – I only like fresh

bf – yeah they taste like they have alcohol in them when you put them in the microwave

me – you guys are ridiculous – I’m making you your own personal IHop here and you are ruining my creation by being so boring!

A great afternoon

So my little sis works at a Massage School – and part of the perks of it is she can take her family members on the weekends for free massages.  The students have to have so many hours of practice, and we become their homework.  I take this position pretty seriously.  I mean, to help students learn, and become better massage therapists – hello, count me in.

Anyways, so this Saturday, my little sis was kind enough to take me, our older sis, and my bff with her.  Of course the questions went back and forth before we got drawn in one by one with the massage student for our 50 minute massages such as how much clothing to leave on.  My advice was leave on the undies and take off the rest.  Once all was said and done we compared notes on all of our experiences with the students.

ME:  So how did it go, did you like your person?

Little Sis:  Totally, she started with a cranial massage and did this thing with my hair where she took strands and twisted it and pulled it.

Me & the older sis:  ooooo,  awwww, that sounds amazing

BFF:  You guys are funny – you all have such hard heads.  Did your person end up rubbing your glutes like you said?

Me:  Totally, mine was a little tender actually, but she totally rubbed them.

Both Sisters:  Yeah, me too, she rubbed my butt.

BFF:  What?!?  I told her I didn’t have any exlcusions and she didn’t rub my butt!

Me & the sisters:  Weird, they totally did for us!

Latest movie reviews

So me and the husband and pretty much avid movie watchers…we have blockbuster.com, netflix (yeah both, crazy), and see the new movies as much as possible.

So I thought I’d start sharing what I thought about them as I saw them.  Just kind of putting my two cents in before you get a rental or go out for a night of movies:

 

Movie Theatre

Star Trek – Ok, I am not a trekkie at all.  I had been avoiding this movie for some time, but honestly it was pretty well done.  You don’t need to know the history of it all, besides the normal characters and handshakes.  (Who doesn’t know the V-shaped live long and prosper).  Anyways, I have to say the Zachary Quinto (who I also love in Heros) made the movie all worth wild.  I don’t know if it’s the broad eyebrows, or his character which battled to show feelings…but I loved it.  It’s good with the special effects, understandable story, and futuristic devices (I love the movies the back in time classics such as Back to the Future, and Peggy Sue gets Married, etc.) Rating – :)

Disney’s Up – Adorable movie – I think the best part of the story for me was the “grumpy old man” from the previews I saw.  Learning his story watching the movie made me love him even more.  I’m still a kid at heart when it comes to the cartoons, but this one definitely takes the cake of recent family movies. Rathing- :)

Night at the Museum 2 – Ok, so I had some time to fill on vacation and ended up taking this movie in as well…and I have to say the first one was way better.  The story line/acting is cutesy for the family, but you basically saw the just of it on the previews.  Nothing new in this one.   Rating-  :p:p

Rentals:

New in Town – Renee Zellwegger and Harry Connick Jr (I hear his music) – The movie was ok.  Nothing amazing, I feel like these stories can get a bit predictable.  Plus there is something very unusual about Renee’s face in the movie – very distracting. Rating: :p

Paul Blart: Mall Cop – I liked Kevin James in Hitch- pretty adorable guy in the movie – and who could forget his dance.  But this one was a little too cutsey for my liking.  He is a sad single dad looking for love and protecting his mall.  Alright for a night in with dinner, but nothing too crazy here.  Rating:  :p

There is the latest -should have some more for you later.

My theory on Pets

So I was laying in bed thinking this morning as my little Emme is winking at me from the floor.  It reminded me of a conversation I’d had with my husband a while back about my theory on pets. 

Me:  What if they are really guardian angels, sent to watch us and protect us.  They have such sensitive souls, love us no matter what…what do you think?

Husband:  Umm, it’s an interesting thought.

Me:  Yeah, I totally think so.

Husband:  Well what about Cullen when he pees/poos on the ground, is that a sensitive soul?

Me:  Well, maybe he’s testing me…even guardian angels in their baby form have to be trained.  Besides I think it’s a test for patience.

Husband:  Hmm, I’ve known an pet or two that didn’t seem like an angel. What about that dog that ate your hamster.

Me:  K, you’re right there…not all angels were good.  Maybe some come below and are for the other side too   But the majority are not!

Sydney puppy picture

Weight Watchers Update

So maybe I should of been better at the before and after pics.  But really who wants to go back and take a picture when you feel your worst?  But I probably could of docuemted it better, and for that I am sorry.

Irregardless, what weight watchers has/is doing for me was showing me where I was over-doing it.  I am a 100% foodie, love the stuff, watch the food network 24/7, eat, live and breathe it.  Do I make the wrong choices?  Not necessarily…I love my veggies, and EVOO, and fruits…however what I had been doing wrong is eating the wrong quantities.  That along with some poor choices, and you add an additional 30lbs in a year and a half or so.  Yeah = not pretty.

So luckily I had some support from a friend at work.  She suggested I join along with her so she could lose her baby weight and I could lose my…umm (finding a sufficient excuse) post newlywed weight.  So our 6 month program is now over, (probably be joining the next set when avail at my work) but went on my wii fit and am now very close to the normal BMI.  Which is amazing!  I have officially lost 21 lbs since my last Dr. appmt a 8-9 months ago.  Which is also amazing because they kept telling me to lose some weight since I was now in a pre-diabetic state. Which at first made me gain more weight because it was depressing.  (It’s an endless cycle people).

So anyways, I wanted to share some tidbits of information with you that made all the difference.

1.  Every day is a new day – if you mess up the day before and go a little crazy, wake up with the desire to make good choices again. 

2.  Eat 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day.  These are filling foods – so you’re not starving for the next snack.  They also have the vitamins and minerals your body needs to feel better and look better.

3.  No what foods you go crazy on.  “The green light foods” – these foods are the ones you can’t hold yourself back from.  So either find a way to make them healthy, or stay away from them.

4.  Educate yourself!!!  This was probably the biggest deal for me, because it seemed like I naturally was drawn to the less filling, higher calorie items.  If I was looking at a menu, grocery shopping, or just choosing a snack and just choose whatever looked the best to me it was almost 95 times out of 100 the worst thing to eat.  So I had to retrain myself and look up the nutrition facts first.  Once I started seeing positive results the Italian Cheese Bread from Little Ceasars didn’t do it for me anymore.  (ok, I may still struggle with that one from time to time)

5.  Be more active.  K, I was a dance from like the age of 5 thru college…so I naturally was pretty comfortable in my skin.  However being that I was dancing and I enjoyed it so much, it didn’t feel like it was a work out.  I tried the gym thing, but it felt like a chore.  So I’ve gone out of my way and found things that are my like activities than work.  Such as bike riding, finding a local ballet class, or taking my lunch hour at work and hoping on the elliptical/tread mill.

So that’s my spiel, and I’m still on track and hoping to get to my goal of 145 sooner than later.  However after my celebratory italian meal last night I may need to put a couple more excercises in place again!  As of yesterday 14 more lbs to go.

Oklahoma travels - feeling better

The art of interpreting the psyche…

So as you may or may not now thanks to my over-zealous sister (Good, Bad, and Ugly) we are on vacation this week.  Left last Thursday and come back this Thursday…it’s been a nice several days and all but I thought I’d start sharing with you all so you two can get my side of things of the events.

So we flew into Minnesota on Thurs night and the following day had an 8 hour drive to the Uncle and Aunts place in Springfield, IL (for those of you who don’t know that’s the place where Lincoln made a name for himself before becoming President. (I’ll expand on this later).

So we are in an 8 hour drive…a couple hours to go and we were all getting a little stir crazy so we stopped in Wisconsin to pick up some of the world famous cheese.

A sampling the sis bought.

 

When we got back to the car, I pulled out my Kokology book.  This is an amazing book of questions and scenarios you answer to find the hidden meanings of how you really feel about family, sex, work, etc.  And of course I thought this was a great book to start getting to know my cousin.

So how did it go?  Let me give you a little snapshot.

Story:  You are out on a safari two beautiful lions are out in the wild – eating their prey.  What do you do?

Me:  Umm, I would think how cute kitties – then look away because I didn’t want to see the bloody mess.

Cousin:  I would say amazing and watch!

Sis:  Eww gross, I don’t want to see that.

Me:  Interpretation – how you respond to the lions is how you feel about watching adult videos.  Nice

Sis:  That is so not true!

Scenerio 2:  You are out on a whale watch and what do you see?

A:  Small baby swimming behind its big mother

B:  A baby snuggling close to its mother’s belly

C:  A Father and Mother swimming close to its baby

D:  A baby blowing out its spout, swimming alone.

Cousin – A

Sis – C

Me - D…  So Cousin, this book says the mother pays an enormous role in your life and you are basically a momma’s boy.

Cousin – yeah, I am.

Me – Sis – You have a balanced life of your mom and dad and your homelife was probably happy.

Sis – Sure

Me- It’s says I have the most growth as an individual and have created autonomy for myself!  yeah, I’m amazing…hmm, and it reads not to be too willfill, selfish, or headstrong.  Mmmm maybe so.

What’s Important to the family…

So as you know, we have spent the past several days with my Aunts, Uncles, and counsins.  This has been my dad’s side of the family.  It has been a fun filled event for sure, but last night may of topped the cake. (pun intended)

But before I explain, let me tell you a think or two about where we are coming from.  My dad’s dad (our pop) was near and dear to my heart.  He always had a thing for dessert…especially chocolate.  I can still hear him calling for the 2nd piece in the 2nd row (on a freshly new cake)  just to get a rise out of whoever was cutting the cake.

So the rule was growing up there was always room for it.  No matter how full we were after a meal, my dad would get that glimmer in his eye as well and smile and say who has room for dessert.  And typically we latched onto the idea.  Anywyas, my Pop made a deep-rooted impression on my heart and my Uncle Peter (who is like my dad’s twin) loves to remind us of those things on a night like last night.

Here is the scene:

Lainey takes a piece of her ranched lettuce leave and smears it on Molly’s cheek.  Molly sticks her nose up in a dignified matter and walks away.  Next think I know Molly is over by the chocolate cake dessert and grabbing a hearty handfull of frosting and mashing it in between her  fingers with a smile to me and my sister.

Me – Oh no…I can see this going bad!

Next thing you know Molly inches her way over to Lainey and smears 4 fingers worth of frosting over Lainey’s cheeck.

Lainey:  I can not believe you! *growling with a very large smile*

Lainey grabs the cake and spreads the frosting from the of Molly’s forehead all the way down to her chin.

They start chasing each other around the staircase thru the kitchen and end up in the sun room where the Uncle’s and Aunt’s are still pleasantlly enjoying their meal.

Aunt Lizzy:  O my goodness!

Aunt Julie:  Oh girls!

Uncle Peter:  Is that chocolate? 

Girls:  Yes

Uncle Peter:  Oh no, not the chocolate cake.  Why would you waste the chocolate like that?

Uncle Jodie:  You can like it off your face!

Uncle Peter:  I can’t believe it!

Proof of the damage!

Five Years of my life

Whoever said growing up and finding a suitable job would be easy? Especially in this economy I find myself lucky to have a job that provides great benefits, no furloughs, and room to develop myself.

I’ve actually been pretty lucky considering I got this job straight out of college, with nothing but Blockbuster Video on my resume. Don’t get me wrong, those times were good too, but it was time for a job that could pay the bills and provide some proof that I got a college education.

Anways, beyond all the good it’s done me to have an established career…I was awarded with my 5 year award a month ago.  I couldn’t believe it had already approached me.  And on top of it all I was able to choose a 5 year gift…so here it is!

My 5 year art!

Helpful/Informative People in my life

So here I am being the nice sister…well maybe I should just share the text message conversation

Little Sis – I am not going into work tomorrow for my bday – I may lose my mind if I do.

Me – Do you have a special request for your bday dinner?  Anything at all or any particular deserts?

Little Sis – *shrug*

Gives me lots of options, huh!

So then I call my hubby to plan for the day

Me:  Be ready to go to your parents house when I get home so we can start working out.

Husband:  I’m watching my movie

Me:  What?  So we are not going

Husband:  After my movie…

Ugh – I’m 85% sure he started the movie when I left work.  There goes the helpful motivation I had for the day…out the window!

Frustrating

Anyone that has any tips- I’d be glad to hear them!

Family Reunion Gift

Well this is long over due -but here is Rae’s reaction to the family reunion custom t-shirt!

Anti Betty Homemakers!

So last night, my sisters decide to go to the grocery story for some liquer, snacks and movies.

They come back with the easy back brownies, microwaveable White Castle burgers, and a apple strudel muffin mix.  All your basic easy add recipe boxes.  Before you read on, let me just say that I was the only one that was ever in the kitchen growing up.  Enjoyed the cooking shows, putting things together, and making things for others to appreciate (middle child syndrome = need of appreciation) So the night goes something like this.

Rae:  How do you use your timer on the microwave?

Me:  Push timer.

Rae:  Oh, ok

Jess:  How do you make muffins without a muffin pan?

Me:  I get the aluminum muffin wrappers – but I’m out.

Jess:  Oh – guess we can make it in a loaf pan.

Rae:  How do I turn on the stove?

Me:  Push the Bake and up button to get it to the right temperature

—30 minutes go by

Rae:   How do I know if the apple thing is done?

Jess:  I dunno

Me:  Stick a butter knife into it – if it comes out clean you are good

Rae – umm, it’s not clean

Me:  This is the muffin mix thing – it’s going to take longer to bake the whole thing!

Rae & Jess:  Oh yeah, huh

—Later

Rae:  How do I shut off the oven

Me:  Duh, hit the off button

My sisters – challenged in the kitchen! 

Ruling the world!

So last night I actually stayed up past 9:30pm on a Friday night – what can I say I’m no youngin anymore!  Me, the little sister and her bfriend decided to play some board games – which is always fun.

They pulled out the Disney Monopoly which seemed to magically appear in my game closet – really didn’t know where it came from.

We started the game – took awhile, but I made it my goal to purchase every space I landed on.  Rae and her bfriend kept finding themselves in jail, so I seemed to get ahead a bit.

I found a rush of excitement as I was passing Go and colleting $200 time and time again.  Pretty soon my cash flow and real estate was surpasing the others and I begain building castles (since it was the Disney version) on my land. 

Me:  Haha that will be $550 please!

Rae:  OMG – I don’t want to play anymore

Ren:  You have taken over that side of the board – look at all your Monopolies

Me:  *malicious powerful laugh*

Rae:  I need another shot

All in all I won the game – and it just reminded me how good it is to be a tyrant.  It was good to take over the world.

If you are a girl you’ll understand…

So – I’m having one of those nights – in a ball curled up on the couch with Koda – my kindred baby boy cat who has decided to take it upon himself to love me and be a warm body/heating pad on my abdominals.

Just want to lie here and not move…

Why is it being a girl = homones, crampage, and raw pain!

Nightly Activity?

What did I do tonight you ask?

Well aside from making the most delicious enchiladas on the earth – no exaggeration – quick notes on them:

ground turkey, green enchilada sauce, white tortillas, chopped green onions, and mozzerlla cheese – not all of your conventional ingredients, but it turned out very tasty!

Aside from that, I am attempting to iron a shirt that I’ve been putting off bringing to the dry cleaner.  I seem to of missed the life lesson of learning how to iron clothing.  So I figured what else was Google for?  And here’s what I found.

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-iron-a-shirt