Absolutely Ridiculous

I'm still here!

2012-02-06T09:05:00.002-06:00

Promise!

I have been ... wait for it ... BUSY with work! Hooray!

I'm going to do a quick iPhone photo dump so you can see the deliciousness of the food I've been cooking up...

Portobello Pizzas.

These were pretty good - I was kind of bummed because they kind of sloshed all over the place when I cooked them. They looked way better before I put them in the oven.

"Chili" .... but I'd call it soup. This was awesome. Ate the leftovers on Sunday and it was still fab.

Portobello Pasta. Another winner. A little bit grainy, but it was still great.

Oh, have I mentioned that I have LOST 7 lbs?! And haven't even really tried?!?! I haven't counted a single calorie in a good month... I mean I'm still working out a lot and watching what I eat... but I'm not driving myself crazy and it's awesome.

And - I am also fighting the urge to buy cool plates. Especially now that I'm taking lame pictures of everything we're eating... I want cool plates! I may have to go to target or something and get some of the cute plastic cheap stuff... just a set of 2... just for fun!

Ok. SO. I got the menu for this week and was a little under-whelmed. Luckily, I upgraded my meal plan account last week and have access to the archives... so Brandon and I picked a menu from last year that we liked to cook for this week!

On Saturday... I made the best meal ever. I'm a sucker for anything tomato/basil/balsamic/mozzarella... and I about died when I saw "Caprese Burger" on the list.

Oh yeah.

Here they are cooking.

Heaven.

I had two. Yes, TWO.

And some of this. Yummm...

---

Superbowl Sunday I made something not-so-healthy and it was also freaking awesome. It was my first time making lasagna from scratch and it was awesome! I got the recipe from allrecipes, so I will post it here if you want to try it out yourself. Next time, I would use a little more hot sauce. Also, I used part skim ricotta and 2% mozzarella to TRY to healthy it up a bit... ;-)

Buffalo Cheesy Chicken Lasagna

Ingredients:

1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast - cooked and diced
4 cups spaghetti sauce
2 tablespoons hot sauce
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 small onion, chopped
1 small green bell pepper, chopped
1 (6 ounce) can mushrooms, drained
1 egg, beaten
1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese
12 uncooked lasagna noodles
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a lasagna pan.
In a large bowl combine the chicken, spaghetti sauce, hot sauce, vinegar, water, garlic powder, onion, bell pepper and mushrooms; mix well and set aside. In a medium bowl, mix together the egg beat and ricotta cheese.
Spread 1 cup of the chicken/spaghetti mixture in the bottom of the prepared pan. Layer with lasagna noodles, then another 1 1/2 cups of the chicken mixture. Spread 1/2 of the ricotta/egg mixture over all, then top with 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese. Add another layer of noodles, 1 1/2 cups chicken mixture, remaining ricotta mixture and remaining mozzarella. Top with one last layer of noodles and remaining chicken mixture.
Cover pan and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 70 minutes. Remove cover, sprinkle with crumbled blue cheese and bake uncovered for another 5 minutes.
Remove from oven, cover and let stand for about 15 to 20 minutes before serving.

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I will try to update again this week some time - but I have a lot of work to get done (stuff I like doing as well as stuff I am absolutely DREADING)... and it's a short week for me this week because we're going to Santa Fe this Friday!! I am SO EXCITED!

Done.

2012-01-30T09:54:00.005-06:00

I'm exhausted and irritated and really really really ready for the weekend.

Oh, it's Monday morning. So I have a long time to wait.

I just am so tired. I have had a full house since Thursday afternoon and it's still full.
Tonight things will return to normal but I am just so tired. So, so tired.

This week's menu:

Monday:
Turkey meatloaf, Steamed Potatoes and Sauteed Brussels Sprouts

Tuesday:
~~Tilapia on Winter Greens and Tomato Couscous~~
Beef and Broccoli
(We've made Tilapia just like this before and it was not our favorite... so we substituted for beef and broccoli instead - which is super good and I only needed to get two ingredients)

Wednesday:
Portobello Pizza and Side Salad

Thursday:
Two Bean ~~Turkey~~ Chili
(We're going to use ground beef for the chili, because we have a LOT of it already! I did get ground turkey for the meatloaf, but it saves us a little bit of money to use what we've got already!)

Friday:
Mushroom Pasta and Cucumber & Bell Pepper Slices

... something else really exciting... I made a whole freakin' chicken yesterday. Then guess what I did... made my own stock!! Well... am making... it's in the crock pot ready for me to come home and finish! I'm pretty excited about that. I just need to spend this morning calming myself down and unwinding or else I am going to go absolutely batshit on someone who probably doesn't deserve it.

I'm just so tired.

Just Let Me Stay!

2012-01-25T08:14:00.002-06:00

Ok so today was one of those mornings. I used to have them ALL THE TIME - but now they are few and far between.

The alarm goes off at 5:15, like usual. I hit snooze, like usual. The alarm goes off again 9 minutes later. Usually at this time I get up and walk to the other side of the house to get my fitness on... but not this morning.

I decided it was much more important to stay in bed and cuddle with husband.

So that's what I did. I wish I could say I got more sleep, but I just kind of tossed and turned while "the freshman" was stuck on repeat in my head. Once I heard the coffee maker beep that the coffee was done (6:20-ish) I got up and decided to make breakfast. Fried some eggs and made some toast for Brandon, scrambled up a breakfast burrito for myself, and we sat there at the kitchen table and ate breakfast and watched the news and drank coffee and it was awesome.

After breakfast I was cleaning up the kitchen and just hatedthe fact that I had to go get dressed and head to work. What I wanted to do was pack husband a goodhealthy lunch, and then get our nonexistent kids ready for nonexistent school,and then drop them off, and then run errands, and vacuum the living room and doa load of laundry, and then go run or go lift or both, and then pick the nonexistent kids up,and then get started on dinner...

I was talking to Kristin the other day about how I feel guilty wanting to be a SAHM so badly... and how I feel like it's a "waste of my education"... and she said "Just the fact that it is a decision you will make and not something you HAVE to do because you have no other options proves that you are educated". I love her.

While being a SAHM isn't anywhere in my near future (we don't even remotely have kids, so right now I would be a SAH-wife and that's ridiculous)... it still kind of bums me out that I'm not one yet. I may never be one. And that's okay... it just kind of sucks.

So yeah, this morning was one of those mornings. I kind of just wanted to sit in the corner and pout, "just let me stay at home and cook and clean and stuff!!!!!"

(DISCLAMER: I know if I am able to do this one day, I'll probably complain about missing what I have now. I know. You don't have to tell me. :-) This is my blog and I'll whine about whatever I wanna whine about!!)

*sigh*

OK. ON TO FOOD! (Because I know you're dying to know what we've been eating...)

Monday - Honey Lime Shrimp with Tomato & Cucumber Salad.

YUM!! It didn't look like much, but man that shrimp and quinoa had a TON of flavor!!! I also liked the tomato & cucumber salad, but I think it would be better in the summer (because it was cold)... we had no leftovers.

Last night - Veggie tacos.

Another win. Brandon LOVED these! And I learned a new trick with corn tortillas - brush them with a little bit of olive oil, warm them up on a skillet... and they wont crumble into a thousand pieces. I always get nervous when I cook a meatless meal that it won't be filling enough... but it sure was. We have a bunch of leftovers that I will be eating for lunch today (as long as B didn't take them!)

Delish.

Tonight is chicken enchiladas. I'm pretty stoked about this recipe - and it's crazy because all the prep work is already done. Sauce is made, chicken is cooked... all I have to do is put them together and stick them in the oven!

Day 5 Fail

2012-01-23T09:31:00.001-06:00

MAJOR FAIL.

I totally didn't take a picture of the beef and broccoli - and it was so picture worthy - and delicious - and I failed.

I failed mostly because I had a girlfriend come over for a glass of wine at about 5:00..... and she left at about 11:00 after several glasses. We had a blast. She is fantastic. I have a lot of good friends, but every once and a while I will meet someone and we will immediately be BFFs. That's what happened with Catherine when we moved to Dallas... and that's what happened with Ashley. She's just one of those. I adore her.

Even though she made me forget to take a picture of my beef and broccoli.

Anywho - on the topic of food... here's Saturday's creation:

Not on the meal plan, Brandon and I just threw this meat sauce together. It was pretty good... not super healthy... but it was yummy!

I was so excited to start the meal plan for real this week... I started a day early! Well, my aunt is coming to town on Thursday and my guess is we will go out to eat either Thursday or Friday night, so I wanted to get a jump on the week to give us an extra day.

Last night - Chicken and Dumplings.

I made dumplings. FROM SCRATCH!!! Yeah, I know. I'm awesome.

my dumplings. NOT cute... but they tasted good. Next time, I would make them smaller... and maybe make the dough in advance and give it some time in the freezer or something to harden up so they are easier to shape...

YUM.

I actually cooked up a storm on Sunday doing the prep work for this week. I made enchilada sauce for Wednesday's enchiladas, and I made the quinoa for tonight's shrimp and Thursday/Friday's sausage casserole. AS WELL AS making the chicken and stock for the chicken and dumplings. And extra chicken that I will use for the enchiladas.

Here's my sauce! There's a LOT of it, and I really hope the enchiladas don't swim in it because it didn't get as thick as I wanted it to...... stay tuned.

Fun times. I'm so into cooking right now it's not even funny. LOVE it. AND I'm glad that I have been able to have enough time for it. Not to mention I've been great about my workouts - morning circuits and afternoon runs. I'm finally back in that spot where I enjoy it again and it's putting me in such a good place mentally...... aaaah. :-)

Day 4

2012-01-20T09:11:00.003-06:00

Meh.

Wasn't great.

Can't win 'em all now can we??

And it wasn't mustard greens I had, it was collared greens. I used too much red pepper and they were too spicy for my taste. I think I would have liked some type of seasoning on the fish itself. It wasn't BAD... it just wasn't anything special.

I did sign up for the program yesterday, so I am just beyond excited. Next week's plan should be posted sometime today and I can't wait! I am going to go grocery shopping first thing on Saturday morning.

Fun fun fun fun fun.

I also think I am going to get a pedicure today. I haven't had one in almost 2 years. How sad is that? I got one with Kristin the day after I left my job in Dallas... a LONG time ago. I was going to get one with my mom on my birthday, but didn't. Well....... I think I am going to do it today! As long as I leave the office early enough and get a run in this afternoon. Then I'll go if I have time. I hope I have time. My toes deserve it... and my dang fingers do too.... maybe I'll do both my fingers AND my toes.

Tonight is beef and broccoli. I'll try to post about it on Saturday, but I don't spend much time on the computer over the weekend so chances are you will hear all about it on Monday!

XOXO

Day 3

2012-01-19T09:27:00.000-06:00

Aaaaaaand... we're sold. Last night Brandon got on board and is totally okay with me paying the membership fee to do this meal plan every week. We're going to start out with the three months, and if I stick to it and we love it, then we will cave and buy a whole year. Last night's dinner was just as super awesome as the previous nights.

Veggie Tostadas. HOLY YUM. They were fantastic. The only thing I would have changed is the beans. I heated them up but had a hard time mashing, so they weren't as spreadable as I would have liked them to be. But still though, it was SO good.

I was extra proud that I was able to make tortillas that could hold up to the massive quantity of deliciousness I placed on top of them. Sorry I look like poo ..... I had just ran, and I would have smiled bigger but my tooth was out. Because I can't eat with it in. Wah.

I'm digging writing about our dinners... It may be boring to everyone else but it's so much fun for me. AND that's what this blog is about. ME!

Tonight is fish and greens. I'm cooking mustard greens for the first time and honestly it's a little overwhelming. I have a lot of them in my fridge and they have been staring at me all week. Fingers crossed that it's good...... but judging by what this week has been like so far, I'm not too worried.

New Meal Plan Day 2

2012-01-18T15:44:00.001-06:00

HOLY CRAP THIS WAS GOOD.

Look how good it looks...

Chicken Tortilla Soup.

Fan-freaking-tastic.

I even made crunchy tortilla strips for the top.

I am LOVING using only fresh ingredients. It's been a different experience cooking this week so far, I am a lot prouder of the dishes I serve for dinner! Everything is fresh! Everything is from scratch! There is just enough food for us to eat and be full AND have leftovers!!! (I had some leftover turkey meatballs for lunch and they were as good as the night I made them!!!)

I also want to brag about myself for a minute - I have been doing great getting up and working out. I actually have been doing two workouts a day and I am loving every minute of it. In the morning I will do a DVD, and then in the afternoons I will get on the treadmill. I have been running a bit, and walking a bit, and just doing what feels good. Once I stopped counting calories and tracking calories burned...... it became a lot easier. I guess I just get too overwhelmed these days tracking everything.

Tonight is vegetable tostadas.

I am excited.

Mealtime!

2012-01-17T08:38:00.001-06:00

Okay, so part of my new years resolutions for this year (btw - still haven't smoked, still angry about it) is to do a better job meal planning. Plus, I want to go back to cooking healthy meals with real food. Don't get me wrong - I do love me some hamburger helper... but I get so much out of cooking a real dinner with real foods...

Anyways.

Fast forward to a friend of mine telling me about this meal plan that she found online. It's 5 dinners each week, and everything is fresh. Plus, they make it where they only use what is in season... and there isn't more than 20 items on the grocery list. (There is also about 20 items on the "pantry list" of things you should have on hand) ... I signed up and got a "mini week" of recipes (3) and then got two more recipes from that friend and I made myself a "trial week".

I had so much fun grocery shopping on Saturday it wasn't even funny. AND it was cheap. AND AND AND I went shopping at my favorite grocery store (wee bit more expensive than WalMart... and so totally worth it).

So on Sunday I did a lot of pre-cooking and prepping for the week (as suggested by the meal plan) and last night was meal #1... Turkey Meatballs.

SUCCESS.

(and can I just say how much I love prep cooking?! the meatballs were all ready to go in the fridge last night, and the chicken is already cooked and shredded waiting for me to put in the soup for tonight! makes life so easy!!)

They were so good. Brandon even complimented them without me even asking if he liked them. I also made zucchini and a salad with homemade dressing. From scratch. Boom.

I made a few changes - served the meatballs with egg noodles, and added some bread crumbs to the meatball recipe... and omg it was fab. I really hope the rest of the week's recipes are as good - because if they are - I am signing up.

Here's whats on tap for the rest of the week...

Tonight - Chicken Tortilla Soup

Tomorrow - Vegetable Tostadas

Thursday - Steamed Fish & Greens (i have a buttload of mustard greens in my fridge right now, not gonna lie... a little overwhelming)

Friday - Beef with Broccoli

I AM STOKED. Bring it on!

Ok I'm going to do a phone photo dump now...

THIS is what I have to deal with at work on a daily basis. Seriously, apple pie much?! I was proud of myself for maintaining self control.

While I will NOT talk about the game because of how pissed off I am... I do think it's funny that my dad and I face-timed our brat progress on Sunday.

They were fantastic.

How funny is he? How many pillows does he need to hang on to while he naps?!?! LOL!!!

And this is probably the saddest picture I have ever posted on my blog. The last episode of One Life to Live. HEARTBREAKING. The episode was good, the ending was good, but I am just so upset that it's over. I think I have decided to switch over and start watching General Hospital. I just don't know if I'm ready to commit to another show - especially because I've heard rumors of GH being axed in the near future... but some of my favorite characters from OLTL are going over to GH so that could be interesting... hmmmmmmmm........

And I guess that's it for now.

XOXO!

Sorry...

2012-01-14T09:46:00.006-06:00

Yeah, I have been a BAD blogger in 2012.

I still haven't smoked, so that's good. Even though I'm still angry about it.

I just haven't had much to write about! Well, I guess that's not true - I have a lot to write about, I have a lot of pictures to post... I'm just not in the mooooood. And I know if I force myself to sit here and blog then I'll just get annoyed. And nobody wants that.

So we aren't taking our annual trip to Maui, which sucks, but it's okay. Brandon and I tried to think of another vacation to take next month, but then decided we should probably spend the money fixing my tooth instead of going on vacation. Sucks, but it's the grown up thing to do. SO - we have decided to go on our church's adult retreat in a few weeks to Santa Fe. I'm actually getting really excited about it - it should be a lot of fun... and the resort is beeeeeautiful!

Right now I'm waiting for Hubby to get dressed so we can go run errands. I am a little ridiculously excited about our meal plan for this week, and have been waiting all week to go grocery shopping today. Really, I have been counting down the days. It's kind of sad what gets me excited these days...

I'm going to go paint my nails. That will give me something to do. Seriously - Brandon is driving me crazy... I asked him an hour ago if he wanted to come with me, he said yes, and he is taking his sweet ass time getting ready to go. Once my nails are dry, if he isn't ready, I'm going without him!!

Grumpy

2012-01-05T10:41:00.002-06:00

I am grumpy.

Today is day 5.

And it's not getting any easier.

I could write about the awesome time we had while our BFFs were in town, or I could write about the awesome meals I have cooked the past few days, or I could write about how proud I am of myself for getting back on the healthy wagon, or I could write about wine, or I could write about work...

But nope.

I'm writing about how grumpy I am that I am no longer smoking.

It sucks and I hate it.

I don't care that it's good for me and that I am doing the "right thing" or whatever blah blah blah.

I miss it.

Bad.

This sucks.

I don't remember it being THIS hard last time! Well, it's not hard. It's actually easy - just don't smoke. That's not hard. It just SUCKS. Like, BIGTIME.

Day 1 wasn't hard... neither was 2 or 3. Then our friends left and I was all alone in the house. That sucked.

Day 4 sucked.

And day 5 sucks.

Day 6 better not suck as much or else... I don't know.

I am grumpy.

2011 Wrap Up

2011-12-30T09:45:00.000-06:00

Saw this on another blog... thought it was cute... so here we go!

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?

Taught myself how to quilt

Purchased our first home

Got a new job based solely on an interview (no connections,no networking, just my awesomeness)

Went to Las Vegas

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will youmake more for next year?

I didn't make any last year, and I won't make any thisyear... other than just trying to be a better person. I was pretty selfish in 2011, and I want tomove past that.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Nope. I know tons ofpeople that had babies, but no BFFs.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Nope.

5. What countries did you visit?

USA! lol... no other countries.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in2011?

A little more stability. Less financial surprises. Maybe ababy??

7. What dates from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory,and why?

No particular dates... I guess the beginning of Augustbecause that's when we got our house... but really other than birthdays andholidays... nothing major.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Easy - our house!

9. What was your biggest failure?

I don't really have a biggest failure - which is a goodthing - but I don't have a biggest success either. I didn't take many risks this year - I playedit safe. Which isn't a bad thing, butisn't a good thing either. I think alongwith being less selfish in 2012, I'll take a few more risks.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Nah... my last injury was the hematoma but that was2010. Did I tell you I still have agiant bump on my ass because of that fall?!?!

11. What was the best thing you bought?

The HOUSE!!

12. Where did most of your money go?

The house.

13. What did you get really excited about?

THE HOUSE!

... hah... and our Vegas trip. That was exciting because we hadn't beenthere before - and it was just the two of us.

14. What song will always remind you of 2011?

Uh, can't think of one in particular...

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:

– happier or sadder?

Happier. I was kind of absolutelymiserable this time last year with my stupid job.

– thinner or fatter?

Pretty much the same

– richer or poorer?

Richer - we actually have some money insavings, which is nice, but it will all be gone when we fix my tooth... one ofthese days...

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Taken more risks... stuck to my goals... I gave up on myselfpretty quickly with things. Which I tendto do.

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Mindless spending.

18. How did you spend Christmas?

Traveling.

19. What was your favorite TV program?

Boardwalk Empire, True Blood... I'm hooked on HBOshows. Can't wait for the new one abouthorse racing to premier next month.

20. What were your favorite books of the year?

HUNGER GAMES HUNGER GAMES HUNGER GAMES.

21. What was your favorite music from this year?

Don't really have a favorite - it's been a long time sinceI've been drawn to a particular song or artist.

22. What were your favorite films of the year?

Uh... don't really have one of these either. Really I didn't watch too many of them.

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

Turned 26 - and I worked on my birthday. My parents came to town and we did lots oflittle fun things, went to a wine dinner with my mom, steak dinner with thewhole family... shopping... just a fun weekend with the family.

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurablymore satisfying?

Winning the lottery? NOT losing my tooth?

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in2011?

Lame.

26. What kept you sane?

Brandon.

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.

Things will work out in the end. They always do.

And Now It's All Over.

2011-12-28T09:17:00.004-06:00

Well... the crazy is over.

Christmas was wonderful. I took lots of pictures... and hope to have time this afternoon to pick out the best ones to post here.

I didn't cry on Chrismas Eve which was awesome. Had a good time with Brandon's side of the family, and had a good time wiht my side when we got back home.

I'm cranky because I'm back at work. I hate it when the holidays are over.

However - our BFFs from Dallas are coming to visit this weekend........ so I have something to look forward to!

I suppose I could do a quick iPhone photo dump... those are always fun...

Hula in the car on the way to Dallas...

Did I mention my husband upgraded our tickets to FIRST CLASS?! It made the trip 100x easier and 1,000x more awesome. This was my mimosa. Yum.

Brandon opening the duct-tape for the Templeton Rye.......... long story....... moonshine.

Drinking our maybe totally illegal alcohol.

Brandon's tie from the wedding.

Oh yeah, we got a hula painting for Christmas. Still unsure where to put it in the house... lol...

My husband is awesome. Clay Matthews autographed helmet.

I was maybe a little excited....

My little brother and me drinking fruity drinks before going to see Les Mis.

One of my favorite meals at one of my favorite restaurants... at this whole dang thing right before we hit the road. It was a bad idea because I was in a food coma for most of the afternoon... but so worth it.

..... and that wraps it up. More photos soon. Promise!

Stuck

2011-12-21T11:44:00.001-06:00

I'm stuck at work. It's driving me crazy.

I want to go home and hit the road NOW.

UGH. Really I wanted to go YESTERDAY.

Anyways - thought I'd show off this year's Christmas Card...

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

No Time!

2011-12-19T15:24:00.000-06:00

I am so proud that I finished all my Christmas shopping by November 30th.

AND I stayed UNDER budget.

Last week, got all the packages wrapped and under the tree.

Then totally forgot to go mail the box of Brandon's family gifts to California.

So it probably won't get there in time. I suck.

That may have been because we got so intoxicated on Friday night that we spent all day Saturday nursing serious hangovers. Maybe. Damn you, church party. -- In my defense though, I didn't really drink THAT much wine... I just forgot to eat. It's hard to eat at a party when you have to take out your tooth. Brandon drank all sorts of things (beer, wine AND liquor) and he actually ate food... so his hangover was more deserved than mine. Although I was the one that woke up in the middle of the night puking in the bed. Whoops.

Don't judge.

Anyways - I feel like I have no time left. We're leaving on Wednesday night to drive to Dallas, then flying out on Thursday morning. The good news is Brandon remembered we wanted to send a big gift basket of goodies ahead of us for everyone - and he did that this morning. We found out that you can get Amazon Prime for free for 6 months with an .edu email address, so he got one for the holidays. I swear, every other day he comes home looking for the UPS guy... that boy on Amazon is dangerous!!

I still need to pack, and I need to be smart about it. Usually I'll just throw a bunch of crap in the car and go - but since we're flying... I can't do that. I would love to not have to check a bag. It's all a little overwhelming. Plus, I have no CLUE what I need to wear for Brandon's Mom's wedding.

On another note - in response to a comment on my last blog post - the wine bottles from my picture - those aren't DIY. There is a way to do it, and I totally have it pinned on pinterest - I just haven't done it yet. Brandon and I said that one day we'll take some of our favorite wine bottles (yes, we save them) and replace them. I actually got those at Ross... and then I found them a few weeks later on clearance and wanted to get more but didn't and wish I did.

I also wish I had Christmas sweaters. I have wanted to wear them like ten times this season but I don't have any. I am going to try to remember to get some cute ones when they go on sale after Christmas.

Ok. That's it. Wish me luck getting my shit together for the travelstorm that is this Christmas....

Oh yeah and keep your fingers crossed - it's supposed to snow tonight - and I reeeeeeally want it to!!!

Less Bitter

2011-12-16T15:17:00.005-06:00

I'm feeling better today about the whole Facebook thing. I re-friended the friend who deleted me, and then sent a message straight up asking why we weren't Facebook friends, and if I did something to make her mad. She wrote back saying no, that she got locked out of her FB and started a new one. Which is bologna, because if that were the case I would still be her friend on the "old" account... but whatever... I don't care that much.

Tonight we are hosting our bible study's Christmas party at our house. Last night Hubby and I cleaned like crazy people to get ready. I didn't expect to get home from work early today... but I did... so now I'm sitting here in a clean house with nothing to do. It's taking everything in me to NOT get in the car and go to Ross or Target to buy more decorations, or to go to pinterest and find another recipe to make for tonight... I just need to chill and not spend a bunch of money.

SO hard.

But I can do it.

I cannot believe that Christmas is only 9 days away. That absolutely blows my mind. I'm getting excited to go to Iowa, I really am. I think it will be a lot of fun to spend time with Brandon's family - get to know them a little better... because really I hardly know them at all.

Oh yeah - on another note - I'm kind of tired of trying to be super anonymous on the blog. My husband's name is Brandon - and my real name is Sarah. And that's that.

I hope I remember to take some pictures tonight so I can show you guys how freakin' awesome the house looks. The other night, Brandon was on the couch messing around on his phone and he had this little smirk on his face. I asked him what he was doing - and he said ....

"All these people are posting pictures of their Christmas trees on Facebook"

then he looks up at our tree and mantle...

"And they all SUCK!"

Totally made my day. Week. MONTH!

I love that he appreciates stuff like how I decorate our home for Christmas.

And he's right.

Our tree is ah-ma-zing.

(I've posted this before, but I shall post it again... because I'm hella proud)

Anywhoooo... I think I'm going to make a cup of coffee and watch my soap. My soap that ends in less than a month. There will be words, and tears, about that later.

XOXO

Facebook

2011-12-15T13:22:00.000-06:00

I have had a Facebook for SEVEN YEARS.

I looked the other day, and I joined on November 29th 2004.

That's a LONG TIME.

All of my pictures are on Facebook.

All of my friends are on Facebook.

And now - all of my family is too. And my DW girls. It really is the number one way that I keep in touch with everyone, about everything. My whole life is documented on this website. It's so silly, but it really is an important part of my life. Everything is there. I can go back and read birthday wishes... I can see all of my old sorority stuff... countless football games and tailgates and parties and inside jokes. And then there is the big stuff - when I started dating Hubby, when we got engaged... when we got married... when we got our house.

Along with comments and well wishes from everyone about everything! Even the silly post about our offer being accepted on our first house - the outpouring of love from everyone was awesome. I love Facebook!

But I don't love it. I hate it.

Days like today - when I think to myself, "man, it's been a while since I have heard from *soandso*..."

Then I go to find her on Facebook to send a little quick "Hello and Merry Christmas"... and she's not on my friends list.

So she probably deleted her Facebook. Which people do.

But she didn't.

She just un-friended me.

WHY do I let this kind of stuff get to me?!?! I don't know. But my feelings are incredibly hurt.

I have wanted to just delete the whole thing before. But I can't do it. I love those memories... and I love reading silly updates from my friends and family. Sure, the annoying political stuff gets on my nerves... and I get a big pang of jealousy every time one of my friends announces her pregnancy (seems like there is one a week I sweartogod)... and I get the season finale of shows ruined (like boardwalk empire... still mad about that one...) But overall, I love feeling so connected to people because I SUCK at staying in touch with people I don't see on a daily basis. So Facebook is perfect for people like me.

I don't know the point of this post other than I'm sitting here with really really really hurt feelings because someone who used to be one of my closest friends has decided that she doesn't need me around anymore, not even digitally. The whole "it's just facebook" swings both ways - yeah sure it's just facebook... but IT'S JUST FACEBOOK - did she really need to delete me completely from her life? What did I do to her?!

Ugh. I am a debbie downer today for SURE. Oh well, I feel better getting this off my chest.

Christmas Presents

2011-12-09T08:57:00.001-06:00

So... I get really mad when people get all upset about the "commercialization of Christmas". I mean yeah, it isn't really about the presents... I know this... but that's my favorite part. Not necessarily GETTING gifts - I mean I like it don't get me wrong - but I love GIVING gifts.

My mom has talked about having a Christmas with no gifts, where we just donate to a needy family or whatever. That sounds awful. I would LOVE to adopt a family and all that jazz... that would be fantastic... but I would like to do that in addition to our regular gift giving. Does that make me a bad person? Does that make me one of the people who puts too much stock into the "commercialization" of the holiday? I don't think so.

I absolutely LOVE getting gifts for my friends and family. I love it. I spend a lot of time thinking about what to get people, I love shopping for deals, I just love everything about it. Even wrapping - I don't like wrapping but I love it at the same time... haha...

On another note - holy CRAP where did this year go?!?!? I can't believe that Christmas is just around the corner. Blows my mind. We're hosting our Bible Study's Christmas party at our house next weekend and I'm SO excited....... and I can't wait to take off and see family and friends.

I hope there is snow in Iowa.

The Verdict...

2011-12-05T12:33:00.001-06:00

Yeeaaaah....... I'm not gonna go.

THANK YOU for the input... gave me a lot to think about. :-)

I don't really know what sparked it in me... But I had a little mental breakdown over the weekend. I am so beyond bored I don't know what to do with myself. Honestly, this job sucks. It's awesome in the fact that the people are nice, the hours are great, I can work from home, cheap food, absolutely zero stress... I am just so beyond bored I want to bang my head on the wall.

Plus, people keep calling me a freaking secretary. Um, nope.

I don't know what to do next. I don't want to leave this job because of all the benefits - but the thought of working here for much longer doing what I am currently doing makes me ill. I've asked for more work to do, just haven't gotten any. Last week I worked in the office in the morning, and at home in the afternoon. If I could make that an actual schedule... I'll stay. Because that was cool... And I don't see any other job allowing me that liberty.

As far as law school... It boiled down to this... Would I like it? Probably. Would I be good at it? Absolutely. Would it be interesting and would I finally get to use my brain? Definitely. ..... But am I willing to commit myself 100% to a career I don't really want to do for the rest of my life? Nope. I don't want to work forever, I want to eventually stay at home. I'd feel so guilty if I spent all that time and money and energy going to law school just to bake cookies and volunteer with the PTA.

Who knows - I may change my mind in an hour.

Or ten minutes. Just in writing this I changed my mind then changed it back. Twice.

I am just so freaking bored.

So. Freaking. Bored.

Mom says I should take the LSAT just for the hell of it. I probably will - but won't be able to until June. They have a test in February but it's the same weekend as our church's adult retreat... And I really want to go. Especially because they offered us a scholarship to go. Yeah - how awesome is our church?!?

Ugh I'm just lame and whiney today. But I'm working from home now and that makes life wonderful. I would really miss being able to do this if I left. So, I'm staying put. Today.

Unless I change my mind.

Law School

2011-12-03T16:48:00.001-06:00

Your thoughts?

Should I go? Would I like it?

I played with a sample LSAT for about an hour this morning and didn't miss many questions.

It's a big decision.

I'm 50/50 right now.

Would it be worth it?

Or should I just keep doing what I'm doing now...

Even though I'm bored out of my skull 99.9% of the time.

Could I do it and have babies at the same time?

Just a thought. Probably won't do it.

I just get mad at myself a lot because I'm a lot smarter than I give myself credit for.

Maybe I'd be happier if I was in a career where I actually used my brain.

I never use my brain anymore.

I should probably go, huh?

Thanksgiving Recap

2011-12-02T06:52:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving was amazing.

The day started out face-timing with my favorite little girl:

SO MUCH FUN. She's so freakin' awesome and I can't wait until New Years when they come to visit!!!!!! My favorite was when my mom and I were like "she's such a big girl!" and she threw her arms up in the air. Love. Her.

And then SOMEONE decided that it would be a good idea to break a nail and bleed everywhere. I freaked out, but Hubby and Brother took control, and my Step-Mother-in-Law was there to bandage her up...

Oh yeah and I totally did not take any food pictures. Except for this one.

Fried Turkey anyone?!? (oh and you can see my cranberry pear sauce in the background! yum!!!!)

There is a video of my father picking all the leftover meat from the bones. It's pretty hysterical.

Oh yes... did I mention that Hula couldn't wait to go back outside to play... AND BROKE A NAIL ON HER OTHER FOOT?!?!?

Oh yes.

(she's fine now by the way)

Anyways.

Moving on.

Here's Hula after everyone left.

I felt the same way. I hate it when everyone leaves.

However, Hubby and I put the petal to the metal and now it's time for CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

I am so proud of our decorating this year.

The house is starting to come together and I love it! Pandora has been on the Christmas channel every afternoon while I've been working from home and I love it.

Yuck

2011-11-23T04:35:00.002-06:00

So my eyes opened at three thirty this morning. THREE THIRTY. It's now four thirty. Today is going to be a long day.

Mom, MeMaw, and Aunt Kacy got here last night. Dad gets here today... along with Father-in-Law Craig and Step-Mother-in-Law Diane and Sister-in-Law Amber. I'm so excited but obviously I am a little overwhelmed because... hello... I'm wide awake.

Here's the Thanksgiving Menu...

Turkey: 1 Roasted, 1 Fried

(oh p.s. the roasted turkey is TWENTY POUNDS... heaven help me)

Sides: Mashed Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole, Corn Casserole, Sweet Potato Casserole, Cranberry Pear Sauce, Maple Glazed Carrots, Stuffing, and Cornbread Stuffing.

Desserts: Apple Pie, Chocolate Walnut Cake (maybe), and Frozen Pumpkin Mousse Pie

Booze: Mimosas, Pumpkin Pie Jello Shots (oooh yeaaah), and lots and lots of WINE!

I'm slightly irritated (ok, totally irritated) that I can't use the TWO sick days I have left this year to take off on Wednesday and Friday. I should have just faked sick... but didn't. So I'm going into the office this morning to handle a few things, then working from home this afternoon and on Friday. I do still have four hours of vacation left, so I may use that over those two days too. It's just irritating.

I feel a nasty headcold coming on right before new years. I will NOT let those two days go to waste, because if I don't use them... I lose them! Did I mention that C&E are coming to visit for new years, and bringing baby with them!?!? I could NOT be more excited about that.

Seriously I can't believe I woke up so damn early this morning.

Well, I can believe it. It just sucks.

Photos? Ok.

Bear.

More Bear.

Seriously, I'm thinking of using this picture in our Christmas cards this year. I know it's silly... but I love this picture!!! Maybe if I find a picture of the two of us, take a picture of the new house... I can do like a little photo-mashup card or something. Maybe a little less strange than just a picture of our dog. Unless I got a "dog themed" Christmas card......... but I really like sending religious cards, so I don't know. Hmph.

OMG LOOK HOW AWESOME MY HUSBAND IS...

I have wanted a green Clay Matthews jersey for YEARS!!!! And he got me one!!!!! It was originally a Christmas present... but when the box came I saw where it was from... and he asked if I wanted to open it. I said if it was a "Christmas Present" then I would wait... but if it was just a "You're an Awesome Wife" present then I would open it now.

I'm an awesome wife apparently.

And I have an AWESOME green Clay Matthews jersey.

For those of you who are unaware of Clay Matthews...

You're Welcome.

OK... Moving on...

Exercise room BEFORE:

Exercise Room PRIMED:

(yeah I know, not much different)

Exercise Room Painted!!

I don't have any finished pictures yet. I could go walk over and take some right now... but I don't want to. One of the walls is darker than that and I loooooooove it. It's very rustic feeling in there, which I wasn't going for... but don't hate. I'm on a search to find a pretty brown designed yoga mat to go in the center of the room because right now the bright blue one isn't cutting it.

OH OH OH... Another AWESOME Husband story...

Monday night, I felt like CRAP.

And so Husband made me breakfast for dinner.

Bacon. Eggs. Toast. Pancakes.

The whole nine yards.

Then he let me go to bed at like 8:00, while he cleaned up the house in preparation for the family.

How freaking awesome is he?!?!

Ok one more picture.

I don't know how she knows... but Hula was SO excited for everyone to get here yesterday. While I was sweeping and cleaning up, she was just standing here... looking out the window... waiting.

She freaks me out sometimes.

... ok well now I'm out of pictures and it's still way too early in the morning. Ugh. Today is going to be a looooong day.

HELLO!

2011-11-21T16:20:00.000-06:00

My mom yelled at me for not updating my blog enough.

HERE YA GO MOM!!

I've got nothin to write about really. Just getting ready for everyone to come into town for Thanksgiving. I'm pretty excited about it... and slightly freaking out. It will be fun though.

OH and we painted the exercise room. But I haven't taken pictures yet.

Today is cold and raining and depressing. I've decided to take the week off of running, and then pick back up and re-do week 4 before moving on. ALL I want to do tonight is lay on the couch with Hubby and catch up on Boardwalk Empire.

OH and we're having breakfast for dinner tonight.

XOXO

Pumpkin Pizza

2011-11-15T08:51:00.003-06:00

I am drawn to strange recipes. If it sounds gross - I want to try it. Pumpkin on a pizza sounded gross, so naturally, I had to make it. I REALLY liked this. Hubster liked it too... but wasn't the biggest fan of the pumpkin. I personally think the pumpkin made it extra-awesome.

Anyways - I got the recipe from this awesome blog - That's So Michelle.

I want to start blogging more recipes, so here we go.

Pumpkin Pizza

Ingredients:

1 Thin store bought pizza crust
1/2 can pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 a packet of taco or chili seasoning (I used chili!)
1 bunch arugula
10-12 pitted kalamata olives, cut in quarters
1 cup feta cheese
Olive Oil

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Mix your garlic powder into your pumpkin puree and spread it on top of the pizza crust.
Place in the oven for about 15 minutes or until your crust turns golden brown on the edges.
Cook your ground beef in the taco seasoning. Top the pizza with your seasoned ground beef and half of your feta cheese on top of your pizza (after you remove it from the oven).
Top next with your arugula and olives, finish off with the rest of your feta and drizzle on some olive oil.

HOLY YUM. I skipped out on the olive oil, because I only had full-fat feta cheese on hand, and I'm trying to watch the calories. This was FANTASTIC. Whenever I make pizza at home, all my toppings fall all over the place, but not this time! I only had a regular amount of topping droppage... but overall it was awesome. I was SURE this pizza would be a total mess, especially because I used so much arugula... but it held together quite nicely!

So, there you have it! Enjoy!!

Ooooh Monday

2011-11-14T16:24:00.000-06:00

What a weekend.

We spent about half of our weekend at church... and it was pretty awesome!

Friday night we got to church and they had transformed the grand hall into an adorable (and romantic!) reception. We sat with two other couples, one couple we know pretty well (they are in our bible study class) and another couple who had just gotten married we hadn't met before. The Marriage Enrichment workshop was really cool... there weren't any "a-ha" moments and we didn't hear anything we hadn't heard before... but it was really nice. Sometimes it's just a good idea to take time out of your life to sit back and focus on what's important.

One thing that was kind of cool... we took a marriage inventory. All different areas of our lives we were to imagine a short term, mid term, and long term goal. One of those areas was faith. It was funny because we both had the SAME goals there... both our short and mid term goals were to learn as much as we could... and our long term goal was to lead!! We think it would be awesome in 20-some-odd years to run programs like that at our church for other couples. I was really tickled that Hubby had that same goal, because he isn't a big public speaker... and for him to want to lead in our future...

He's a keeper.

Saturday morning we finished up the program and decided NOT to go to the football game... because we were losing... BADLY. So instead we went to Hobby Lobby and Pei Wei. It was lovely. Then we decided to paint.

It was a productive weekend.

Let's have a phone photo dump today, mmkay??

THIS... is why I adore my mother.

Here is our Thanksgiving mantle! I'm pretty impressed with myself...

I wish the lighting was better... but it is what it is...

OH OH OH! Our shelves came in for the wine bar!!!

They fit perfectly. I'm in love. Now all we need to do is get some doors made. That will come in time. I want to find some wine holders that fit into the boxes so the wines just don't lay there. I THOUGHT I found perfect ones at Pier 1, but when I brought them home they were just a little too big and didn't fit. BOO.

Biggest boo was I used a killer coupon to get them, so when I returned them, I pretty much just lost the coupon. Oh well.

That's the color of our exercise room. It's not terrible... but we don't like it.

PAINTING! I'm still covered in paint. It's gross. We're all primed... now we just need to pick a color!!!

Aaaaand... here's a Hula.

Happy Monday!!

I am...

2011-11-08T08:51:00.000-06:00

... so bored.

SO VERY BORED.

I had my review at work the other day, and told them that I needed more to do. I don't know if it will happen or not... but I'm so bored. They were shocked I was asking for more to do. Don't get me wrong, everybody loves me. Apparently I'm a rockstar. I don't get it. I get to work, check my email, and then sit here all freakin' day waiting on something to do. Sometimes I get things to do... most of them take me about 3.75 minutes. 9 times out of 10, all I do is forward the email on to the person that can answer whatever question the TM has. I really am pretty unnecessary. And there aren't enough words to describe the level of boredom. It wasn't so bad until they blocked Pinterest.

HOUSE UPDATES!!! This is exciting. Hubby and I went to yet another furniture store clearance last weekend... and this time... we left with couches! We got a great deal on these sage couches and I am IN LOVE. I liked them in the store, and thought the color was nice and they would work. And now... every time I see them in the room I fall a little more in love with them.

This is why I love our friends...

When we got home, we found out that they had feet. The feet were brown (you can't really see in the picture, but they are brown! boo!)... and so I spray painted them black!

I did an okay job. I'm still a little heavy-handed in the spraying department... but I'm still learning!

The couches are a little bigger than what I had originally intended for the room - but I think it fits our style. They are comfy and awesome and I can't wait to curl up and read. Or have a friend over for a glass of wine. Well - I am mostly excited for our first big snow of the year (fingers crossed we get some)... because that's an awesome place to sit and watch the snow.

(Yeah that is SO not us in that picture frame. I need to get a picture printed from our wedding... I just don't know what one... eek!)

We also took this as an opportunity to get started on transforming the media built-in into a wine bar.

Turns out those cube storage shelves fit PERFECTLY in the space, so we ordered some in black. I can't wait for them to get here! AND to top it all off... I don't think we want to repaint the room any more. The color just kind of works in there. I'm kind of lovin' it.

On another note - the garage is CLEAN! BOTH cars fit in there now. Hallelujah!

Aloha

2011-11-06T08:00:00.002-06:00

Ready for this?

I wanna get married again.

I wanna go back to my wedding and do everything over.

I wouldn't change anything - I just want to do it again.

It's been over two years since we "got maui'd" - and I still miss my wedding.

When we got home from the honeymoon, I had post-wedding blues in the WORST way. Seriously, I probably should have been medicated.

But seriously, I wanna do it all over again. I don't know why I've been thinking about my wedding so much recently, but I have. I miss it.

There's a chance we'll be heading back to paradise in January with the whole family... which will be a blast... but I want my wedding back. The ONE thing I would have changed - we left Maui for our honeymoon the day after the wedding. I would have liked to stay in Maui with all of our friends and family for one more day. We were so busy with wedding stuff we didn't get to just "hang out" with everyone. That would have been nice.

Believe it or not - I absolutely HATED being the center of attention - and the stress was NO fun - but it was SO worth it.

Enjoy:

aaaaaaand.....

Friday?

2011-11-04T11:21:00.000-05:00

Today SHOULD be my Friday Photo Dump.... but, uh... I have no photos to dump.

I know. Crazy.

I'm a little angry at the world because my employer caught on and has blocked Pinterest. I for real almost cried REAL TEARS when I discovered that it is now blocked. That's pathetic - I KNOW - but it's true.

This week has actually been kind of a rough week. Hubby and I are stressed out. We've been cutting back on so much, yet still seem to be only treading water financially. It just sucks. We realize that we have had a lot of random things come up, that we have been able to handle, which makes us proud... but still! It's so annoying!!! Being a grown-up TOTALLY BLOWS. And it's expensive.

Hubby and I are planning on participating in our church's marriage program next weekend - and I don't think the timing could be better. Our marriage is by no means in trouble or even slightly on the rocks... but it is a perfect time for us to take some time out of our lives and focus on what is most important. We try to do that each night after dinner while we go through our devotional book... but taking a whole weekend to work on our marriage will be awesome. I'm really looking forward to it!

On another random note - I really want a project to work on. I've been reading so many awesome blogs about buying CRAP from thrift stores and garage sales and turning them into awesome stuff. I want to try!! I'm planning on trying to convince dear husband to go to some thrift stores with me this evening to see what we can find... I don't think he would be against spending a little bit of money on some junk for me to play with... fingers crossed...

I have just been feeling very uninspired. I know a good project would put me in a good mood - but I don't want to spend any money!!!! How LAME am I?? I have this huge list of quilts I want to make and things I want to do - but I stop myself because I just can't spend the money on something when I don't know if it will even work out or not. I would be so mad at myself if I spent a bunch of money on fabric and then ruined the quilt because of a beginners mistake. AND I know the only way I'll get better is to practice... but still... stresses me OUT!

I'm really ready for this weekend. For no reason other than I don't want anything to do. I kind of want to lay around in bed and watch bad TV... I want to make a ridiculous amount of coffee and drink it all. I want to cook runny eggs. I have a new-found obsession with runny eggs. Like, I can't get enough of them. I had one for breakfast this morning, and I'm 99.999% sure when I go home for lunch I will be eating another one...

How do YOU cook eggs? Seriously, I want to know. I also want to know who actually reads this blog... hah...

A Survey!

2011-11-02T08:13:00.000-05:00

These were all the rage in high school...

1. Who was the last person you held hands with?

I’m pretty sure that would be my husband. The person before that was Miss Maddox when we went on a walk after brunch.

2. Are you outgoing or shy?

Depends on the situation. When I’m around people I know and love… very outgoing. When I’m in a room full of strangers… incredibly shy!

3. Who are you looking forward to seeing?

My family for Thanksgiving! I’m starting to count down the hours. I miss them a lot.

4. Are you easy to get along with?

I think so.

5. Have you ever given up on someone?

Yup. My ex-BFF from college, and my ex-mentor/boss lady. I tried, I really did… but you can only be hurt and let down so many times by someone before you have to give up. Well, I wouldn’t say I “gave up” on them… but I had to let them go from my life.

6. Do you enjoy school/work?

Nope. Sorry, I’d love to be positive and uplifting…….. but I don’t enjoy it. It’s something that I have to do, and so I do my best. Luckily my job is a good job, with good people. So, there’s not too much to complain about.

7. What person do you think about most often?

My husband.

8. What does your most recent text say?

“I’m so not romantic” – coming from C referring to the card she got for her husband for their 2nd anniversary.

9. Who did you last speak with for over 30 minutes?

My husband!

10. Do you believe in good luck?

Yup.

11. How do you feel in a big crowd of people?

Once again – depends! Big crowd of people at a football game – psyched! Big crowd of people at the church carnival while trying to watch two little boys – overwhelmed!

12. What was the best thing that happened this summer?

We bought a house!!

13. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?

Oh yeah! (That would be the husband)

14. Do you think there is life on other planets?

Yeah, the universe is SO big; to think that we are the ONLY other planet in ALL the planets that has life on it is insane. Do I think that aliens are going to attack us? No. Well, maybe. ;-)

15. Do you still think about your first crush/love?

Sure, who doesn’t?

16. What bad habits do you wish you could break?

Smoking! But that will come in January.

17. What's the first thing you do when you wake up?

Drink a cup of coffee.

18. Did you dream last night? About what?

Yes…….. I can’t remember.

19. Who is the most comfortable person to be around?

My husband. Or my parents.

20. What made you happy today?

Finding this survey and giving me something to blog about!

21. Which celebrity would you want to date and why?

Clay Matthews. Because he’s Clay Matthews and I love him.

22. Do you enjoy playing sports?

Um…. I don’t know. A few years ago I would say no way – but I was so out of shape. These days I might enjoy it… I just haven’t done it! Hubby and I are probably going to join our church’s softball team next summer… so I’ll get back to you on that!

23. When was the last time you wrote a thank you note?

Sunday. I’m a thank you note writer.

24. Would you rather live without TV or music?

Uh. Whoa. I don’t know.

25. Are you currently keeping a secret from someone?

Yup! Christmas present secrets!

26. Do you think age matters?

Yeah? That’s a strange question. Matters for what?

27. What was the last store you went into?

Ummmm….. WalMart. Getting supplies for our party on Saturday.

28. What is your dream job?

To be a Mom.

29. Do you believe in second chances?

Always.

30. Do you smile at strangers?

Sometimes…

31. Is your voice quiet or loud?

Oh I’m so loud it’s embarrassing.

32. Would you rather go to space or to the bottom of the ocean?

Bottom of the ocean!

33. What are you most afraid of?

Being buried alive.

34. What is the nicest thing someone ever said to you?

That I was inspiring.

35. Have you done anything you hope no one ever knows about?

Yup!

36. If you could write a book, what would it be about?

How to be a totally messed up teenager and come out the other side a decent human being.

37. Do you enjoy bubble baths?

I do! I almost took one last night but then changed my mind.

38. How would you describe your perfect day?

A day at home with Hubby – cooking, watching tv, listening to music, drinking wine and just relaxing.

39. Would you rather lose your vision or your hearing?

Probably hearing… it would be too hard to rely on other people if I lost my vision. I could handle being deaf better than blind I think.

40. What astrological sign are you?

Libra

41. Do you know the meaning of your name?

PRINCESS!

42. Do you prefer indoors or outdoors?

Depends on the season…

43. What was the name of your first pet?

Sebastion

44. Do you have a crush on someone right now?

My hubby! That counts, right?!

45. Where would you travel if you could go anywhere?

Maui. Because it's my happy place. But if I had to pick a place that wasn’t Maui…… I want to go to Greece.

46. What do you do during an awkward silence?

Play with my phone.

47. What part of your body do you love most?

My face / my smile.

48. Who did you last say "I love you" to?

My husband!

49. Did you make your bed this morning?

Yup, I do every morning.

50. Are you who you want to be?

I’m getting there.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T09:13:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween!!

I'm really looking forward to tonight - I have a feeling we will actually get trick-or-treaters! And we better... because I have lots of candy.

This last weekend was pretty crazy. We had a party on Saturday - which was fun. Unfortunately we scheduled the party at the same time as a home game... but we had a good group of people come over to see the house.

Sunday we went to church (finally, it had been a while!) and then came back to the house and just relaxed. That night we met T and his boys back at church for Halloween festivities. There were SO many people it was quite overwhelming. The evening ended with Sunday night football, a bottle of wine, and pizza rolls.

I forgot to do my Friday Photo Dump on Friday... And that's like - week two. So, I suck! Soooo... I'll do it today! I have two weeks of photos to dump... get excited.

Mimosa at K's wedding.

Age: 5

Age: 25

The Bride & Me!

We had fun. :-)

Auntie B & Me!

My sweet little baby. It pains me that I don't get to see her every single day.

Hubby obviously needing both pairs of glasses.

My dear friend Courtney sent me this T-Shirt! I LOVE IT... too bad it didn't bring us any luck. Next year, Rangers.

It FINALLY got cold enough for a fire. I had my fingers and toes crossed that Hubby wouldn't blow up the house...

Ta-Daa!!!!

ORANGE eyelashes for the party. They were pretty suh-weet. I forgot to take a picture of my shirt. It said "Drink up, Witches" - most awesome shirt ever.

Hubby and T outside watching football next to the "chi-MAN-ea". aka: the grill. LOL...

T & Hubby waiting in line for one of the games at church. Hubby went as a ghost. LOL...

Winner!!!!!!!

XOXO!

This is a Bummer Post.

2011-10-28T13:37:00.000-05:00

Well, I changed my blog up a little bit!! Hooray! I got rid of the junk on the side, because who really cares about any of that stuff anyways? More room for me to write about crap people probably really don't care about reading anyways!!

Today I am in a horrible mood. Can't you tell?

I think it has something to do with the baseball game last night. Maybe. Or it could be one of these other things...

We're having a housewarming party tomorrow and I am completely unprepared. Sure, I’ve pinned all sorts of good ideas – but really – I won’t be able to pull most of them off. AND I really want a fog machine, but that’s just dumb. Even though I want it.

I just finished a book and it left me unsatisfied. And it was a LONG book. I found out halfway through it that it’s a trilogy – however the second and third books have yet to be written. I hate waiting.

I haven't skipped a single workout and I've been paying very close attention to food... and GAINED weight this week. And my legs REALLY hurt when I’m running. I think I have bad shoes, which sucks, because I just got new expensive shoes.

I feel like I have PMS but this is not the scheduled week for that mess.

Christmas is a big gloomy cloud and I really better get over this asap.

The only convenient ATM has been out of service for two days, and I really need to cash my check.

My "Free Gift" with my Philosophy order was TINY and totally not what I thought it was going to be. And that's extra important because the only part of the Philosophy order that was for ME was the free gift.

I am so bored at work I could cry.

The house just isn't coming together. I feel like everything is just a giant mess. I just want to throw away everything that is sitting in the garage. We need more furniture. First, I’d like something for the TV to go on in the exercise room because currently it’s sitting ON THE FLOOR. That bothers me.

Yeah, I know these are first class problems, and I'm okay with that.

Oh man my diamond ring is so big it's hurting my arm when I lift my hand to adjust my tiara!

Whaaaatever.

I’m really hoping that my run this afternoon will put me in a better mood. Even with my shitty expensive running shoes.

Christmas

2011-10-26T08:13:00.000-05:00

Here's the deal.

I'm not spending Christmas with my family this year.

Well, I am. But I'm not.

Husband got a text message from his mother the other day saying that she knows it's short notice - but she's getting married over Christmas in Iowa. Later she texted him asking if he would stand up for them at the wedding. (Yeah. Don't even get me started...)

Anyways - last year his grandparents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, and renewed their vows right before Christmas. We would have loved to be there, but we didn't have the money or the time off work to make it happen. Essentially that's the same story this year - but this is his mother - and I think they already hate me for last year - so we're going.

We fly out there on the 22nd, and fly back on Christmas day. So, I will get to spend Christmas with my family - technically - but not Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve is the big one.

I know that I made the right decision to go with my husband (originally I wasn't going to go because I didn't think I had enough time off of work - but then I found out I have 2 extra days I didn't know I had - so, yeah). I knew once I got married that there would be holidays that I wouldn't spend with my parents. I'm a grown up - I get it - I just don't like it.

I have two months to prepare myself. My number one goal is not to cry in front of his family. And with the amount of times I have already cried just thinking about spending Christmas Eve without them.... hopefully I'll have all the tears out by then. I know this makes me a big baby but I don't care.

Every Christmas we have discussed going to Iowa, and it's always been "maybe next year"... well "maybe next year" we'll have a new baby, or I'll be too pregnant to travel. So that's totally out of the picture. And it will be a LOT harder to get to Iowa with kid(s). So this is the year. We have to do it... well that's unfair of me to say. We don't HAVE to... we WANT to see his family, we really do... I just need to put my big girl panties on and deal with it.

Especially because I LOVE CHRISTMAS. It is for serious my favorite thing ever. And I'm dreading it now, and that makes me sad. I have got to figure out a way for me to get excited because the thought of not looking forward to Christmas is ridiculous. I have to figure something out.

Husband has no idea that I'm this upset, and I'd like to keep it that way.

Alright... enough whining for one day.

XOXO

Checking In!

2011-10-25T15:53:00.000-05:00

Listening – Nothing. I'm listening to people talk. But I can't really hear them because they are far away...

Eating – Nothing. I put myself on the crazy shake cookie diet again... but not as strict. I do a shake for breakfast, cookie for snack, shake for lunch, then a healthy dinner. Sometimes I'll throw a bar in there... actually my tummy is growling so I think I'll eat a bar right now...

Drinking – Water. Boooooring.

Wearing – I actually kind of like my outfit today... it's this pink and grey flowy shirt with grey pants. (is it grEy or grAy? I never know)...

Feeling – So extremely bored I just want to bang my head on the wall. - that was my answer last time I did a check in, and it's my answer today too.

Wanting – Another RANGERS win tomorrow. Oh man. Please.

Needing – Really, I don't need anything. Which is a cool feeling. Things are all pretty hunky-dory around here. Well... I NEED more work to do during the day because this is painful. Ooooh and I NEED time tonight to upload the pictures I took from this weekend.

Thinking – Actually I'm trying NOT to think about things. Today it was decided that Christmas will be spent in Iowa with Hubby's extended family. His mother is getting married on the 23rd. I have two months to get used to the idea that I won't be with my family on Christmas Eve. I can't write about it now or I'll start crying. This is going to be hard.

Enjoying – Right now I'm enjoying my protein bar. Actually I'm not really because it got all melty and it's a mess. And I had to take my tooth out to eat it and so I hope nobody comes back here to ask me a question. Eeeeek.....

Haboob!

2011-10-21T13:56:00.000-05:00

Well, this week has been a week. The Rangers pulled it out last night, and tonight we’re hopping on a plane to head home for K’s wedding! Holy Crap!!!!!!!

I’m hoping to start a new “tradition” on this blog – the Friday Phone Dump. I’ll pick some of the photos I have taken throughout the week and post them here. Should be fun, yes? Got the idea from Kellie Hampton - who’s blog and family I am obsessed with.

The Haboob. Read about it here.

Hubby picking up all the pecans that fell off the tree during the Haboob. He has shelled them, and now I guess it’s time for me to make a pie.

AWESOME new candle holders I got with birthday money from my MeMaw. I freakin love them.

During a Rangers game, when we’re up, and there is one out left… you stand. So, last night… we stood. Even Hula.

Go Rangers.

Here’s a glimpse into my working world. Big meeting today with a restaurant we want to start selling to… huge set up for them to taste our new stuff. Looks fantastic!

And as a side note – it was SO hard not to eat while setting this all up. But I did it! AND folks – I’m down 7.3 lbs already. It’s true when you put it on fast it comes off fast – and I know that the weight loss will slow down soon, but damn it feels good right now!

And that’s it. I’m going to finish a few things up here, head home, go run, do the dishes, pack my bags, eat some leftover tuna… and head to the airport!! I can’t wait to get home and see everyone!! (Especially my Aunt Barb who is coming in from CO for K’s wedding!!!!)

Wagon

2011-10-20T10:32:00.000-05:00

So... I'm on the fitness wagon again.

I joined up on a Biggest Loser challenge with my internet friends. I did this a few years ago (AND WON)... and so I'm stoked to be doing it again. I had a general idea of my weight, and when I finally found the scale... yikes. So I have that little bit of fear in me again that I'm going to get all fat and gross... so my motivation is back! HOORAY!!!

Yesterday I set out a schedule for myself that I am totally excited about. It's totally do-able too. I'm back on the C25K program, and I'll be lifting with my favorite PINK workouts during the week too. Starting with 7 (1-6 are foundations)... I'll go from there. And each time I go back to 7, I'm planning on adding weight. So we'll see how that goes!

I left Saturdays as "free workouts"... I can go do something different or use that time to catch up if I miss a run during the week. Sundays are rest days. Plus, I added in extra rest days for Thanksgiving and Christmas... because really, it's necessary. AND AND AND I totally plan on doing more than what's here.

Like tonight, I'm going to do PINK 7... but am also thinking about watching my soap on the treadmill while walking. Or picking one of the 100 workouts I have pinned on pinterest and giving it a shot. This is a happy medium for me - freedom to change things up, while still having a set schedule and final goal in mind.

Here's the schedule:

I like that my last run of C25K will be right before we leave for Christmas. I'm not sure of our travel schedule, so I may have to wait until Dec 24th to do it at my parents' house... but that is my Christmas present to myself. To FINISH the program. I've started it 100 times but haven't ever completely finished.

I'm already getting nervous about the 8 min - 20 min jump... but I've done it before so I KNOW I can do it again. Plus, I remember how good it felt to do it... and I'm looking forward to that feeling of accomplishment again.

... alrighty. This weekend - K is GETTING MARRIED! We're heading home tomorrow. AND I think we're going to catch another World Series game... which is freakin' awesome. I MUST be good with food when we go home - I'm always the worst when I'm "on vacation"... plus my mom loves leaving little bowls of CANDY all over the house. Mean.

And I'm totally feelin' a blog makeover again. Soooo... we'll see if I can find something I like better than what I've got now!!

Birthday!

2011-10-17T10:33:00.000-05:00

Ok so I skipped posting on my birthday. Sorry boutcha. It was my birthday and I was too busy hanging out with the fam to write a blog post!!!

Most awesome-est news: I totally got the new iPhone for a birthday present. I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW... I wanted to hold out for the 5... but I caved! Thanks to Dad for the awesome birthday present... and let me tell you... it's so COOL!

Here are some photos taken from the weekend. The camera on my phone is officially better than my point-and-shoot...

This is my cake that Hubby got for me! (taken on the OLD iPhone... oh, and that's my real name. LOL...)

Got to take my own picture without having to turn the phone around. This could be trouble!

Hula giving Mamma a hug.

Awesome glass bowl that my little brother made for me! He's quite talented at this stuff... if only the kid would FOCUS!

Hula Bear.

She was pooped. I literally walked in on her sleeping like this. TWO nights in a row. Dork.

The weekend was great with the family... hopefully this week will go by quickly. We're going home for my BFF's wedding... I can't believe she's already getting married. Feels like just yesterday she MET the guy! It will be loads of fun, I'm sure.

AND AND AND AND AND............. Sunday...........

GO RANGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Booooo...

2011-10-13T08:46:00.001-05:00

October 13th is the longest day of the year. I'm already ready for it to be over and it's only 8:40 am.

Actually thats not true... I'm just ready for the work day to be over. Mom and I are going to a wine class tonight at a local winery and I'm reeeealy excited!

Then Friday. Friday will be fun. AFTER work. I wanted to take the whole day off but that's not gonna happen because we have a sales meeting. And then I was hoping that I could leave early but that probably won't happen either. So, lets just hope I'm not in a bad mood on my birthday which I just may be.

Other than that - the AC is out in my office and it's not hot enough to go home, but just hot enough to be ridiculously uncomfortable.

I'm PMSing and pretty cranky this morning... and I'm feelin' a blog makeover again. Who knows when I'll get around to it though...

Ok. I better get to work. I do actually have things to do today! Hooray for productivity!!!

XOXO

Eight.

2011-10-10T09:02:00.001-05:00

(Backstory)

It's been eight years.

Today... I don't know how I feel. I have a lot of gratitude... but mostly I just feel small.

Not small in a bad way, just small in the way that my life is SO different today, and I know it has nothing to do with me.

Something bigger took hold of my life and changed it.

My part in the matter was small.

SO small.

God's Grace is truly amazing.

And today I feel amazed.

I'm Alive!

2011-10-09T16:04:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've written.

I'm still alive!

I just have nothing really to write about. All I've been doing is house stuff.

We got a table.

Decorating is overwhelming.

Tomorrow is a big day... and my birthday is Friday.

... and that's really it.

Oh, and I spent too much money on shampoo today. Stupid curly hair.

I've Been Good!

2011-10-04T17:48:00.001-05:00

... for the most part!!

I've worked out every day but ONE since I said I needed to get back in gear. I actually just finished a Jillian DVD and I'm still sweating. Cute, huh?

I'm doing okay as far as food goes. Not great, but okay. I started using a new calorie counting app that I LOVE - MyFitnessPal. Has tons of restaurant stuff loaded into it, AND it has a scanner so I can just scan the barcode of whatever I'm eating and it loads it in there. The only downside is no recipes. That's one thing I loved with SparkPeople - I could find healthy recipes online and automatically add it to my counter. They say that it is coming though... so that's good.

Although - with that handy dandy scanner, I scan ingredients that I use and build my own recipes online. It's kind of a beating, I've only done it once... but it was pretty simple.

BUT - big downside - the calorie count is WAY low. It originally had me at 1,200 calories a day - which is like the BARE minimum anyone should ever eat. I changed it to a higher number - but I wish I didn't have to manually do it... oh well.

Also, I can't find my scale. Not sure if that's a blessing or a curse. I guessed my starting weight when I downloaded the new app - I'm 99% sure I'm right though - I know my body pretty well. I do need to find it though, because I would like to weigh in at least once a week. Luckily there isn't a good place to put it in the bathroom, so I will have no choice other than to put it AWAY and only bring it out when it's time. When it just sits on the floor I weigh myself like 5 or 6 times a day. I know. Psycho.

... also...

I'm starting to think about running again. Maybe.

I have a love/hate relationship with it. Thinking about re-downloading the Couch to 5K program and seeing how far I can take it. I feel like if I go into it half-assed, then I won't do well. I have to like - REALLY want to do it - AND think that I CAN do it - or else it will be useless. We'll see. Haven't decided yet.

House updates: Still in love with the outdoor TV. Still need a kitchen table. Still need sitting room furniture. Tempted to see if Hubby wants to go look at some furniture this evening... not sure if he will go for it or not. Depends on if he's planning on working out when he gets home, and how stressful his day was at work today. There was this one furniture place in town that had a killer back room full of repos - that's where we got a lot of stuff when we first moved out here - but it's closed down now. BOO.

Ok, enough for now.

Oh yeah, GO RANGERS!

Photo Updates

2011-10-03T08:44:00.000-05:00

Woah - sorry for the lack of updates! We've been so busy... which is no excuse but whaaatever.

So I was trying to think of what to write about, and I've decided to instagram my photos again to catch you all up on what's been going on!

I made homemade butterfingers. Thank you pinterest. Holy crap were these easy, and GOOD! I had several people tell me that they liked them better than store bought butterfungers. Yeah, they're THAT GOOD. I will be making them again, but not until I know we will have more company because those little things are way too good to leave laying around the house...

I got crafty on Friday!! I got this ugly frame from goodwill, spray painted it, and then hung it up in the bar with our B in the middle of it! I don't know if I will keep it there forever or if I will continue to futz with it... but I'm quite proud. I also spray painted a little shelf I got at goodwill also - to match the stuff in the gym. It will be hung on the wall in front of the treadmill so I have somewhere to put my iPad that isn't directly in front of the fan.

Went to the boys' birthday party on Saturday! It was adorable. They are adorable. Gets us excited to have kids of our own...

The birthday boy in his Masked Rider mask and cape. Awesome.

St Francis of Asiago. Go Pack Go.

Hubby and Father-in-Law setting up a TV OUTSIDE!!!!!! It's so cool I can't even begin to explain. I love everything about it. It's SO COOL!

I don't have a final final picture with everything cleaned up - but I am supposed to let everyone know that the wire coming out of the bottom of the TV was already there. That was not put there by Hubby or FIL. LOL... I kept telling them they could just cut it but they wouldn't listen to me! I was amazed at what all they did to get that set up. It's great - whatever is on the cable box inside on the main TV streams out to the little TV. PLUS, whatever is on the speakers on the inside comes out on the speakers outside. So we can have a game on, but play music outside or something. It's so cool. I'm so tickled!!!!

It's incredible and I can't wait to find great comfy furniture to put out there. I mean for cryin' out loud Hubby and I will spend NO TIME inside now!

Things have been great, life is wonderful. We're busy and loving every minute of it.

OH! And HAPPY OCTOBER! This is my birthday month, so let's start celebrating!!!!

That's It.

2011-09-28T08:11:00.001-05:00

Alright. That's it.

My number one thing in life is staying positive. I think there is nothing good that can come out of being negative and saying bad things about yourself. It's the whole "if you think you can or if you think you can't - you're right." NOTHING makes me angrier than talking with someone who constantly berates themselves and talks down on themselves.

So - one of my goals for this week was to get our exercise room set up. We actually decided AFTER moving in the house that we wanted to switch the guest room and the exercise room. We will hardly use the guest room, so why we decided to put the bed in the BIG spare room, and all the exercise equipment in the SMALL spare room... who knows. Anyways, on Sunday we switched the two. We set up the guest room, and we were good to go.

Last night, Husband and I set up the exercise room. Then Husband worked out and I pouted... because I like it when we're lazy together, and I felt guilty that I can't even remember the last time I worked out. (oh wait, I track this stuff.... the last time I "worked out" was 9/20 but I barely broke a sweat... the last time I REALLY worked out was 8/25. yikes)... anyways... I pouted. Then when he was finished I was still pouting and I said something about his wife being a "fat slob".... and then it hit me.

I'm a mess.

I couldn't believe those words came out of my mouth. I've been making excuses and eating horribly for the past few months and it's starting to show. Why can't I be like I used to be? I worked out constantly (and loved every minute of it)... and I was WAY busier back then. Also, when I got started I was planning a wedding! I was able to lose over 50 lbs in one of the busiest times of my life. WHY am I being such a baby about it now?!?

So... no more excuses. I'm done with that. I will not sit back and let myself slip into my old habits. I'm going to count calories again (ugh) until I get back to normal portion sizes and less snacking. I'm going to work out again... starting tonight. I'd much rather get into a morning routine like I used to have, but since I actually get to leave the office at 5 (instead of back in the day when it was 6... 7... 11...) - maybe I'll mix it up with some mornings and some evenings.

Anyways - I'm done. I really want to get back to the place where I was. I LOVED working out. I LOVED cooking healthy meals. I LOVED going to the gym... I will get back to that place! I know it will take time, and I know it will take patience... but I also know that I will get back there, because I was there once before.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Oxford Comma

2011-09-21T16:01:00.000-05:00

I'm a stickler for commas. When I read that the Oxford Comma was on it's way out, I was infuriated. I did my best to do the "new" thing....... but I still use it. AND - this is why....

Bahahahaha.... hope you enjoy this as much as I do.

The Tooth

2011-09-20T09:00:00.001-05:00

Quick Tooth Story - in Vegas, my porcelain tooth fell out. It had been loose forever, but I was ignoring it because I didn't want to do anything to it until I was ready to get veneers. Because my teeth are TERRIBLE and sensitive and thin and awful. Well, now I can't wait. So I went to the dentist thinking he could cement it back where it belongs - but because it was cracked for so long, little cavities formed on the sides of my other teeth that need to be filled. And you can't bond a fake tooth to fillings. So that option was out of the question. I could get an implant, but that would require me getting BRACES first... and when he gave me the estimate on how much veneers would cost, I almost passed out.

So I had them make me a retainer with the tooth in it. It's not so bad, but kind of sucks royally. My only option is to get a bridge - but in order for them to do that they have to cap the two connecting teeth. And I'm sorry - no matter how good of a dentist this is... you will be able to tell that three of my front teeth are capped and the rest of them aren't. It makes me sick to my stomach because the number one thing people compliment me on is my smile. I'm not trying to be all "oh I am so pretty!"...... but it breaks my heart that I am not in a position to fix this problem the way I have always wanted to. So, I have the retainer for now because I'm just not ready to give the dream of veneers up yet.

But I probably have to. Soon. Because while I said the retainer is not so bad - that's a big fat lie. It's freakin terrible. It hurts, I can't eat or drink in it, it hurts, my bite is off, IT HURTS, and the fake tooth is getting stained.

Ok, vent over. Here's a check in...

Listening – Some people talking about pork. And the printer.

Eating – I had a GIANT bowl of cereal for breakfast. It was awesome.

Drinking – Nothing at the moment - wait... I'm going to go get a cup of coffee... OK I'm back with coffee now.

Wearing – My "Closing Day" outfit. I got it at Target and I paid FULL PRICE for the skirt and top. I wore it on the day we closed on the house. It's pretty fab and I love it.

Feeling – Kind of tired. I slept well last night, but I'm just not all the way awake yet this morning. More coffee should help. And I kind of have a headache too - but I think that has to do with the fact that I need new glasses. But teeth first, then eyes.

Wanting – TEETH. I was all excited about this retainer because it was a good quick (and kind of cheap) fix - but it is painful, and annoying, and there is a space in part of the retainer between my tooth and the plastic - and it's getting DIRTY. I brush it and do what I can... but there is a big gross spot on the toothfromhell now.

Needing – A LOT OF EXTRA MONEY so I can get my teeth fixed the way I want them fixed. It makes me want to cry to realize that we just can't do it. And so I have to get the bridge and it is going to look terrible and I hate teeth.

Thinking – Life could be a lot worse and I need to quit complaining about my tooth. I mean, people have cancer and horrible things are happening out there - and I just have a wonky tooth.

Enjoying – The HOUSE!!!!!! FINALLY!!!! Last night was our first "family dinner" night. I had cooked before, and we had a nice dinner when my parents were in town - but Hubby and I make a big deal out of dinner at home. Sure, some nights we just grub out and eat in front of the TV... but most nights I cook something (usually it's good, sometimes it sucks)... we turn OFF the tv, turn ON some music, and have a family dinner. Then after dinner we do a devotional reading/discussion together - then HE does the dishes. It's kind of awesome. Last night was the first night we did it. AND we sat outside. Well, we had to sit outside because we don't have a kitchen table. Yet.

Here's some instagram photos from the past week:

My hair got the CHOP! I cut off like 5 inches. I think it's a little too short but at least all the rats-nest-dead-ends are gone. It should grow back out quickly too. My toothfromhell actually looks decent in this picture and you can't even really tell which one it is... but man is it totally annoying. Well, I can tell.

PINTEREST RECIPES!

Brown Sugar Chicken - the lady who came up with the recipe said that her four year old daughter described it as "angels dancing in my mouth". So I call it Angel Chicken. It was pretty tasty. (And don't you just love my plates? Me, too.)

Swedish Style Baked Potatoes - I didn't like them. I thought they were boring tasting and not cooked enough. I don't think I used enough butter or garlic. And I didn't bake them for long enough... Husband ate all of his though. So that's a win!

Vegas, Baby!

2011-09-18T06:16:00.000-05:00

Oh man did we have a good time in Vegas!!!! First stop was a highly suggested beverage place called Fat Tuesday's. The drink in my hand was the suggested drink (but I did NOT get the extra shot in it... that would have knocked me on my butt before we even got going!!)

So there is me. With the beverage. Hooray!!!

We did a LOT of walking around and looking at things. I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted to. I have some on my camera, but don't feel like uploading them to the computer. Another reason why I love my iPhone ... even though it's totally starting to show it's age. I'm holding out for the iPhone 5... come on Apple get it together.

Anyways - here are some random strip pictures...

That's Bally's - where we stayed. It was okay. Kind of gross.

Wish we would have stayed here...

Or here. We spent our first night in Vegas at this hotel for a show... I still can't believe we actually went and saw it... but HEY! We were in VEGAS! Which show am I talking about??

PEEPSHOW!

Starring Holly Madison herself!!!! It was a fun show. So many boobs...

Anways... Saturday morning we woke up and walked over to the Venetian to go to Bouchon (another highly suggested restaurant) - and it was FANTASTIC. Especially the plate of baked wonderfulness...

My breakfast was ah-mazing.

So do you see that baguette? The one in the picture? Guess what I did with that baguette?

BROKE MY TOOTH.

Yeah. I have..... had...... a porcelain tooth right in the front of my mouth. It's been loose for years, and that damn baguette in the picture did it. Completely fell out of my head. It's awful (and the story about what is going on with my teeth is another post entirely.).....

Luckily we found a Wallgreen's and stocked up on this stuff:

It worked well enough to hold my tooth in. As long as I wasn't eating.

Speaking of eating...

My mother suggested we go here:

To eat this:

OH MY GOD.

That salad is maybe the best meal I have ever eaten in my entire freakin' life. Seriously I'm still having dreams about that salad. Like... I'm not even kidding it's to DIE FOR. So - if you go to Vegas - go to the Bellagio and eat at Olive's. And order the beef carpaccio salad. We wanted to eat on the patio so we could see the fountains - but it had rained and so it was closed. Boo.

So that night we decided to see another show...

And it was AWESOME!!! I've seen it a few times, and Husband had seen the first part once (his aunt and uncle decided they would leave at intermission... Blasphemy I know...) so we got tickets and it was really good. I always love Phantom.

The next day we took it easy, had some breakfast, played some slots (which I did VERY well on!) and then I had to head home. But not before getting this t-shirt:

Vegas was a LOT of fun - and I am really looking forward to going back one day soon. I actually looked at flights the other day and am tempted to suggest a trip right after Thanksgiving. The flights aren't too bad and there are direct ones available...... sooo tempting.....

:-)

Two

2011-09-14T20:57:00.002-05:00

Two Years.

Holy Crap.

Really, it feels like we have been together forever – it’s almost like I don’t remember a time when Husband wasn’t right next to me. At the same time though – I cannot believe our wedding was TWO entire YEARS ago. It really feels like just yesterday I was standing at the top of the hill getting ready to walk with my daddy down to the chapel.

I wanted to write something long and romantic and wonderful for today – but I just don’t have it in me. Maybe it’s because I know that I won’t get to see my husband today… maybe it’s because I still haven’t caught up on sleep since Labor Day… but most likely it’s because when I sit back and think about the last two years I am really, truly left speechless.

There aren’t words to describe how amazed and proud I am to have Husband as a husband. When I think back to all the things we talked about before getting married – he has made them a reality.

I know there are amazing things coming up for us – who knows what year three has in store… the first year was great, the second year was even better… I have a feeling we will keep this trend up and am looking forward to an amazing third year!

I wish Husband was home with me to celebrate today, but I know we have lots and lots and lots more anniversaries to celebrate together in the future!!

Toothless

2011-09-12T13:46:00.001-05:00

(Posting from my phone, sorry for any strange autocorrect-typos)

Well... Vegas was a lot of fun. The most hilarious part of the trip is when my tooth fell out. Think Ed Helms in the Hangover. Yeah, that tooth. It was hilarious until I went to the dentist today... and there is no easy or inexpensive way to fix it. When it rains it pours, right?

I'll write a for-real blog post about the trip soon... and I'll be writing a "happy anniversary" post too... but right now I'm just trying to keep my chin up about my teeth.

I don't know what to do. The most practical way to fix it will not look good. And the way to fix it where it does look good costs so much money it's ridiculous.

I can't stop crying about it. Stupid tooth. Stupid PMS.

I'm having a pity party. I don't want to be home alone all week. I still don't have TV or internet. I'm going to be alone on our anniversary. I'm missing a damn tooth. My freakin' ankle still hurts and I think I seriously did something bad to it. And I REALLY don't want to be home alone all week!! This sucks!!!

I'm thinking about texting my brother to see if he wants to come over tonight, but he's so unreliable I figure it would be easier to just not even ask in the first place. If I text him now I'd get a "probably" - and he would only come over if nothing better comes along. And really with the mental state I'm in right now I don't think I could handle coming in 2nd place again.

I'm chalking today up to the fact I didn't get enough sleep in Vegas - and I didn't get enough sleep last night. And probably some PMS in there too, but I just cannot wait for this day, and this week, to be over.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

2011-09-08T09:58:00.000-05:00

Nope. Not talking about Christmas. (even though I do love me some christmas...)

I'm talking about...

FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It all starts TONIGHT!

My boys take on the New Orleans Saints. I'm so excited. I hope they kick butt. Could this be another Super Bowl season? I sure hope so. Man oh man oh man was last year fun.

I'm ready. I've got my G bracelet on today.

My computer is ready, too.

I have cold beer in the fridge, and was sure to eat something with cheese this morning for breakfast.

I LOVE FOOTBALL.

I will try to find the video that my aunt Kacy took of my dad and me at the end of the Super Bowl last year - it's pretty hilarious. She posted it on Facebook but I don't know how to take it from there and put it on here... I'll have to figure it out once we get the internet hooked up at home.

Even though we don't have cable or internet yet - the TV gets basic stations for free - so I will be able to watch the game tonight from the comfort of my own home!! SUCH a relief, because originally we were going to go to our favorite bar all decked out in Packer gear, until we realized that Husband wouldn't be home until 10 PM tonight. And I don't want to go to the bar by myself........ Little Brother said he'd go with me but he is very unreliable. So THANK GOODNESS I can watch from HOME! Which, by the way, is starting to slowly come together. There are still a thousand boxes in the garage, and if I see one more box with "kitchen" written on it I am going to scream....

So anyways... Football. Exciting. Then on Friday morning we leave for VEGAAAASSSS!!!!

SO tired.

2011-09-06T09:14:00.002-05:00

I AM SO TIRED.

So, so, so very tired.

I can't imagine how tired I would be if we didn't get a three day weekend. Jeeeeeez. I'm only working three days this week, because Friday Husband and I are headed to VEGAS for our anniversary! I'm SO excited about it - but at the same time I'm a little frustrated with the timing. I kind of just want another weekend of nothing so we can get some unpacking done.

As of right now, most everything is in the garage. I'm going to try to bring in a few boxes after work each night... unpack... organize...

However we didn't quite plan it right, and all of the big storage boxes that need to go down into the storage-basement-dungeon..... are all in front of the boxes I need to get to.

Whatev. I'll do my best, but I'm so tired.

I didn't take as many pictures this weekend as I wanted to... but here's a little recap...

Here's husband checking out the new backyard.

Did I mention husband was BAPTIZED on Sunday? It was an amazing day... I'll write more about it when I have a little more time and energy...

Hula.

Anyways - Hubby left this morning again to go back out of town. He will be home Thursday... then we leave on Friday! Today, I will focus mainly on staying awake. Right now I have to figure out how to say "no" at work... because I did one little favor for someone, now they are asking me for a lot of things... aaaaand I don't work for them. So... sorry boutcha. I should have never done the first favor in the first place.

How DO you say no?? UGH.

Ok. Time for more coffee.

Hello There!!!

2011-09-05T07:02:00.001-05:00

Please excuse any typos... I'm posting from my phone! We are all moved in!!!! Well... All our stuff is here, it's not really all "in" yet!! I really do love this house and can't wait until all the boxes are unpacked. Although I am starting to realize how overwhelming decorating is. It's too hard to make a decision! There are just so many options!!!

My parents have been such an amazing help - I'm a little sad they are leaving today. My mom said they were going to leave at like 6:30 this morning... So at 6 I got up, made coffee.......... It's now 7 am and nobody is even close to being awake. Haha - I'm glad they are getting some sleep though!

(ha! my mom JUST woke up!)

Today I am meeting some of my sorority sisters for breakfast, gonna do a little more unpacking, will probably watch the boys while Hubby and T work in the yard a bit... Then back to work tomorrow!!

... But only for a few days... Then it's off to VEGAS!!

:-D

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

What I've Been Pinning...

2011-09-02T13:45:00.000-05:00

What I’ve Been Pinning

If you don’t know what pinterest is, you are totally missing out. For serious. It’s like the best thing EVER.

You know you wanna click it.

Anyways… I thought it would be a fun little entry to show you guys some of the stuff I’ve been pinning… mostly because it’s dead quiet at work today, and I’m going crazy watching the clock waiting for my time to bust out of here to start MOVING!

LOOK at that. How brilliant is this?!? This is the perfect way to save herbs. I did this with leftover fresh basil the other day – I haven’t thawed out any cubes to use yet – but it was SO easy. I just chopped up my whole bunch when I got home from the store, used what I needed to use, then divided the rest up in an ice cube tray, added some water… voila!

I WILL be doing this. Our new house has an entryway that totally needs a long thin table. I WILL find one at a resale shop or a garage sale… and I WILL try this out! I think it’s so cool! Put lace over the top, spray paint through it, and apparently it will leave the lace design in paint on the wood. LOVE.

Haaahahahahaha a possible Halloween costume for Hula. I think she would last 10 seconds in it but as long as I can get a picture… that’s all that matters. We got a good 12 minutes of Hula in the Super Man costume… lol…

HOLY CRAP. These look amazing, and I checked out the blog and they look pretty easy to make too!!! Once I get my kitchen in order enough to start cooking real meals… I’ll be cooking these for dessert! This could be a fun one for our first family dinner of the semester…

YEAH. I want to make these chewy no bake cookie and cream treats – apparently they are like oreo rice krispies. Husband would LOVE these…

Can I please just go ahead and decorate a nursery?!? OMG isn’t this amazing?!? I usually don’t think about nurseries at all – but when I saw this picture I flipped. How amazing is this?! LOVE it.

I need this in my life. It’s stacked cutlery trays. We have a huge closet in the master bedroom, and it has huge sliding glass doors. I really want to put something like this up on the back of one of them… because I don’t really want my jewelry just hanging out in the room. I don’t know if the back of the doors would be durable enough to do it though – right now they are just cardboard. Gross I know.

This may be my first DIY project in the new house. I packed up all my spices yesterday, and holy moly… spice overload. I didn’t even know I had some of the things I did – and I have multiples of things… I need to get that under CONTROL! Plus, I saw a bunch of jars at Target the other day and wanted to buy them but had no reason to. Now I have a reason. :-)

…

Ok… well that’s it for some of my favorite pins at the moment. I would love to give credit where credit is due… but if you go check out my boards on pinterest you can click the pictures and they will take you to the source!

Closing Recap...

2011-09-01T14:09:00.000-05:00

Seriously I don't know how I got so lucky to have married the man I did. God really knew what he was doing when he brought him into my life!

Okay, so let's recap the past few days of crazy.

At the end of the week, we made an unanimous decision to push back closing from 9 am Monday, to 4 pm. The mortgage people were still waiting on some things, and we wouldn't be able to get everything in order until Saturday. So... Husband and I feverishly got everything signed, sealed, and delivered bright and early Saturday morning. Because Hubby was scheduled to leave bright and early Tuesday morning for his business trip, we went ahead and decided to have the lawyers draw up power of attorney papers... just in case...

Monday morning rolls around - and that's when everything REALLY got crazy. Things we did were wrong, so had to be re-done. Then there were several things MISSING that we were 100% sure had already been taken care of. Tons of emails and attachments later - they pretty much told us that there was a snowball's chance in hell we would be closing that afternoon. Thank goodness we had those papers drawn up - I was going to have to close on this house all by myself.

Tuesday morning. Silence. Waiting. Everybody just keeps telling me "don't worry about it, we're fine!" Ummmmm....... that's not helping. By Tuesday's lunch I had given up. Then I get a text from my realtor... completely freaking out. She tells me to check my email - she had forwarded me correspondence between her, the other realtor, the seller, and the mortgage broker's underwriter. Our realtor simply asked what the hold up was - and the underwriter responded... wait for it...

"The file could not be submitted to underwriting without adequate funds to close."

This sent EVERYONE into a crazy psycho spin off. Basically, homegirl underwriter just told our seller that WE DIDN'T HAVE ANY MONEY. Which was TOTALLY not true. The funds were there, and confirmed. We were just waiting on the bank to send one little piece of paper to them. That's what was holding everything up - but she made it sound like we were broke as a joke. I wrote my realtor back explaining that she was a SPACE CADET and we had plenty of money.

Luckily, that calmed the seller down. Can you even imagine how much she must have been freaking out? I'm so mad at that stupid underwriter... still!

Then Wednesday. Oh, Holy Wednesday. Several different people assured me that Wednesday would be the day. We discovered Wednesday afternoon that writing a check would not suffice for closing. NOBODY told us this. So I call Husband (who is still out of town) and he had to find someone to drive him to the bank so he could WIRE the money to the mortgage company. I had to leave work and go to the bank to get a cashier's check. (Naturally, we've been married for almost two years and haven't taken the time to set up a joint bank account... but whatever). Another last minute freak out - but we got it done. Barely.

I'm not sure what exactly went down - because they stopped copying me on emails - but apparently it got QUITE heated. (All due to the lovely underwriter being a dingbat). Husband's wire reached the title company before the final closing documents from the mortgage company did. Hah... it was all crazy. I got a text from my realtor at 3:45 ... "4:00!! ITS GO TIME!"

I jumped in my car and drove like a crazy lady. And got there just in time.

Everyone was wonderful, and everyone apologized a thousand times for how awful this had been!! They also apologized for the amount of signing I was about to to...

I had to sign my first name, middle initial, and last name. On everything. THEN... because I was Husband's signer... I had to sign "Husband First Name, Middle Initial, Last Name, by My First Name, Middle Initial, Last Name, as attorney in fact." A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BILLION TIMES.

Ok, not that many, but it was a total beating. We both have long names. I took a picture, but with the whole anonymity of the blog... I can't post. Trust me though, it was long.

And it was all worth it.

I went home, changed, ate some chicken and hummus, loaded up the car with a load of CRAP, and met my realtor at the NEW HOUSE! Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention my little brother showed up with a killer bottle of champagne! We got to the house, put the key in the lock, turned the lock, and then had to spend the next 10 minutes futzing with the lock... because the key was STUCK!

HA! Seriously. It was hilarious.

And now, it's all over. FINALLY.

Tonight I will be moving more loads of crap over to the house - storing it in the garage until Hubby gets back in town Friday night. I just can't bring myself to start lugging in boxes and boxes of junk and messing it up quite yet. I want him to get to see it totally empty. (I did hang stuff up in the master closet though, my suits have no business laying in a garage!) But look at the damage I did last night! One room ALMOST completely empty! WAHOO!

Last night... I slept. This morning... I didn't have a headache. I feel like the world has been lifted off my shoulders. It's wonderful, and I can't wait for Hubby to get home. Especially after this lovely surprise at the office today:

The card says "Thank you so much for all your hard work! Congratulations on our new home. Love, Husband"

See? God knew what he was doing.

KEY!!!!!

2011-08-31T22:26:00.001-05:00

HAHA!!!!

I'll write more about the HELL we went through to get this...
but here's a little preview of what's to come!

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...... WE HAVE A KEY!!

Not Today

2011-08-29T18:38:00.000-05:00

We didn't close today.

I'm SO OVER THIS!!!!!!!!

I felt insanely guilty - even though there was nothing more that we could have done - but still... I felt awful. Until I got a text from my realtor - apparently the seller was late on some things, so even if we had all our ducks in a row - we wouldn't have closed today anyways. So, I felt a lot better. And I actually was grateful that everything was such a clusterfuck on our end, because it would have been a TOTAL mess to find out this morning we couldn't close. At least this way we were prepared for me to do it by myself, since Hubs leaves tomorrow morning...

I don't usually like it when Hubby goes out of town, but I am kind of happy he is getting out of town. While it's not a fun trip or anything - I'm glad he can just get out of the house and come home to a new house with (hopefully) most of the mindless moving done. My goal for the rest of the week is to get as much crap over there as possible - so his part of moving just consists of heavy lifting.

On another note - today Hubby signed us up to get a home phone! I know it's silly and I probably won't use it much - but it totally makes me feel like a grown up with a home phone line.

Tonight, we're going out to dinner at one of our favorite little restaurants here. We discussed house stuff for 10 minutes right when he got home, and it won't be brought up again. Dinner will be a lovely break from all this. I plan on eating my weight in pesto. It's. That. Good.

Crazy

2011-08-28T15:03:00.000-05:00

Things have been NUTS.

I apologize in advance if this blog is a little quiet for the next few weeks... it's finally time to get MOVING! We took a load of stuff over to the new house yesterday to store in the garage. We close tomorrow at 4pm (god willing)... and then it's just going to be bonkers.

My parents are coming in town next weekend, and Husband will be home for a few days... once we're out of this house we won't even have internet until Sept 13th.

I'm going to do my best to keep the blog updated with pictures and all that FUN stuff... but without internet at home it could be a little hard!

Oh - and it's a good thing I snapped a crappy iPhone photo of our "Sold" sign... because it is TOTALLY gone already. I was a little bummed when we pulled up yesterday and didn't see it there! BOO!!!!

Checking In

2011-08-25T16:20:00.003-05:00

Listening – Silence. Maybe I should turn on Pandora or something. NOBODY is in the office right now so it’s not like I would be bothering anybody.

Eating – Pancakes. I skipped breakfast this morning because I was kind of in a hurry – and wouldn’t you know – someone was in the test kitchen whipping up a bunch of pancakes this morning. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I would have stuck to the one small one I put on my plate. The problem is I have gone BACK to the test kitchen a lot this morning. I’m not willing to admit publically how many times. It’s a lot.

Drinking – Coffee and water. I want more coffee, but I’m starting to get jittery so I should probably just stick to the water. Tonight I am going to drink some wine. I have a wee little bit of house wine left from the other night, then I’ll switch to the box. Love that box.

Wearing – I like my outfit today. I really like these pants. I wish that I had this same pair of pants in a bunch of different colors. That totally reminds me that I wanted to look online to see if I could find them. If I had these in black and tan and brown and oooh the possibilities…

Feeling – So extremely bored I just want to bang my head on the wall.

Wanting – To fast forward to our Vegas trip. Seriously the past week has been heinous, and it’s just about to get worse. Husband is so stressed out that he’s miserable… and I have almost completely stopped sleeping all together. I’m praying that after we close it gets better… but the day after we close Husband leaves. Which just freaks me out.

Needing – Time and money.

Thinking – Actually… I’m trying not to do much of this because it just makes me ill. I’ve been reading. I just finished “Melting Point” which was a Holocaust story – and we all know how crazy I am about anything that has to do with the Holocaust. I want to read another Holocaust book. I’m reading this other book now that I’m not toooo super in to – but maybe getting there. I’m also thinking about maybe re-reading The Hunger Games. OH OH and I have The Help too. I’ll be reading a lot… because we won’t have tv or internet in the new house until Sept 13th. Awesome, huh?

Enjoying – I kind of just want to skip this part. I’ve been trying to enjoy everything and take it easy, but I’m just a psycho mess. I’m ready for the next few weeks to be OVER WITH already. I’m enjoying work… that’s the truth. I’ve done a few new things over the past few weeks and have gotten a lot of compliments… so that’s nice. I even got an email from our division president saying I was “FANTASTIC” (yup, in all caps!)

Awake

2011-08-23T06:25:00.000-05:00

I'm awake. I've been awake since 4. I've already worked out, taken a shower, watched some bad TV, read a little bit... uuugh. It's stress induced insomnia. It was like this for an entire month leading up to the wedding - and I have a feeling I'll be dealing with this again until we are all moved in to the new house.

The good news is - this is really the only "side effect" of being stressed out I get. I don't get sick or (too) crazy... I'm just awake. All the time.

I wanted to write a quick blog post to say that I am feeling better than when I wrote my last blog post. I love my dad... but he gets stressed out. He is in San Antonio right now with my mom trying to find a place for my grandmother (his mom) to live - that's not fun. Plus, it's been a LONG few months with her - she was diagnosed with dementia, she lived with my parents for a while, and my dad has a lot of brothers and sisters who have very strong (and very different) opinions on what needs to happen next.

So when he blew up at me yesterday, it wasn't really about anything other than he is overwhelmed. I get that. It sucks, and I'm still mad about it... but I understand. He gets angry and yells... I don't sleep. We all deal with things in a different way.

I'm starting to freak out a bit about the move now - because Husband's work schedule just got crazy. We're closing on Monday the 29th... then on Tuesday Husband goes back to El Paso. My parents will get to town on Thursday (and I just realized that I don't have a bed for them to sleep in)... Husband gets home late Friday night. We will move on Saturday - hopefully - and Saturday night we have tickets to the football game. Sunday, Husband is getting baptized. Monday, we scramble and try to get as much done as possible... and then on Tuesday, Husband leaves for El Paso - AGAIN. I'm not sure when he is getting home from THAT trip, but that Friday we leave for Vegas. I come home that Sunday - and he doesn't get home until Thursday.

IT IS NUTS. He's going to be gone for a lot of days.

The seller has been so great through this whole process - I'm starting to wonder if she would be against letting us into the house THIS weekend to move. I don't know if people actually do that... but it honestly would make life so much easier. If we could get the move out of the way this weekend....... it would give ME lots of time to get settled before all the crazy begins.

Ok - time for another cup of coffee.

Looking for a Hole.

2011-08-22T12:29:00.000-05:00

Here is my blog post for today.

"I want to crawl in a hole and hide there until September 9th, where I will come out ONLY to get on an airplane to go to Las Vegas for our anniversary. Then, when I come home on the 11th... I will crawl back into that hole and stay there until Husband comes home from his conference a few days later.

Then, maybe, I will consider coming out of the hole.

If the weather has cooled off."

...

I was going to post just that and leave it, but I'll write a little more so you don't think I'm going to go all "goodbye cruel world" on you.

The garage sale is over. Thank God. We made some money, which is nice, but we had to give my little brother a cut of it (which he totally didn't deserve but whatever)... and we're kind of bummed because of all the time we spent going through all the stuff we brought back from Dallas - we didn't really go through much of our own stuff. Like, I found a big box of crap in our house on Sunday that we should have sold. But it's okay... it was worth it.

We close in 7 days - and while I have had a daily countdown for a good while now... I'm feeling totally unprepared and wished we had more time. I got a phone call from my father this morning that left me in tears for a good hour. Good thing nobody sits by me because I really did just sit here and cry. I've said from day one that I don't know what I'm doing and it makes me uncomfortable. I did everything like he told me to do, and yet still somehow I messed it all up and we're getting screwed and our realtor is an idiot and everything is terrible and I need to learn this lesson.

Um, what?

SKJFHVO*&%T($IRJGG*$T)RGIJVNI#$&T(F*UISHJ

yup.

All About Poop

2011-08-18T12:43:00.001-05:00

This post is all about poop.

So - last night Husband and I went to babysit for our dear friends K&T while they went out for T's birthday. I was SO excited - and so totally nervous.

I will sum up our evening in three words... so. much. poop.

Seriously. POOP.

Right before K&T left, Ethan (almost 4) goes "mamma! I gotta make stinkies!!!" - so he did his business, K wiped the bootie, and we were good to go. She actually said to me "Well, at least we got that out of the way so you won't have to deal with it!" I laughed. They left. It was go time!

I got Grey (almost 2) in the bathtub... that was fun. He is adorable. Everything was going smoothly when Ethan came in to the bathroom "I gotta make stinkies again!!!!"

And oh boy did he make stinkies.

YUCK.

It was pretty adorable when the little guy looked up at me with a mildly-evil grin... "Will you wipe my bootie???" Hah... so I did. It wasn't too bad. Just STINKY.

After Grey was all clean I picked him up and wrapped him in a towel... and he let out an EPIC fart. I was totally convinced he was going to poop everywhere before I got him in a diaper. Luckily - that didn't happen.

We spent a little time in the living room playing with cars and watching Little Einsteins. And then I smelled it. Woah.

I looked at Husband and he just laughed at me.

So I took Grey to his room to change his diaper. Holy poop. It ALMOST went everywhere. I got the diaper off and had to call in reinforcements... It was actually pretty hysterical - Husband came in and held up his legs while I attacked his butt with wipes. I think I used like ten of them. It didn't help that the little guy was rolling around everywhere. SO GROSS.

Anyways - got him all clean and in another diaper. There were a few more epic farts over the course of the evening - but only one diaper bomb.

It really was a lot of fun hanging out with those boys... they are so sweet. My heart melted all over the floor when I came in the living room after putting Grey to bed and saw this...

Those boys were BFFs. Ethan was all cuddled up next to Husband and he was telling him ALL about the Micky Mouse club. I didn't think it could get any cuter until this...

OH. EM. GEE.

... He is going to be such a good Dad. But for now, he is just a good "Miss Brandon" - which is what Ethan called him all night. Bahahaha....

Checkin' In...

2011-08-17T17:38:00.000-05:00

Listening – Nothing at the moment. I have that "boom boom boom" song stuck in my head. I can't remember the name of the rapper chick that sings it but it's always on the radio and I don't hate it.

Eating – I've been GOOD this week so far. Even though we haven't had any sort of plan for meals this week - it's been make it up as we go along...

Drinking – big ol glass of water. Did I tell you that there is a filter spout in my new kitchen? So I don't have to constantly fill up the brita filter anymore? The water here is GROSS so I am so excited about that...

Wearing – Green Bay Packers t-shirt. I'm ready for football.

Feeling – A little nervous actually! We are babysitting for K&T tonight so they can go to dinner for T's birthday! I haven't babysat in probably 12 or 13 YEARS. But it's all good - Hubby is going to come with me. :-)

Wanting – This garage sale crap to be over with.

Needing – Someone to go through all the garage sale crap for me! Because I don't wanna!!

Thinking – The garage sale will be totally worth it when we have all that CASH in our pockets!!! Hopefully!!!!!!!

Enjoying – LIFE! Trying to "keep calm and carry on" - enjoy every day looking forward to all the awesome stuff coming up! We're moving into our first house... We are going to LAS VEGAS to celebrate our 2nd anniversary... FOOTBALL SEASON IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER... K is getting MARRIED in October... all exciting things!!

Not Closing

2011-08-15T17:09:00.001-05:00

We were SUPPOSED to be closing on the new house today. I wish we were. I'm so ready to get into that dang house. Two more weekssss........

The trip home was great - the shower was awesome - and I already miss my family!!! But it's all good - they are coming to visit soon enough...

Husband hinted that he wanted me to cancel my flight home and drive back with him in the rental truck. I pouted and wanted to fly, and he said that was okay. The poor guy got a flat tire halfway home and had to SIT AND WAIT for some RANDO tire company to come out and fix it. He didn't get home until almost midnight. I feel AWFUL about the whole thing. (but on a brighter note, he totally didn't try to make me feel bad...)

Wanna know what I did today that I haven't done in a long time? MEAL PLANNED!!! I've been eating HORRIBLY... so I told myself it's time to clean up and get cookin'. I picked all clean eating recipes for this week - I really want to get back into cooking really ridiculously healthy meals again. A) because it's good for us and B) because I like them.

We will be eating a lot of chicken because I may have bought 10 lbs of chicken last week.

Wanna know what we will be eating this week? I know you do...

Monday: Shrimp Scampi (and i'm also making clean eating caramel popcorn for an after-dinner treat for Dear Husband. I was going to bake a cake and write "sorry i'm such a greedy bitch" on it... but then we would eat the whole cake and feel guilty about it so it wouldn't be such a prize after all...)

Tuesday: Steak with Garlic Spinach

Wednesday: Crock Pot Pineapple Chicken & Rice

Thursday: Nut Crusted Baked Chicken and Caramelized Dill Carrots

Friday: Taco Salad (and I'm going to attempt to make taco shell bowls... I found a cute way to do it on pinterest but I need my muffin tin which I think is already packed. If it is I may try another method .... or I may just give up and put it in a bowl)

I got all excited with my meal plan and then I remembered........ we're having a garage sale this weekend. So every night this week we will probably be at my brother's house getting organized. So this week's meal plan is now NEXT week's meal plan. Oh well.

Wish us luck with this sale y'all. We have SO MUCH STUFF it is almost unbelievable. Almost. I'll try to remember to take some pictures....

Longest Day Ever

2011-08-12T15:34:00.000-05:00

Whoa NELLY I'm ready to go home!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's 3:30. I don't have to be at the airport until like... 6. Twenty bucks says I get there at 5 because I just can't wait. My bag is PACKED and in the car ready to go........... aaaarggghhhh...........

Anywho I wanted to show you my "idea board" for the exercise room. I'm totally in love with this stencil pattern I found online. I think we are going to go a little crazy and stencil an ENTIRE WALL of the spare bedroom. I figure start big. Right?! Well here is a little picture I made of some of the ideas I have for the exercise room:

Very "naturey"... so then it will feel energizing, but at the same time calm. I want to take some of my favorite quotes and put them on the wall. I'm pretty excited about it!!!! I am going to do my BEST to take a ton of pictures of our progress to post on here... I've been pretty crazy addicted to different DIY and Home Decor blogs - and I love looking at the progress pictures, so you must love it too right? RIGHT?

I had the genius idea of putting a tiny photo-shelf on the wall in front of the treadmill last night while I was on the treadmill. I like to walk while watching my soap, and I watch my soap on the iPad. Well... the best place to put the iPad is right where the fan is. So I kind of look down while I bust my butt, and it is totally in the way of the fan so it's hot. Solution? Shelf on the wall.

OMG IS IT TIME TO GO TO THE AIRPORT YET?!?!?

I'm going crazy. 17 Days until closing. OH YEAH LOOK LOOK LOOK.....

See that sign? That sign says SOLD!!!!!

Also... it FINALLY rained last night. Like, monsoon-ed. It was actually kind of crazy scary while I was all by my lonesome, but I survived. And this morning there were clouds in the sky and it was just too pretty.

Over the Hump!

2011-08-11T06:14:00.000-05:00

The week is almost over!!! Hooray!!! I did it!!! I'm SO ready to see my husband though. He is getting to Dallas today and that makes me so sad I won't be there too...... arrrgh!!! Plus the flight schedule home SUCKS - it's like 3:30 and then 7:00 - so there's really no chance for me to hop on an earlier flight. Oh well. :-(

Listening – HGTV. I'm getting to be slightly obsessed. Obvi.

Eating – Breakfast was a smallish bowl of Captain Crunch and a tortilla with peanut butter and raisins. I've been eating strange things lately.

Drinking – COFFEE!!!

Wearing – University of Iowa t-shirt. I need to figure out what I want to wear to work today... It's so freakin' hot outside I don't want to wear anything.

Feeling – Excited for the weekend!!! It should be a lot of fun. Lunch with BFF-C and her husband on Saturday... Bridal shower for BFF-K Saturday afternoon... going through all my parents' stuff and getting ready for our big garage sale...... I wish I could go home today.

Wanting – to get in the new houuuuuse!!!!!

Needing – I don't "need" anything today. I'm pretty satisfied. :-)

Thinking – About the second living space in the house. We were going to turn the 2nd living area into a formal dining room...... but now we're thinking another living area. Like a cool grown up lounge. Hmm...

Enjoying – While I do miss Husband - I have been trying to enjoy myself while he's out of town. I would much rather have him home, but I've been filling my afternoons with TV shows I know he doesn't like. So that's been fun. Ish.

I think today I am going to create an "idea board" with some of the pins and things I have pulled for the new house to let y'all know what I'm thinking and to get more ideas. Depends on how busy things at work are today. :-)

Home Alone

2011-08-09T06:14:00.000-05:00

Listening – Silence. Well I can hear the TV in the other room. Some music video.

Eating – Too much crap! Well, not true. It's not crap but it's too much of it! With Husband out of town all week I stocked up on micro-meals so I wouldn't have to cook. If I cooked then there is a good chance I would eat the entire dish - so this is my way of portion control! Plus, I really like micro-meals, even though they are kind of gross.

Drinking – Cinnamon Roll Coffee. I freakin' love my Keurig.

Wearing – A big ol FDNY T-Shirt.

Feeling – I'm ready for this week to end. I just don't feel "right" when I'm home alone.

Wanting – it to be FRIDAY! I'm flying into town and we are going to have a late Del Frisco's steak.

Needing – some health vibes sent my way. I'm not "sick" but I have been dealing with allergies maybe? I don't know but it's gross. It's been so HUMID here the past few days (which makes no friggin sense but whatever)... I just have a scratchy throat and my ears kind of hurt and sometimes I sneeze and have a runny nose. No fun.

Thinking – Honestly I've been thinking about things I should do while Husband is out of town to make it more fun for me - but I can't come up with anything. Other than shopping. Which I don't want to do because a) we want to save money not spend it... and b) I want to do some shopping in Dallas this weekend.

Enjoying – The calm before the storm?? LOL... After this weekend it's crunch time with this move and garage sale. CRUNCH TIME PEOPLE.

Harry

2011-08-06T08:40:00.000-05:00

I've been on a Harry Potter kick and I love it. I'm re-watching all the movies before I go see the last one in the theatre. ABC Family had a little marathon a while ago and I recorded them. I wanted to start with the first one, but Netflix was being way too slow. Apparently everyone else in the world had the same idea and the wait for the first two was crazy. I'm watching Goblet of Fire right now, still weirds me out that Edward Cullen is at Hogwarts.

Speaking of Harry Potter - Neville got HOT!! Who saw that one coming? Holy moly.

I am absolutely dreading next week. I don't want Husband to go out of town for an entire week. That is no fun at all. I am looking forward to next weekend though - my mom and I are hosting a bridal shower for BFF-K! I'm super proud of the invitations, they came out way better than I expected! BFF-K is a graphic designer, so I was under a lot of pressure to make them awesome.

Packing is coming along nicely... Still waiting to take a bunch of crap to my brothers garage. I am starting to lose my mind with all the piles... I may just have to bite the bullet and start parking my car in the driveway so we can use my half of the garage to store stuff. I think I'd feel like we were making more progress once we start getting this crap OUT of the house.

To make matters worse - my parents have offered us all of the crap they have in their garage. We can sell it and keep the profit. It's not really making things worse, it's making things awesome because we could totally use the cash... But it's going to create an even BIGGER pile of crap to deal with. It will be good though - they have a lot of furniture they want to dump. Including two awesome leather couches I asked them to save for me. I'm not sure if the couches will fit into our new living room - if they do, that's sweet. If not, I don't know what we'll do with them.

We are having lunch with our Pastor and his wife today - I'm pretty excited about it. We are meeting up to talk about Husbands upcoming Baptism!!!! When I was a baby I was baptized, but once I found a church home in college, I felt I needed to be baptized again, as an adult, where it was my decision. Same goes for Husband - I am so excited for him. I'm a little nervous because I will probably be the one he picks to read scripture to the congregation during the ceremony....... I hope I don't mess up.

Oh yeah, did I mention that my hair is a disaster? It's too long and it's too curly and it's a rats nest. I'm too terrified to get it cut for no real reason... So I'm going to pull out one of my tricks from high school and give it a mayo-bath. I hope it works. And doesn't smell too bad. I used to do it back in the day after coloring it, because I totally fried my hair back in the day and the mayo worked magic.

Thursday!!

2011-08-04T11:29:00.000-05:00

- Thursday is payday! Every week! That makes me LOVE Thursdays!!

- Husband is out of town. BOO.

- I woke up at 4:30 this morning with Husband. Did you know that there is a door to the master bathroom that can be closed so you don't wake up your sleeping wife at 4:30 in the morning while you get dressed and ready to go to the airport?? No? Neither does Husband.

Text Message Convo with BFF-C:

Me: Should I go shopping since Husband is out of town? I won't even have to hide the bags when I come home...
C: Haha. Yes. This is why we are friends.
Me: Hooray! Question number two- Harry Potter or Twilight marathon?
Me: Oh I am so pathetic.

... I am actually kind of looking forward to this evening. NOT next week, but tonight will be kind of cool. I may save the Harry Potter marathon for next week and just catch up on my stories tonight. Todd and Todd have faced off and it is just so intense.

OMG OMG OMG guess what. So. I love Les Miserables. LOVE it. Like, am mildly obsessed with it and can probably quote the entire thing. (ok not really, but kind of)

Husband has never seen it. Shocking, I know. A few months ago we got online to see when it was going to be close to us. It wasn't going to be anywhere near us so we decided to plan a trip to Denver to see it. We got flights to Denver (on the CHEAP) - then I got laid off, then I got a new job - and then didn't want to (slash couldn't) ask for 3 days off for vacation right off the bat.

So we cancelled the trip - and I was totally bummed. TOTALLY BUMMED OUT. Because we were also going to see my aunt and uncle and they are rockstars and I miss them.

THEN I found out TODAY that Les Miserables will be in DALLAS over CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!! So I will TOTALLY get to take Husband to see it, with my whole family. I'm so stoked.

Still doesn't make up for the fact that I don't get to see aunt and uncle... but I'm working up a plan to see if I can get them to come over for Thanksgiving... because I may have stolen it from her. Maybe.

GUESS WHAT ELSE?? My aunt has a kickass sewing machine that her mother in law gave her that she never uses. Several months ago she was in town and was all "yeah I'll give it to yoU!" and I was like "awesome!" and then forgot. My cousin just texted me saying that she has packed it in her car for her move back to town tomorrow! HOLY MOLY that's exciting. I haven't sewed in so long becase a) my needle broke and I'm too scared to try to fix it... and b) fabric is so freakin' expensive and we're saving our dollars right now... and c) I have like six quilts I still need to sell.

But oh man I am excited to get my paws on that machine.

Sucky

2011-08-03T11:55:00.002-05:00

Here is a list of stuff that's been on my mind that sucks...

1) Girls suck. My two best girlfriends hate each other. Like, hate hate. I don't really know what happened and I have tried to stay completely out of it but it just sucks SO BAD. I don't even mention one to the other any more and it's lame and I hate it.

2) Travelling husbands suck. Well, the husband doesnt suck... the travelling does. It's a good thing that our closing was moved back to the end of the month - because if not - I would be FLIPPING out right now. Husband is an auditor for the university... and they just found out someone was stealing a bunch of money for a long time at another campus, so he is going to be out of town for a long time to get it all figured out. Only one night this week, but next week he's gone pretty much all week. I hate it when he's out of town... I get all nervous and scared and I hear noises... My mom said that I will learn to love it because I'll get complete remote control and can cook whatever I want for dinner........ which may be the truth... but I still am not looking forward to it.

3) Packing sucks. We're doing a good job about doing a little bit at a time... but it still sucks. Plus, we have so much crap we are going to sell in a garage sale - and it's just starting to collect everywhere. We were going to take small loads over to my brother's garage (we're having the sale at his house because it's in a prime location)...... but he has a new roommate moving in - and apparently that guy's stuff is in the garage and it's full. I have no earthly idea why all of his stuff is in the garage and not in the house. It's been a major PITA because we need to get this stuff out of our house! But I can't complain too much because my brother is being nice and letting us use his garage. But it's still really annoying.

Yeah thats about it for stuff that sucks. I'm just kind of in a whiney mood today - don't know why. Maybe PMS? Who knows. I'm just kind of grumpy. But if I can't complain about stuff on this blog then where can I? :-)

August?!?

2011-08-02T14:42:00.000-05:00

My mother sent me an email today and at the end it said "p.s. change your blog!" - so my guess is she wants me to update it. Which I should totally do... I just have nothing really to update on!

We are just WAITING. I seriously want to completely skip the month of August. I just can't take the heat anymore, and I am SO ready to move. And paint. And decorate.

Husband's little sister came to visit over the weekend - it was fun having her around. I wish she lived out here... I'm still trying to think of ways to convince her to go to school here.

We had K&T and the boys over for dinner on Sunday - I made a roast in the crockpot and it was FAB. Here's the recipe I used via A Year of Slow Cooking. This is the same blog that I got my Thanksgiving Turkey recipe from in 2009. Yup, you read that right. I cooked a Thanksgiving turkey in the crock pot.

Anywho - Old Fashioned Pot Roast Slow Cooker - WINNER!!!!

Ingredients:

4 pounds beef roast (chuck or rump) (I used a 2 lb roast)
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced in rings
2 large Russet potatoes, cut in 2-inch chunks
1 cup baby carrots
1 cup sliced celery
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup red wine

Directions:

In a plastic zippered bag, shake a thawed beef roast with flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Remove roast from the bag and brown all sides in a large skillet with olive oil.
While your meat is browning, place the sliced onion in the bottom of the cooker.
Add meat, and toss in the potatoes, celery, and carrots.
Pour worcestershire and wine on top.
Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.
If your meat isn't as moist as you'd like nearing serving time, take it out and cut it into a few pieces and return it to the pot to soak up more juice.... a dry roast isn't from over slowcooking, it's from under slowcooking!

It was faaaabulous! Make it! And go check out her blog - she's got some cool recipes on there. Like how to cook a Thanksgiving Turkey in a Crock Pot. :-)

Lazy & Bored

2011-07-29T11:16:00.000-05:00

Listening – I’ve got some Maroon 5 song stuck in my head, but I only know one line and it keeps repeating over and over and over. I don’t even particularly like Maroon 5. I mean they aren’t bad. But really it’s getting quite annoying. I may have to bust out the headphones later.

Eating – Whatever we’ve got. Last night I made this ham alfredo with the leftover ham my brother had from his cooking project that he left at our house. It was pretty good… not great… but not bad either. I ate too much of it. I took a picture to send to MeMaw because I called her earlier that night hoping she would be able to tell me what to use instead of sour cream. She gave me lots of ideas but I didn’t have any of those things either. SO I had to change recipes and I told her I’d text her a picture of whatever I decided to cook. I’ve got chicken thawing right now, and have no clue what I want to do with it. Husband’s little sister will be in town this weekend so I should make something good… hmm…

Drinking – I got all excited because we opened a bottle of real wine the other night, and I have been wanting to start saving corks for all these fun cork projects I’ve found on pinterest – but the damn cork was plastic. LAME.

Wearing – Comfy clothes, pinchy shoes. AND I should have put another coat of polish on my toes this morning because they look awful. But at least the shoes are cute.

Feeling – BORED. Is bored a feeling? Well that’s what I feel right now. I still don’t have enough work. Obviously or I wouldn’t be doing this right now. I know things will pick up once school starts…

Wanting – to SKIP the month of August. I am ready for the weather to cool off and I am ready to get into the new house. I am looking forward to a quick trip home in the middle of August for K’s bridal shower though… that will be fun…

Needing – a little more motivation to get crackin’ on getting rid of all our crap! We were using the guest room as our staging area, but with sister-in-law coming up tonight we needed to clean it out – and everything got moved over to the office. I just have so much JUNK. I hope we are able to take another truckload over to my brother’s garage this weekend…

Thinking – I’m really not thinking about much. I’ve been thinking about babies… but not to the point where I’m ready to have one quite yet. It’s just starting to get to be more fun to think about, especially now that we’re putting down some roots in this town. And we have friends with kids which is way fun. We went over to K&T’s house the other day to give them something from church, and when we walked in – G (almost 2 years old) RAN over to me and jumped up and down until I picked him up and he had the biggest smile on his face. It was SO cute.

Enjoying – Honestly, I’m enjoying being kind of lazy the past few days. I haven’t made the bed this week except once, and I haven’t put too much thought into dinner or anything. I think we only had dinner at the table once this week… but it’s been kind of nice to just be lazy. I think the fact that our house is in shambles right now kind of eggs it on… but I kind of like it!

Down Time

2011-07-27T10:58:00.000-05:00

I am terrified that the people I work for are going to realize that they don’t really need me and I will get the boot.

Ok not really, but kind of. I know that everyone has been really happy with the work I have done so far, and I have had a lot of compliments and the sales guys I am assisting are always saying great things… but there is a LOT OF DOWN TIME. I’m pretty sure that work will pick up, but not 100% sure. There is a big part of me that wants to talk to the higher-ups to see if they want to give me two or three more sales guys to help out… but at the same time, I don’t want to put myself in a position where I am overwhelmed with work.

Today for example – I feel like I haven’t done a single thing. Which isn’t completely true – I have done a couple of things – but they didn’t take me long. And now I am just sitting and waiting to hear from anybody to give me something to do.

I do enjoy SOME down time on the job – but I feel bad when most of my day is down time. I know this is a big adjustment period for everyone – what can I do, what can’t I do – how am I going to be used most efficiently… man oh man.

In other news – 33 days until closing. Our living room is naked and we have started packing up decorative crap. The office/gym is completely bare and is now the staging area for all of our boxes. The guest room has piles of crap I’m just not ready to tackle – but Hubby’s sister is coming to visit this weekend so I need to take care of that…

We keep driving by the new house waiting to see a “SOLD” sign ….. but no sold sign yet. I want to take a picture of that real bad.

Cakebread

2011-07-25T14:40:00.000-05:00

Listening – to nothing. Once again, I really miss being able to stream Pandora. I can wear headphones but I don’t like not hearing what’s going on around me. Boo.

Eating – Pizza Pasta Casserole! Made that little gem I found off Pinterest on Saturday. It was a hit. I halved the recipe – you’re supposed to make a ton and then freeze one. I will so do that next time – and when I have a big enough freezer. Right now I am struggling on what to make for dinner. I did a lame job grocery shopping this weekend.

Drinking – BOX WINE. We went to Sam’s… and yes… our favorite box went from $9.00 to $7.00 – so we grabbed two. Then we realized that the stock of Barrel Box is getting smaller and smaller… and realized that once it’s gone, it will probably never be back. So we grabbed two more. Yikes.

Wearing – I should have put a tank on under the shirt I’m wearing now. The button at my boobs keeps popping open. Classy, right??

Feeling – A little overwhelmed. And a little impatient. The house is a mess and I am determined to get rid of all the crap I don’t need. There is just SO much of it. And I am SO ready to just move already. But I have to wait 35 more days.

Wanting – Nothing really. How cool is that? Well, I WANT some Cakebread. I’ve been looking for good wine-theme presents online this morning and I saw this huge Cakebread gift basket and now I want some.

Needing – Ok now I NEED some Cakebread.

Thinking – About Cakebread. Kidding. Kind of. I can’t stop thinking about the house and the move. But that’s expected – right? I’ve also been thinking about babies a lot. Not enough to throw out the birth control – but since we’ve been hanging out with friends with kids lately, it’s been fun to think about what it will be like when we have our own. But then I think about Cakebread and realize that I won’t be able to have it for a long time if I get pregnant and I’m just not ready for that…. LOL…

Enjoying – Time. Even though I want to move YESTERDAY into the new house… I am enjoying the fact we are able to really put time and thought and effort into packing. It should make things much easier, and I should be able to stay organized. I’m also enjoying the fact that my husband has decided he wants to do the dishes. I make it a point to not ask for help with housework – unless I really need help. However, for the past few weeks, once we finish reading our devotional at the dinner table, he gets up and just starts doing them! I don’t argue. It’s awesome.

Inspection

2011-07-21T20:46:00.000-05:00

Our inspection was today... and we have NO major issues!!! Hooray!!!!!! There are the regular things, random cracks here and there... we have a few things we will ask them to fix, but nothing is a dealbreaker so I can breathe a sigh of relief.

It still kind of feels unreal though.

We started packing last weekend... well, I went through the guest bedroom closet. Which was scary. But We're starting to make way!!! We are going to have a massive garage sale sometime in August - and my little brother is going to let us use his garage which is HUGE. Our house is kind of in the middle of nowhere, and his house is right off of a MAJOR road here - so we will have a lot more random traffic there then we would here. Plus, he said we could start bringing crap over whenever - so that's awesome.

It sucks that we have to wait until August 29th to close. I mean, it was a smart move on our part - because we will end up saving a LOT of money, but still. It's so far away!!!! 39 days according to my countdown calendar. (I may have a daily countdown already written on my calendar at work... maybe)

In other news - we have a trip to Las Vegas scheduled for September to celebrate our anniversary. Husband just happens to be going there for a conference (on our actual anniversary)... so he scheduled his tickets to get there early and I'm going to go with him. However - I am really mad at myself and wish that we would have scheduled it for the weekend AFTER his conference... because Beth Moore is going to be here on September 10th and I really really really REALLY wanted to go see her.

I'm going to see if maybe he can switch his flight - because we haven't booked my flight yet - but I doubt it will happen. I'm really bummed. But still excited about Vegas - that will be cool. And it really sucks that he will be there and I will be home on our actual anniversary. But it's okay because we will have LOTS more anniversaries.

As far as everything else goes - it's all good! Work is going well, but it's slow. It's an adjustment period I think - the guys I work for have been doing what they do for so long, they aren't used to having someone around to help... so it will take a while before they start to let things go I guess... I hope!

I'm also starting to think that I want Thanksgiving to be my thing. Our first Thanksgiving as a married couple was right after our wedding - we had spent the ENTIRE year with family and friends... and we decided that since it was our first holiday together - we were going to spend it TOGETHER. We cooked an AMAZING Thanksgiving dinner, just the two of us! It was fantastic! Then, last year, I had to work the day after Thanksgiving and so we invited my parents and Husband's parents to our house here. It was so much fun... but I was so stressed out because work sucked.

We were talking last night about wanting to host it again this year, in the new house! And I started to think - Thanksgiving should be my thing. I mentioned to my mom about them coming back here this year - she wasn't against the idea! Husband and I will chat a little more about it - but we would really want my aunt and gma to come too. If we make the decision soon enough, we just may be able to convince Kacy and MeMaw to come out West. I hope.

Plus, my friends who just moved out here will be in town for Thanksgiving too... and it would be fun to have them over as well...

Anywho - that's it. God is good.

Love you all!

Pants

2011-07-20T08:54:00.002-05:00

So, it’s been well over a year since I’ve hit my goal weight – and I’ve done a pretty dang good job of maintaining! My body has seemed to hit a good balance and that’s awesome. I don’t even really think about it anymore. I’m 80% healthy, 20% indulgence, and I make it a point to move as much as I can. That works for me.

Can someone please explain to me why, after an entire year of being in the body I am in now, I STILL CAN’T SEEM TO BUY CLOTHES THAT FIT?!?! I don’t get it? Do I get so excited when I go shopping that I swell up? I mean seriously. The pants I am wearing today… I got them right before I started this job… and I think they are a good two sizes too big. I just don’t get it.

I have been working out more than I have in the past few months, so maybe I’m losing inches. I know the scale has gone down about 3 lbs… but that’s not enough for my pants to fall off. Maybe I’m losing inches? Who knows…? I don’t feel like I’ve lost enough inches for my pants to be as big as they are. And I JUST washed them so that’s not the problem.

I used to laugh at myself when I would go shopping and every single thing would be too big – it was like I had some mental block and never pulled out the right size to try on. I’m pretty peeved about this though – because I really like these pants.

Wah wah wah, first class problems I know. At least they stay up. I’m just rocking the baggy look today.

On another note – our inspection is tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed that it goes as smoothly as everything else has gone so far……. I’ll be crushed if something awful comes up…

Tacos

2011-07-18T20:48:00.003-05:00

Listening – Nada at the moment. I’ve got about four different songs stuck in my head and they just bounce around in there all day long.

Eating – Whatever we have. We are skipping grocery shopping this week and will do our best to come up with dinners made out of whatever we’ve got. Looks like we will be eating a LOT of steak this week… hah… tonight I think I’m going to make spaghetti. Boring – but easy. And I totally have noodles and sauce.

Drinking – WATER. Saturday night I made poor choices. LOL… we drank some wine with dinner, and then we were sitting outside just chillin’ and Katie & Travis invited us to come over. So we did. Travis made margaritas. I drank two. Then I drank a beer. Then on the way home I decided that Jack-in-the-Box tacos sounded like a GREAT idea. Then on Sunday morning I wanted to kill myself.

Wearing – Boring clothes. I hate my closet today. I decided against shaving my legs this morning, so I am forced to wear pants. And it’s freaking HOT outside so I’m mad at myself.

Feeling – Tired. And kind of bored. But mostly tired… I’m officially back in the habit of working out every day (yay!) – but I’ve been working out after work instead of in the morning. It’s nice because that’s when Husband works out – so I’m not just sitting around bored in the afternoon… but I like the boost of energy I have during the day when I do work out in the mornings. But I’m so tired in the mornings I just don’t want to. Oh well. Not important. The important part is that I’m doing it again. AND Katie let me borrow a bunch of the DVDs she doesn’t use anymore – so this week I’ve got some new stuff to try. Hooray!

Wanting – A nap.

Needing – The inspection to go well!! It’s scheduled for Thursday. Once we have the inspection I will be much more at ease about this house… I’m just nervous that there will be some huge major issue that will cause us to not get the house. Everything will probably be fine – but I will just feel so much better after Thursday. Pleeeeeease keep your fingers crossed that everything goes well!

Thinking – Mostly I’ve been thinking about little projects and ideas for the new house. Thanks to pinterest. I’ve got a TON of awesome little tips and tricks for getting (and staying) organized… I’m going to start with THAT before I start with any major decorating projects. Mostly because those are cheap and easy.

Enjoying – Down time. I was SO bored on Saturday… I think I was bugging the crap out of Husband but whatever. I wanted to go do something but didn’t want to go spend any money… and so I just kind of walked around the house. I started packing and going through old boxes of crap… and I was BORED. But – I realized that I am not going to always have boring Saturdays like that. In a few years we will have kids (hopefully) – and I won’t have boring Saturdays. So… I’m making it a point to live those days up and enjoy doing nothing.

6/15 Check In!

2011-07-15T08:54:00.000-05:00

So I saw this on Pinterest. Thought it was a COOL way to journal. Just a quick check in for whats going on right now - listening, eating, drinking, wearing, feeling, wanting, needing, thinking and enjoying. Weather was in there too but that's boring. So. Let's get started.

Listening – to nothing. Well, I guess I’m listening to the activity down the hall as people get ready for our general sales meeting. I’m actually pretty stoked about it – it’s our kickoff to the third quarter of the year. There is going to be a lot of cool stuff going on and I get to be a fly on the wall. My favorite thing!

Eating – I’m gonna eat goooooood today. And that means baaaaad! We are focusing on some new exclusive brand dressings – and our brand manager has spent the last few weeks coming up with new and interesting ways to use the dressings… and that involves using them as dips and toppings… a few weeks ago he used this citrus dressing on top of a cheesecake. I only had a bite and I can’t wait for another bite. SO good. Speaking of eating, I have a new cookie recipe that completely dumbfounded me… uses an ingredient you would NOT think to use in cookies. I am going to make some, and if I rock it out… it will be my new secret recipe. Everyone will be all “oh tell me how you made these awesome cookies!” and I’ll be all “naaah, sorry ‘boutcha – secret recipe!”

Drinking – coffeeeeeeee. I am getting excited about drinking one of our bottles of Schramsburg on August 29th. Because that’s when we are closing on the house. (We moved it back two weeks to save money)… I wonder if I can convince Husband to crack open a bottle of wine this weekend to celebrate our offer being accepted. As much as I love my box wine, I’m kind of in the mood for wine out of a bottle. Plus, I need to start saving bottles and corks to use to decorate Kristin’s shower. We have decided on a wine theme. Boo-yeah.

Wearing – I am overdressed today. The attire for the meeting is casual, but people don’t wear jeans on Fridays here… and I just didn’t know what to wear. Plus, I’ll be meeting a ton of people I haven’t met yet. I’ve got on a black pencil skirt and a short jacket from Cato. It’s super cute, although I wish I would have gotten the jacket in a medium instead of a large… I’m rocking the red and black today.

Feeling – Tired. I had a bad sinus headache last night so I took some meds… and now I have a mild medicine hangover. Taking me a little longer to wake up this morning. It’s cool. More coffee.

Wanting – Some cash. We had to write a check for earnest money to give to the seller… and boy was that rough. I’m happy to say that we did it though – without asking to borrow any. It would have been a LOT easier to do LAST WEEK… but on Monday my car started beeping. Husband said it was the tire light. Monday night he got down and inspected my tires… what do you know… a giant screw was jammed in one. He said I needed new tires anyways – but that $900 bucks would have been real handy this week. But it’s all good because even though we had to write ANOTHER huge check… we did it! And we still have some money left! AND now we get to play a fun game until my next paycheck… “What can we make for dinner out of the stuff we already have…” oh boy.

Needing – a Harry Potter marathon. You would think this should be in the “wanting” section – and the money would be in the “needing” section. But you would be wrong. I NEED Harry. There is a HUGE part of me that is SO sad this is the last movie… but I am so excited at the same time. I am going to try to re-watch all of the movies before I see the last one, and there is a little part of me that wants to re-read the last book. The book I’m reading right now was a $.99 kindle download and it sucks. But for some reason I have this urge to finish every book I start. But I’m like only 50% through it and it sucks.

Thinking – about the HOUSE! I’ve decided my first project is going to be the hallway closet office. It’s small and we will need it to be organized asap. I originally thought about doing damask and girly and awesome… but then I think it would stick out like a sore thumb with the rest of our décor. So now I am thinking of doing some kind of old library theme. I know I want to do something like this on the back wall:

I’m thinking of painting the back wall deep red, and having all dark wood (instead of white like in the picture – the cork will look good, but the stark white of the dry erase board may be too clashy)... And mine will be a little smaller scaled than this, I don't want it to be to cluttery.

Also, I saw someone made boxes using bindings of old books from a thrift store… that could be a cool way to store stuff… and we would look much more scholarly.

Enjoying – life. Really, I am enjoying life. Things are just GOOD right now. We like our jobs, the house thing is exciting, our 2nd wedding anniversary is just around the corner… things are just so good and we’re happy. And that’s awesome.

WE GOT IT!

2011-07-14T06:10:00.001-05:00

Holy crap.

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!!!!!!!

We put in an offer yesterday at 5:30. At 7:30 the realtor called us back and said she countered, but only asked for 1,500 more. We accepted.

And that's how we bought a house.

It's CRAZY how fast it went. I wasn't expecting that at ALL. I really thought it would be a loooong and drawn out process... but that part was quick and easy. I guess watching all those houses that we liked go so quickly helped Husband move on one he liked. I'm so excited and nervous and it is AWESOME!!

We close on August 15th.

And now for what you've all been waiting for... Pictures!!! Her style isn't too bad, except for the creepy angel painting in the master bedroom. Anywho... here we go!!

Here is the front of the house - it's kind of hard to see because of all the trees... but that's a huge thing. Because there aren't many trees in this city... and the fact there are so many BIG ones is awesome!! Husband doesn't like the split garage doors - but that's his only issue. We'll see if the truck fits... lol...

Entry to the house. I love the curved walkway, and there is a big window and porch area there too. When we walked up there the first time we were like "it feels so homey!!"... and I can't wait to plant FLOWERS!!!! It's going to be so much fun!!!

Living Room... You can kind of see the kitchen back there too... My brother said he gets kind of a beachy feel. I kind of do, too.

More living room. LOVE the fireplace and mantle. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

2nd Living Room - which we will use as a dining room. That's a pretty badass built in isn't it!! We're going to convert it (eventually) into a buffet or something... I wish that built in was in the OTHER living room but oh well. It's still sweet.

Kitchen / Breakfast / CLOSET OFFICE!! The kitchen isn't bad - and they are leaving the fridge so we don't have to go buy one. And I freakin LOVE the closet office. Love love love love love.

Master bed... creepy art.

More master.

Backyard! Hula will LOVE this!

More backyard... the concrete slab on the left is a STORM SHELTER! A.K.A. Christmas Decorations Underground Room!! :-D

Another picture of the front.

I'm so excited. I can't wait to decorate.

I took some pictures on my phone when we saw it - I'll go through them and if I have any of the other bedrooms and other bathroom and stuff like that then I'll post 'em. I'm so excited and will be pinning the crap out of every awesome house idea I see. This is so exciting!!!!!

Oh Em Gee.

2011-07-13T06:56:00.000-05:00

We are putting in an offer for the house.

Last night we met with our realtor again. She showed us two other houses in the neighborhood that were around the same price - and they didn't hold a candle to the one we loved. When we got back to the house, I loved it even more than the first time.

There were two big issues I had with the house - the master bathroom and the master closet. (Which just comes with getting an older house... which I will deal with because we saw new houses and they were boooooring) Well, I must have been remembering a master bath from another house - because it was twice as big as I remembered, and a totally different color. LOL... it's still smaller than I would have liked, and there isn't a big bath tub where I can have my knees and my boobs under water at the same time... but it's TOTALLY doable. And the layout is practical. The other problem was the master closet - it has sliding mirrored doors, and it's only one closet. Well - when I opened it up yesterday it was waaaaay deeper than I remembered. So it's not really technically a "walk in"... but you totally can walk in it.

So, that was pretty awesome.

I think my favorite part of the house - as silly as this is - is the hallway closet turned mini-office. I have ALWAYS wanted to do something like that, and I am really excited that I can do that in this house. It's right off the kitchen... it's perfect. Thats one of the big reasons I think I haven't been blogging as much - because my computer is shoved in the back room of the house and I'm never back here. I can't wait to decorate it. Sorry Husband - it's going to be girly. Not TOO girly... but pretty girly.

We're going to make an offer.

I'm nervous.

I know they probably won't accept the first offer - and I'm prepared for that. In fact, we already have our second offer all planned out. I've posted photos of the house... they really don't do it justice. I didn't even care to SEE this house from the pictures, but Husband wanted to check it out. I knew there was a reason I married this guy... :-)

I'll post more pictures if we actually GET the house.... keep your fingers crossed!!!!!

Surprising!

2011-07-10T18:31:00.000-05:00

So remember how I was kind of dreading house hunting? Maybe that's the key.

I think we found a house.

The first three houses we went in were... interesting. The first one was SO SMOKEY we could hardly stand to be inside. Which could be fixed... but the house wasn't that special. The second was HUGE... but so totally awkward. I think that they added on to the house like four different times. The third was GROSS... like nasty.

The fourth...

OMG the fourth.

It felt like home walking to the front door. When we walked in, even the realtor was like "oh my gosh"... it is AWESOME. Of course there are a few things that it doesn't have that I wanted... the master closet is not great, and it has a small master bath... but it has EVERYTHING else on our list. Plus... a HUGE storm shelter, huge closets in the spare rooms, a hallway closet turned mini-office (which is something I have always wanted)... it's awesome.

Husband is the reasonable one... and so while I was mentally putting our furniture in each room and deciding what color to paint the walls... I knew that it would take a while before he was on board.

I was wrong.

When we got home, he said that he wanted to make an offer.

HOLY CRAP.

So.......... our realtor is going to do some research and help us come up with a decent offer early this week. We're going to go see it again maybe on Tuesday after work... and then we are going to make an offer.

On a house.

To own.

AAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

House Hunting

2011-07-09T09:34:00.000-05:00

I'm gonna go ahead and put this out there - house hunting sucks. I mean it's fun to look online, and even funner to go into actual houses... but it sucks. We are really in a great position - our lease is month to month, so we can look as long as we want to until the perfect little place comes along. But honestly that makes it harder because we are so much pickier. But whatever - we are going to look today and I'm excited and dreading it all at the same time.

Plus, the past FOUR houses we have been QUITE interested in have immediately become unavailable as soon as we talk to the realtor. The fabulous kitchen one I posted about a few months ago - off the market. The adorable cottage-style one we went to during an open house... sold in like two weeks. There was this one Husband found online with a reading nook and fireplace in the master suite.... sold. Most recently there was one in a great part of town with a BASEMENT... gone.

So there is a little pressure.

What makes it worse... PINTEREST. Holy crap that's my new obsession. Like, bigtime.

I have found so many cute ideas for decorating and organizing and ooooohmygosh I can't wait to move and decorate and paint and AH!

There are so many projects I want to do now... like this one...

And this one...

(Firestone Vineyard wine bottles! I've been to there!!) There are so so so many more. It's incredible how creative and crafty internet strangers are. Thank you, strangers, for all the ideas. :-)

Something I think I may do to keep myself occupied is this:

Obviously in a more "us" color scheme... but this is scrapbook paper and styrofoam. I may pop over to good 'ol Hobby Lobby today and check out the paper they have... and I may just put something like this together for our living room. It's not too expensive, and seems easy enough... and it would be a fun project for the weekend. I would need to buy a table though... meh... I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Anyways - I'm off to get dressed to go see some HOUSES! And and and and... tonight we are going to grill out with K&T and the babies. Again, thanks to pinterest, I think I am going to make these little appetizers for the boys...

Apple slices... peanut butter... mini marshmallows. WIN.

Unpopular Opinion...

2011-07-05T20:34:00.000-05:00

This post may make me unpopular. Oh well.

I am pleased with the results of the Casey Anthony trial.

I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW... it's awful. Honestly - I think she probably did it. If she didn't murder her... she probably knows how she died. And what she did or her dad did or WHATEVER to "cover it up". I wish there was evidence. But there wasn't. Nothing solid. Nothing that PROVED that she did it. They couldn't even prove how Caylee died!! All they could prove was that Casey Anthony was a liar. And she was found guilty on all of those counts.

Facebook exploded with people freaking out about how "flawed" the judicial system is. Um... I disagree 1000000% with that statament. I think the verdict in this trial showed that we have a pretty damn good judicial system (for the most part). The fact is that this case was extremely emotional - and the jury selected was able to put emotion away, and look at the FACTS. Doesn't matter if you feel like she did it. What matters is can you prove it? If she was convicted, then that would have shown flaws in the system. There was no SOLID evidence. Casey Anthony had a fair trial.

Plus, you have to remember that the jury didn't see any media surrounding the trial. They didn't hear the same things we heard. They only heard what was said in the courtroom. The law is the law and they followed it. I don't envy them... that had to be a hard hard hard thing to do.

Let's all remember that Caylee is with Jesus, where she should be. Now let us let the media storm die down and move on with life - Casey won't have some great life now that she was found "not guilty" - and all of our bitching and moaning won't bring Caylee back.

I do think she did it though. I just wish that the prosecution could have proven it. But there wasn't any evidence, and so that's that.

MOVING ON...

Going home for the 4th was a blast. I really miss my family. I wish I could pick them all up and move them out here, along with our friends. But I can't. So oh well.

Now for pictures...

SWEET TEA VODKA... BUT SKINNY... AND WITH STEVIA!!! Usually the low cal stuff is made with aspertame and sucralose and I can't have either of those things... but STEVIA! I can have that!!!! This was so dang good I am kicking myself for not taking the bottle home with me. Splash of this with some lemonade... holy moly. Happy Birthday Amurica.

Husband and Hula after we got home.

AND AND AND here is a picture of the freaking sweeeet coffee mug I got at Sam Moon when I was home. I have been wanting one of these for forever but just haven't gotten one. I love it and now I want more of them. PLUS I CAN WASH IT IN THE DISHWASHER WHICH MAKES IT EVEN MORE AWESOME.

Did You Know...

2011-07-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

Recycling one glass jar saves enough energy to watch TV for 3 hours.

Lightning strikes about 6,000 times per minute on this planet.

Owls are the only birds who can see the color blue.

The average American drinks about 600 sodas a year.

It's against the law to slam your car door in Switzerland.

There wasn't a single pony in the Pony Express, just horses.

Honeybees have hair on their eyes.

A jellyfish is 95 percent water.

In Bangladesh, kids as young as 15 can be jailed for cheating on their finals.

A company in Taiwan makes dinnerware out of wheat, so you can eat your plate.

The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump.

The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

Q is the only letter in the alphabet that does not appear in the name of any of the United States.

America once issued a 5-cent bill.

You'll eat about 35,000 cookies in your lifetime.

Babe Ruth wore a cabbage leaf under his cap to keep him cool. He changed it every 2 innings.

Fortune cookies were actually invented in America, in 1918, by Charles Jung.

A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue.

Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

The pitches that Babe Ruth hit for his last-ever homerun and that Joe DiMaggio hit for his first-ever homerun where thrown by the same man.

Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.

The praying mantis is the only insect that can turn its head.

In Tokyo, they sell toupees for dogs.

There are over 52.6 million dogs in the U.S.

Dogs and cats consume almost $7 billion worth of pet food a year.

Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms every day.

The Pentagon has twice as many restrooms as necessary. When it was built, segregation was still in place in Virginia, so separate restrooms for blacks and whites were required by law.

In England, in the 1880's, "Pants" was considered a dirty word.

Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.

In 2003, there were 86 days of below-freezing weather in Hell, Michigan.

(Source)

Going Back

2011-07-03T09:50:00.000-05:00

So... I think I'm going to go back to the way I used to blog. I will probably still post random stuff like I have been posting - just not an every day thing. I really haven't had much to write about - or time to write about it - but I realized the other day that I haven't really written anything recently. I'm not trying to become some blog superstar with sponsors and giveaways and stuff like that... I just miss actually "blogging" about my life.

Today I will be blogging about how I am ready to delete my Facebook.

Anywhoo - we're home. It's nice. Here are two pictures I took of Hula on the car ride.

Yes. She is sleeping UNDER the pillow that is on the carseat.

Yes. We have a carseat for our dog.

It's been nice being home. Yesterday I went shopping with Catherine, then she brought the baby over to swim, then we had a dinner party. What was even more awesome - my friend Lee came to town with his wife! (Who just happens to be the sister of my freshman roommate who just moved to town. Lots of connections.) - Anyways - Lee and I were attached at the hip in college. I called him my husband - because we both had significant others living in other cities - and we hung out all the time - and people thought we were dating but we weren't... and he was just my college husband. That's the way it was.

SO. Last night I took this picture and posted it on Facebook.

A few hours later... I get a Facebook notification. "KW has commented on your photo".

KW is the KW that I used to work for - the one who I thought was a good friend - the one that screwed me over in college and then again a few months ago. On the list of people who have hurt me - she is probably number one. I've been working a lot on letting it go and moving on, but I'm still pretty hurt about the whole situation. Not to mention the other night her significant other brought us all dinner when we were unpacking Katie and her family... and she didn't come. (Yeah, Katie is working for KWs girlfriend - seriously, lots of connections in my group of people)

So I'm quite surprised. Naturally.

Then I read the comment.

"Are you in lbk lee?"

SERIOUSLY?

She doesn't give me the time of day, doesn't talk to me, avoids me at all costs... and then goes and comments on a picture I posted to get in touch with someone else. I know that this is all cyberdrama and all in my head and stupid and childish and WHATEVER. But I went to her page and unfreinded her. Which is what I should have done the day I got "let go" and she was nowhere to be found. I know it's stupid and that may have been petty and mean of me but whatever. I don't want her in my life and I don't want her seeing anything about my life... and whenever her name pops up when I'm checking my facebook it just brings everything right back up and it's unhealthy and I need to move on.

So yeah, I unfriended her.

And honestly it feels good.

And honestly I kind of just want to delete my facebook and move on with life. But really I think a good cleansing is in order. And I need to let go of the fact that I think I'll "hurt peoples feelings" if I unfriend them because really I am not that important to the random sorority sisters and classmates from college. Who cares. I don't. Plus, I've gone through and realized that I was unfriended by people and I really didn't care.

I do see a serious facebook cleanse in my near future though.

Man oh man

2011-06-30T17:47:00.001-05:00

Man...

Sorry I've been neglecting the blog. I don't mean to do it, it just happens. Things are starting to get pretty routine around here, which is a good thing! I like it when my weeks aren't full of surprises. I still love my job, still have a LOT to learn... some days are really busy and then some days (like today) are really quiet. I really only have one guy out of the four who is using me... but two of them are on vacation, and the other one is so nervous about monopolizing my time he hasn't sent much my way.

I'll get em all trained though. :-)

I am so excited - my roommate from my freshman year of college just moved back to Lubbock!! She has an awesome husband and two ADORABLE kids. We went over to help them move in last night, but the moving truck got stuck in Dallas...... so we just hung out and had a pizza picnic on the kitchen floor. Husband and I ended up going back to our place, grabbing our lawn chairs and one of our little TVs and took stuff over there. While I did have a blast with the 3 year old in the back yard hunting for bird feathers, I'm sure getting to sit down and watch Mickey Mouse Club was just as fun. Especially for Mom. LOL...

I think we are going to head back over there this evening to help them actually MOVE. Hopefully the truck will get here today! Those poor guys - they had quite the adventure getting out here. I'm so so so so so excited that they are here though - now I have kids to take to the kid movies I want to see... and reasons to go to Caboose and GattiLand.

So... my blog may be quiet for a little while - I'm gonna focus on work and house hunting and all that fun jazz. But I'll still be around... :-)

Stuff I Love: ExerciseTV

2011-06-29T08:00:00.000-05:00

Words cannot express my love for ExerciseTV.

It's free.

It's pretty easy.

And it keeps me moving.

I'm trying to get back on the wagon with daily exercise - I felt so much better when I was working out every single day... but most of the exercising I had been doing was intense. Too intense. Like, to the point where I completely lost it and got totally burned out.

I love this website / Samsung app / DVDs.

The routines are pretty simple, pretty easy, and get me moving. The trainers aren't annoying... and while it isn't a crazy workout... it gets me off the couch. On days where I don't feel like doing anything - I do one of these 20 minute little routines, burn a few calories, and move on with life feeling good about myself!

Stephanie is my favorite. The perfect 10 workout is fun and pretty simple and a decent workout.

And I feel it the next day - so that makes it a winner.

Did You Know...

2011-06-28T08:00:00.006-05:00

Ancient Egyptians slept on pillows made of stone.

A hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit a 4 foot tall child inside.

A quarter has 119 grooves on its edge, a dime has one less groove.

A hummingbird weighs less than a penny.

Until 1796, there was a state in the United States called Franklin. Today it is known as Tennessee.

The flashing warning light on the cylindrical Capitol Records tower spells out HOLLYWOOD in Morse code.

Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.

The average person has over 1,460 dreams a year.

One in every 4 Americans has appeared on television.

The average American will eat about 11.9 pounds of cereal per year.

Over 1,000 birds a year die from smashing into windows.

The State of Florida is bigger than England.

Ants stretch when they wake up in the morning.

It's against the law to have a pet dog in Iceland.

Thomas Edison, light bulb inventor, was afraid of the dark.

During your lifetime, you'll eat about 60,000 pounds of food. That's the weight of about 6 elephants.

Some ribbon worms will eat themselves if they can't find any food.

Dolphins sleep with one eye open.

The world's oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old.

In space, astronauts cannot cry, because there is no gravity, so the tears can't flow.

About 3000 years ago, most Egyptians died by the time they were 30.

More people use blue toothbrushes than red ones.

A sneeze travels out your mouth at over 100 m.p.h.

Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, every time you breathe.

In the White House, there are 13,092 knives, forks and spoons.

Slugs have 4 noses.

(Source)

Well Hello

2011-06-25T08:00:00.014-05:00

Yeaaaah, it's been a while since I have posted. I just haven't had the time to sit down and write really... I have a huge list of stuff I want to put on here, just haven't done it yet.

Work is going great, I'm finally to the point where I am doing stuff during the day so I don't feel completely useless. Pretty sweet.

Big news- we joined a church! Finally! After a year of searching, and most of that year visiting the same church, we became official members on Sunday. Husband is going to get baptized too, which is REALLY awesome.

Other than that I've got nothin. Please excuse the blog for the next few days... hopefully I'll get my act together but who knows. May be quiet over here for a little while...

Yeah and I changed the blog layout up. I don't like it. I'm so bored with my blog right now - I need to do something to breathe some new life into it!

Stuff I Love: Barrel Box Wine

2011-06-24T08:00:00.010-05:00

I'm going to start a new little "series" on this blog. Stuff I Love.

Episode #1: Barrel Box Wine

Take what you think about boxed wine and toss it out the window. This stuff doesn't suck. I'm not going so far as to say its "great"... but it's pretty dang good for boxed wine. Sometimes at the end of the day I just want a glass of red wine. (Well, sometimes is a stretch. Let's say "mosttimes")

I'm actually drinking a glass while I write this post...

This stuff is great for that. It's at Sam's for TEN BUCKS. For serious. Last time we went on a Sam's trip, we got three boxes.

DON'T JUDGE.

I really love wine.

So, if you also love wine... do yourself a favor and pick up one of these boxes next time you're at Sam's Club.

LOVE IT.

Twilight

2011-06-23T08:00:00.004-05:00

I love Twilight. Not gonna lie. This is pretty funny though...

Did You Know...

2011-06-22T08:00:00.010-05:00

Antarctica is the only continent without reptiles or snakes.

An eagle can kill a young deer and fly away with it.

In the Caribbean there are oysters that can climb trees.

Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.

When George Lucas was mixing the American Graffiti soundtrack, he numbered the reels of film starting with an R and numbered the dialog starting with a D. Sound designer Walter Murch asked George for Reel 2, Dialog 2 by saying "R2D2". George liked the way that sounded so much he integrated that into another project he was working on.

The youngest pope was 11 years old.

Mark Twain didn't graduate from elementary school.

Proportional to their weight, men are stronger than horses.

Pilgrims ate popcorn at the first Thanksgiving dinner.

They have square watermelons in Japan - they stack better.

Iceland consumes more Coca-Cola per capita than any other nation.

Heinz Catsup leaving the bottle travels at 25 miles per year.

It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs.

Armadillos can be housebroken.

The first Fords had engines made by Dodge.

A mole can dig a tunnel 300 feet long in just one night.

Peanuts are one of the ingredients in dynamite.

(Source)

La la la la...

2011-06-21T08:00:00.009-05:00

Oh man. I'm exhausted!

I've been driving all over this great state for two weeks. Last week I went all the way out to Carlsbad... Then to Amarillo. Yesterday I went to San Angelo. (mind you, these trips are all during the day... Out there in the morning, back that evening!)

Today is my first day of going into the office and just doing work. I'm either going to be overrun with stuff I still am not quite sure how to do - or I will be bored to tears. One thing is certain though - we are going to have to have some type of formal meeting where it is decided and told to others what my job actually will be. Everybody has a different idea. I've been introduced as a "secretary" one too many times. Not that there is anything wrong with being a secretary - but that's not what I am.

It's pretty cool, I'm getting some big ideas of what I can do with this position. Hopefully I'll be able to move it in that direction - I know that if I can, then I can make a huge difference for those guys. It's just still a question of if they are willing to change the way they do things... Which may be pretty hard. These guys have been doing what they do for yeeeeeears, and they are the best at it, and they probably aren't really thinking they will change anything. Ah, oh well.

Stuff other than work is good too - I've been cooking a lot of new stuff... Made this pork recipe the other night that sounded gross but was actually really good. I've been wanting to post more recipes and stuff like that, but I don't remember that I want to do that until I'm way past dinner.

I DO think I need to throw together a "what I'm drinking" post - because holy crap we have been spoiling ourselves with wine recently. I had the best bottle of wine of my LIFE last Sunday.

Ok... Time to make some breakfast and get to work!!

You've Changed...

2011-06-20T08:00:00.000-05:00