Where has my life gone?

4 Months Old!

2006-09-20T08:25:00.000-05:00

These pics were taken the day Ollie turned 4 months old. He is growing so fast. He is 31lbs now.

Ollie Gator

2006-08-21T08:18:00.000-05:00

Can he get any cuter?

2006-08-11T09:08:00.000-05:00

More Pictures of Ollie

2006-07-13T12:07:00.000-05:00

Meet Ollie

2006-07-07T12:26:00.000-05:00

Hi. Hello. It's Me.

2006-03-16T09:12:00.000-05:00

You know - the world's worst blogger.

How is it that I can faithfully read other people's blogs EVERY DAY, but I can not seem to update my own blog on any kind of a regular basis? I suck at this ya'll.

Kumquat festival came and went. You can visit the website here. Not the greatest website in the world - but a new one is being worked on.

I Co-Chaired Dade City's first Motorcycle festival just a few weeks ago. You can visit the website here. Pictures of the actual event should be up soon.

Other than volunteering, event planning and work I have been filling my time with shoe shopping. I don't care how much my day sucks - a new pair of shoes always makes me feel better!

Tuesday night I went to see Nickelback in concert. I heart Nickelback. It was a great show. Trappt and Chevelle opened. Plus Nickelback ended with my favorite song Rockstar.

All in all it was an awesome evening - BUT - why do great concerts take place in the middle of the week? I didn't get home until 1am and then I was draggin ass all day yesterday.

Middle of the week concerts should be saved for people like James Taylor and Liza Minelli. I need my concerts to be on days that precede a day off from work. I missed a lot of beauty sleep that night.

So - I may have been neglecting my blog lately - but at least I have a few reasons.

Kumquat Day. My Favorite Holiday.

2006-01-20T13:18:00.000-05:00

Finally the moment you have all been waiting for.................. Kumquat Season.

Well it officially started on November 15th. But the Festival is Saturday Jan. 28th.

This is my favorite time of the year ya'll. I love Kumquats.

They are so cute. And tiny. And orange. And you eat them skin and all.

I know you are all sitting at your computers saying "Kumquat" out loud and snickering to yourselves right now. I still laugh when I say it sometimes. But damn if I haven't become infatuated with the little fruit.

Kumquat Jelly, Kumquat Bread, Kumquat Pie, Kumquat Ice Cream, Kumquat Milk Shakes, I can keep going.

What? You have never heard of a Kumquat?

Well I live in the Kumquat Capital. And every year we celebrate with a huge festival centered around the little fruit. And a cook-off, and a beauty pageant, and so much more!

Go here to read more about Kumquats. You can even have some shipped to you so that you do not miss out on Kumquat Season. Just be sure you eat it skin and all. The skin is the best part.

Here is my excuse.

2006-01-18T11:32:00.000-05:00

I haven't updated my blog in over a month because I just didn't feel like writing. I think I am probably the worlds worst blogger.

Here s a quick recap to get you caught up on what happened in the last month and then I will proceed with semi-regular blogging again.

1st Week of December - involved lots of work to catch up from time spent on vacation in November. I went to Gatlinburg. It was cold, I did lots of shopping. It was fantastic. Started not sleeping very well.

2nd Week of December - Spent stressing over the fact that, I the queen of early Xmas shopping, still had not started shopping yet. This was a very sad time for me. 2nd week of not sleeping very well.

3rd Week of December - I took the whole damn week off. I went shopping. And then I went shopping again. I had lunch w/friends and exchanged presents. The I had breakfast w/friends and exchanged presents. Then I did some more shopping. 3rd week - now to the point where I am not sleeping at all.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - Both were spent shuffling between my family and Mark's family. I finally could stop stressing over Xmas shopping and start stressing over Family. Did I mention that I am not sleeping at this point? It was a rough two days - they involved lots of wine.

Week between Xmas and New Years Eve is a huge blur. Finally made it to the doctors to discuss my Not Sleeping. He gave me a sleep medicine. It didn't work. It made me wired and made it even harder to sleep.

New Years Eve - Annual Party at our House. It was great. It involved lots of food and Liquor. We started at about 2pm and ended at 4am.

New Years Day - Shhhh. My head hurts. Why is the sun so bright today? What is that sticky stuff on my kitchen floor? Must go back to sleep.

January 2nd - 18th - Preparing for the Kumquat Festival. For those who do not know what a Kumquat is...........you will have to wait until my next post. Which is coming very soon. promise. Kumquats are one of my favorite things in the whole world. The Kumquat Festival is something I look forward to all year long!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, somewhere in here I went back to the Doctors and got another new medicine. It makes me sleep. Wooohooo. Sleep. Surprisingly once I started sleeping again I A) Became less cranky B) People started wanting to spend time with me again C) I regained the will to do things, like blogging and combing my hair.

This is me taking the easy way out.

2005-12-01T08:17:00.000-05:00

Laurie Tagged the world - so I am going to take advantage of the tag and do an easy post today! Hey - don't knock it. At least it is a new post!

TEN random things you might not know about me.
1: I am really good with numbers. Not the Math kind of numbers, but with remembering numbers - like phone numbers, prices, etc.
2:I worry, a lot, about everything and anything.
3: I was on a team that placed 2nd in the National FFA Meat Judging Contest.
4: I am in love with Michael Buble.(How do I get the accent mark in there?)
5: I love to play violent video games. My current favorite is Manhunt.
6: Every year for the past 5 years I have judged the Steer Record Books for the County Fair.
7: I love cooking magazines.
8: I like to cook but hate to bake.
9: I love BLT's for breakfast.
10: I always carry chapstick on me.

NINE places I've visited.
1: Toronto
2: North Carolina
3: Maine
4: Kansas
5: Missouri
6: SanFranciscoo
7: Chicago
8: New York
9: Tennessee. A handful of other states - seeing a pattern here? I need to do some foreign travel.

EIGHT ways to win my heart
1: Cook for me.
2: Help me clean the house.
3: Wash the dogs.
4: Hold my hand.
5: Buy me a new book.
6: Take me on vacation.
7: Surprise me.
8: Snuggle with me.

SEVEN things I want to do before I die
1: Get married.
2: Travel more.
3: Buy a brand new car.
4: Go to Vegas and blow a wad of money.
5: Take cooking classes.
6: Own my ownrestaurantt.
7: Finish College.

SIX things IÂm afraid of.
1: Heights.
2: Spiders.
3: Being alone.
4: Having my heart broken.
5: Loosing my job.
6: Debt.

FIVE things I don't like
1: Cheaters.
2: Milk.
3: People with no morals.
4: Liars.
5: Smoking.

FOUR ways to turn me off
1: Don't hold up your end of the deal.
2: Don'apologizeze.
3: Have no goals.
4: Be afraid to try new things.

THREE Things I do everyday
1: Shower. Twice.
2: Balance my check book.
3: Drink Sweet Tea.

TWO things that make me happy
1: My dogs.
2: Time spent with Mark.

ONE thing on my mind right now
1: Dreaming of another vacation.

Whew. I made it.

2005-11-30T12:40:00.000-05:00

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated ya'll. But I have been busy.

I made it through the fundraiser. See below for pictures. The theme was "The Queen of Hearts". Notice I am missing from all of the pictures. 2 reasons for this. 1) I hate having my picture taken. 2) I was too damn busy to stay still long enough to have my picture taken!

And away I go!

Right after the fundraiser Mark and I went on vacation to Gatlinburg with the dogs for Thanksgiving. It was nice. It was cold. The dogs had a good time, they got to play in the snow. I got to get drunk in the Ski Lodge while watching the Gators kick the Noles ass. It was a very satisfying vacation. Pictures to come soon.

It's all so new

2005-11-14T13:29:00.000-05:00

This was a busy home project weekend.

Our new French Doors are mostly installed. It took help form Mark's Dad, some cursing and a few trips to Lowes. They are in ad functioning but now our walls are in need of some dry wall touch up and some trim. Pictures to come soon.*

Our Iron Filter was installed on Saturday. For those who do not have well water, an Iron Filter stops everything in your house from becoming rust colored. I am so happy that the filter is in! No more orange toilet bowls!

Our new Couch was delivered this morning. This is a milestone as it is the first piece of new furniture we have ever purchased. For the past 6 years we have been swapping out our used furniture for newer used furniture. It is so nice to actually have something brand new. I can't wait to get home and try it. Pictures to come soon.*

*I say soon, but let's be honest here - don't hold your breath ya'll. The fund-raiser that is making my life busier than need be is this Saturday. So I am guessing that you will not be seeing pictures until after that.

Today's Date is What??

2005-11-10T09:33:00.000-05:00

How in the heck is it 11/10/05 already? I am not ready for it to be almost Mid-November! Crap.

I haven't posted in so long because I have been busy. So busy that I have been starting my work day at 7am-ish and not ending until way later than I care to be still working. Ya'll I normally don't even get out of bed until 7am-ish. This sucks.

It's so soft
I finally finished my first knitting project. My scarf is pink, soft and perfect.(Just don't look to close). I promise I will have pictures soon.

All in a days work
Ok, my work days have been longer than they have been in the past due to the fact that my customers won't stop calling and asking for things.

Work bought me a Blackberry and at first I was excited that it would make my life easier. Basically though - all it does is allow work to follow me everywhere I go 24/7. I may accidentally drop it in the toilet or something. Whooooosh. All my problems slowly drain away! With my luck though it would just back everything up and I would have to call the plumber.

Weekend = Work
Last weekend I spent my days preparing for the upcoming fund-raiser that I chair. This weekend I have to work at my house all weekend. We are ripping out the sliding glass doors and installing the new French Doors that we bought. Then we have to move our old couch out and clean the carpets in the living room because our new couch is coming on Monday. And this weekend our new Iron Filter is being delivered and installed.

Oh yeah, Mark also has his end of term project due and I said I would help with it. And his Bday is Wed. Night and his parents want to celebrate it on Saturday...........

You know what - typing all of the crap out that I have to do between Today and the Fund-Raiser next Saturday is just making me have a small panic attack. So let's talk about something else.

Mathew McConaughey. I think that is a good thought to leave on.

Ribbed for my pleasure.

2005-10-25T09:19:00.000-05:00

As I have mentioned numerous times before, purling has been a huge problem for me. This is mostly because I am teaching myself to knit from a book and the directions for purling made no sense to me what-so-ever. So I have just been knitting my scarf in knit stitch and I have been happy. Except for that little voice in the back of my head that kept telling me I was not a real knitter because I can't purl.

So last knit I opened my copy of Stitch n Bitch, flipped to the purl section, and it just looked so easy. I actually thought to myself, "Dumbass, this doesn't look hard". So I picked up the new needles CAP sent me grabbed my cheap practice yarn.......and did it on the first try! Ya'll I knit and purled a stockinette swatch. It was one of the proudest moments in my life.

But oh no I didn't stop there. Mostly because the swatch kept curling up. So I read a little further ahead in Stitch n Bitch and learned that to stop the curling I must learn to rib. So I started a new swatch with 2x2 ribbing.

Ya'll. They are right. Ribbing is for her pleasure. If I thought that purling made me happy you should have seen the look of complete satisfaction on my face when I was done ribbing.

Knitting before Nine Inch Nails

2005-10-24T13:25:00.000-05:00

When my friends arrived at my house on Saturday to head out to the Nine Inch Nails Concert, I was knitting. And then there was much laughing at me for knitting before going to a Nine Inch Nails concert. Whatever. One day I will knit a fabulous black goth scarf and I will be the trendiest one in a hand knit scarf at a Nine Inch Nails Concert! Ha.

Concert was awesome. Trent is looking a bit chubby but still HOT. Mark was soooooo drunk. He was playing air guitar and yelling "Rock out with your cock out". He was funny, and he paid dearly for it the next day!

Knitting is going so well. I am almost done with my first scarf. Of course it is all done in knit stitch since I have yet to learn purl. But who cares, it is soft, pink and I made it all by myself.

These are pics from a while ago - I have made much progress since then. As soon as it is done I will post pics of me modeling my first finished project! Damn I am excited!

I'm It!

2005-10-20T05:00:00.000-05:00

That is what one is when they get tagged. It, right?

In return I am tagging, Drew and Chase.

Jennifer tagged me to come up with five idiosyncrasies I have. If ya'll know me, it is going to be hard to whittle it down to just 5. But here are some of the best. Or is it worst?

1) I smell everything before it goes into my mouth. Everything. And I think that is enough on that subject.

2) I collect Food Magazines. And most of the time I never make anything in them because I do not have time. But I still buy them and keep them in hopes that one day I will have time to go back, re-read them, find cool recipes and try them out. Someday. In the mean time, they just collect dust.

3) I love clutter. I pile things. I can not stand to see a clear surface. Must have piles. I feel better when things are a mess. I am not sure what this says about me.

4) I clip coupons. I clip them - but then I never use them. Never. I even put them into this cute little organizer and every week when I clip the new ones I go through and pull out the expired ones. I think just the act of clipping them makes me feel thrifty. Now if I could just actually get myself to use them.

5) I can not stand to sleep facing someone. I can not sleep if Mark and I are facing each other. I do not want to breathe in his out. I mean I want fresh air. I don't want to breath in the air that just circulated through his lungs. Ick. Back to Face & Back to Back are perfectly acceptable as these positions provide plenty of clean breathing air.

Good Gawd. I am nuts ya'll. Why does it always seem so much worse when you put it down in writing?

CAP sends some Birthday Joy.

2005-10-19T08:55:00.000-05:00

CAP recently sent me a box full of birthday goodness. I can't even begin to tell you how much fun it was to go through the box and discover all of the wonderful things she had filled the box with. But don't worry, you too can share in the fun, because I took pictures!

Knitting stuff. She sent me real knitting stuff! Stuff that I have no idea how to use! But it is cool and wonderful and one day I will be a real knitter and I will use it all! I LOVE that the tape measurer comes out of the camel's butt.

And the first thing I did when I saw the yarn - I smelled it. It smelled like, well yarn.

Now if I could only learn to purl I could be a real knitter! I am knitting a scarf though, come back tomorrow for pics of my knitting project!

CAP remembered my fur babies! She sent Abbey and Opie toys and treats. They loved the toys. By the way CAP, I read the fur babies the stories that came on the tags, they love to have stories read to them.

The treats came with an apology note. It seems that Bob had attempted to pre-chew the Greenies for Abbey and Opie. But not to worry, they enjoyed them just the same.

If you look closely in the picture you can see all of the little teeth holes in the bag, Bob is just too cute.

And what would a package from CAP be without some Voodoo. Mark threatened to put my name on the Shut Up Candle! He better watch out now that I have a source for getting voodoo.

Lots of thanks to CAP, I loved it all. And sadly, the CD you proclaimed was full of lots of cheesy music, it contained some of my favorite songs.

The goodies, The Tag, and eventually a new post

2005-10-14T08:03:00.000-05:00

Ya'll - I have had an awesome sales month at work - which means that I have been beyond busy. But I have all sorts of things to post about. The only problem? Today is a much deserved day off for me - and so is Monday. So - you are getting quick comments about things, with much more details to come very soon(well at least after Monday!)

The Goodies
Laurie, the BDay package brightened my day! I LOVED it. So did the dogs. I have pictures and details of the Birthday Package fun to come soon!

The Tag
Jennifer - I saw your Tag and I really want to answer it - and I will soon - I promise!

Coming Soon.............
Lots and Lots of Pictures, discussion of my love for my Blender, Answers to a Tag, Discussion of upcoming event I am chairing - and so much more. Stay Tuned!

Just call me wishy washy.

2005-10-06T14:11:00.000-05:00

I used to hate Flip Flops. I hated the sound they made when you walked. I hated the thing between my toes. I hated them.

Then for my Birthday my mom took me shopping and I fell in love with a green sparkly pair. I tried them on and the thing between my toes wasn't so bad. I bought them and have been wearing them as much as possible since.

I loved them so much that I bought a pink pair. And then a purple pair. And now I am on a quest for a perfect black, brown and orange pair.

Damn they are comfortable. And so cute. And on the plus side - they are very affordable - which is great - more shoes for less!

And speaking of wishy washy - I did more laundry last night than I have in weeks. Now if only I could find someone to fold it all and put it away.

Burned Out.

2005-10-05T08:37:00.000-05:00

I am feeling so burned out. Let me count the ways.........

Do I have to work for a living?
Blech. I have never felt so unmotivated in my life. Thankfully sales seem to be falling into my lap this month, which is good, because I just can't seem to accomplish anything.

Why do I do all of this work for no pay?
AKA - I volunteer, yet again.
Holy crap ya'll. Only 6 weeks left until the Big Fundraiser that I am chairing! It is coming up fast. Thankfully I have much more committee help this year than I did last year. I am on a roll though. Invitations are out, tickets have been sold already, decorations committee is moving along nicely, caterers are booked. Woohooo - this is my favorite party/event of the year! I think I will have to do an entire post to cover all of the details! Plus on top of this I am helping to establish a new event here in our teeny tiny town - more details to come soon!

The part where I would make a horrible housewife.
Oh. My. Gawd. The laundry, out of control ya'll. All my volunteering, doesn't leave much time for cleaning the home. If I don't clean soon, Mark may move out. Actually it may be easier to move than to clean now that I think about it. By the time I get home I am so damn exhausted that I don't even want to think about cleaning. Of course no cleaning will be done tonight because....................LOST IS ON!!!!!!!!!

Down the hatch we go!
Well we better damn well go down the hatch tonight. If we don't get more hatch answers I am going to be very, very disappointed!

PS - I have a new obsession. Check it out.

Two months and counting.......

2005-09-28T13:22:00.000-05:00

HA - I spelled out two. Certain people are always getting onto me that when writing any number under 10 it should be spelled out. See I do retain important information occasionally.

As for the title........Two months left until the end of Hurricane Season. I hope that the last two months are quiet and we so no more destruction. I just can not take watching CNN cover any more Hurricane ravaged towns. It sucks ya'll.

Of course I read the other day that October is the most likely month of Hurricane Season for the Tampa Bay area to be hit by a Hurricane. But I am keeping my fingers crossed and practicing my Voodoo Hurricane dance in hopes that it will keep them away from here.

I am thankful that thus far my area of FL has not seen any Hurricane activity this year. By this time last year I had been glanced by three Hurricanes and been without power for 10 days. And that was just from a glance - I am not sure I could handle a full on Hurricane. I may have to evacuate to someplace else - like Canada.

Fall? I think we have fallen into Hell
Here it is, officially Fall, and hotter than Hell here. Crap, isn't Fall supposed to be brisk autumn air, pumpkins, hay rides, etc? If you tried to go on a hay ride here now, the hay would probably catch on fire. It is way too Hot to be looking at fall decorations and Christmas decorations.

You have got to be kidding
Yes, you heard me. Christmas Decorations. If you just read that and did not cringe and think "In September?" there is something seriously wrong with you. That means that Christmas decorations are out at least Five months of the year! Sept - Dec for Pre-Holiday buying and at least the month of January for Post-Holiday sales.

Five months of the year to buy decorations to essentially celebrate One Day in December! Madness I tell you - it is all Madness!

And by the way
DO NOT CALL ME AFTER 8PM TONIGHT. I can not stress this enough ya'll. I will be watching LOST and I am not to be disturbed at all. It is perfectly acceptable though to call me to discuss LOST first thing tomorrow. If this weeks episode is as great as last weeks episode - there will be lots to discuss!

Desmond! Is that you?

2005-09-22T12:41:00.000-05:00

Holy crap ya'll. LOST started off with a bang. And a lava lamp and some Mama Cass!

Before I go any further though. Who in the hell called me during LOST last night? Then they didn't even have the nerve to leave a message when I refused to answer the call. You better hope I never find out who you are.

Back to the hottest topic of the moment....Desmond.

Wow. I don't even know where to start. So many questions. Just Wow. It is not often that something throws me so well that I am not even sure what to say.

Believe you and me though - I will be glued to the TV next Wed!

You shamed me into posting.

2005-09-21T08:16:00.000-05:00

You know who you are. Go ahead, make fun of me.

But while you were heckling me - I was at home welcoming Mark home from a 2.5 week trip :) Nuff Said.

I am back at work now. And also not sleeping well again. Somehow I think the two are related. I slept fine up until the night before I had to come back to work. Now I am here, sleep deprived, and very, very grumpy.

But I do have some good news to report. I finally did it. I gave up Coke. No really. It has been over 2 weeks since I have had a Coke. And I have only had two glasses of Sweet Tea in those two weeks. The results............ 6, woohooooo, 6lbs lost!

And I owe it all to my little friend Coke Zero! No, it does not taste like Coke. But it also does not have the nasty after taste of Diet Coke. Sure, I am probably slowly killing myself with all of the chemicals, but maybe by the time it kills me I will be skinny. And that's all that matters!

I'm still here!

2005-09-08T08:51:00.000-05:00

I am buried beneath work and volunteer projects - but I am still alive! Sometimes I am not even sure what day it is.

Here is a quick run down. After this I am going to make more of an effort to get back on a regular posting schedule.

Hurricanes: I had to stop watching the news, I was crying way too much. The dogs, the babies, it was just too much for me to take. And now T.S. Ophelia is hanging out off of our coast and the forecasters have no idea where it is going. It has been stationary for a while now just building up strength. The good thing about Ophelia - it has made it slightly cooler here. For now - I am just going to pretend it does not exist.

Home: Umm, not home much. Mark is in Canada and the dogs are not speaking to me, they think I spend entirely too much time away from home. We ran out of dog cookies two days ago and I am afraid if I do not come home with more today the dogs may start eating me. My friend Molly has spent the last few nights with me because I live closer to work and gas is so expensive.

Work: Busy, busy. I think that may all I can say about it on blog without being fired. Ha.

Volunteer: I have so many projects going on right now. Antique Faire this Saturday, fundraiser for November, kumquat Festival in January, Chamber Mixer in December, Motorcycle Festival in February, and there is more but it escapes my mind at the moment. And some of this stuff seems far off, but the planning of these events takes forever. Basically you start planning for next years event the day after this years event takes place. It is a never ending planning session.

Knitting: Sadly my knitting is being neglected at the moment. This saddens me because I was so excited about finally learning the knit stitch. I wonder if it would be rude to knit while sitting in some of these planning sessions?

My first scarf.

2005-08-29T11:58:00.000-05:00

Finally, I am well on my way to knitting my first scarf. It is a pretty pink, chunky, soft yarn. I love it. I am so happy.

Of course the whole scarf is being knit with the knit stitch because I have yet to figure out how to purl.

I will take pics soon and put them up. Opie(my male Jack Russell) loves sweaters. He is insisting that I hurry up and learn to knit sweaters. He would like one that is brown and green.

I really did do it!

2005-08-24T12:07:00.000-05:00

I have figured out the knit stitch! I actually knitted about 5 rows last night. I am very pleased with myself at the moment.

mark thinks I am crazy for knitting when the heat index is 110. At least now I have a new hobby I can work on while I am hiding in my walk in closet because...........

There is another storm headed our way. We are getting into the busy part of Hurricane season now. Last year it seemed like there was a storm every weekend.

My next task - to learn to purl. And to double check my hurricane supplies.

I DID IT! I think.

2005-08-23T14:53:00.000-05:00

Well I think I learned the knit stitch. I think. Of course I have no one to tell me if I did it properly.

I have problems though. I think I knit too tight. It is very hard to slip my needles behind the stitches. And when I try to knit looser, my knitting falls off of the needles. Maybe I need different needles. Maybe I am just doing it all wrong. Who knows.

I also finally found a copy of Stitch n Bitch today. Can't wait until I have time to go home and read it.

Worlds Worst Blogger.

2005-08-19T08:10:00.000-05:00

I may officially be the worlds worst blogger. It has been forever since my last entry.

I have been busy ya'll. My life goes something like this: work, laundry, work, clean house, work, volunteer, work, shop, work, work, work.

Ha - did you notice that I did manage to throw some shopping in there? No matter how busy I am I walways seem to make time to shop.

Still not doing so swell with the knitting. Still stuck at only being able to cast on. But I will master the knit and purl one day. I will not give up.

Foot update - still something wrong with it - going back to Dr today. I am sick of this shit - it has not been a good year for me health wise.

Mark leaves for his two week vacation to Canada soon. Last year while he was gone we had three Hurricanes - I am currently employing all known forms of prayer, voodoo, finger crossing, etc in hopes that this year I do not have to endure Hurricanes and days on end without power while he is gone. Just to be on the safe side though we went through the whole "how to run the generator" lesson last night. I think he is satisfied that I can properly start and run it without blowing myself and the house up.

I have some funny stories from the Hurricanes last year - I will share them soon.

Evil Treadmill.

2005-08-09T14:07:00.000-05:00

So I hurt myself. Yet again. And once again I am not sure how I did it - but the Dr seems to think it may be from using my treadmill. Stupid treadmill - I knew it was evil!

My ankle had been bothering me for a few days. It didn't hurt so much as it was just uncomfortable and swollen. After staying off it as much as possible, wrapping and icing it - it wasn't looking any better.

So off to the Dr. I went to have it looked at and Xrays. Apparently I damaged the tendons/ligamnets(I can't remember which) in my ankle. It will be fine - it will just take some time to heal.

The Dr gave me crutches to use - that lasted all of a day. They are hard to use - and tiring. And it is like 10 Billion Degrees here - it is to hot to be putting forth that much of an effort. I was not very good at using them, I was very slow. Plus I am so klutzy there was a pretty good chance that I would break the other leg while trying to use the crutches. So, I just stayed off of it - and I am wearing the ankle brace.

Spreading the Birthday Love.

2005-08-03T19:56:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't written much lately. I have been busy celebrating my Birthday. This year I have managed to spread the Birthday out...way out. My actual Bday is August 2nd - but see the Birthday celebration schedule below.

Sunday 7/24 - Celebrated with Mark's family.

Monday 8/1 - Had lunch with Sean.

Tuesday 8/2 - Actual Bday. Took day off from work. Mark took me to my favorite local Italian restaurant, Papa Joe's.

Wednesday 8/3 - Spent entire day shopping with my mom, sister & nieces.

Thursday 8/4 - Co-workers taking me to lunch.

I am exhausted. Oh, and I have had two birthday cakes so far - I am on a major sugar high.

My Birthday by the numbers:
1...Pair of Sparkly Green Flip Flops
1...Birthday Dinner
2...New Shirts
2...Birthday Cakes
3...Birthday Lunches
4...Hours spent in the mall today
1 Million...Pounds gained while celebrating!

Water - I need Water

2005-07-28T13:33:00.000-05:00

I went to Sea World yesterday. The Heat Index was 110. It was sooooo HOT. I am still dehydrated today. I have never sweat so much in my entire life.

You would think that at a park full of water - you could find a way to cool off. But apparently they "frown upon" you trying to join the sea life in the water. Whatever. You get to spend your whole day watching sea life happily enjoying their nice cool water - while you stand in the sun and sweat enough to fill their tanks.

Haven't had much time to work on the knitting - I just keep casting on - taking it off - casting on - taking it off- you get the picture. Makes me feel like I am knitting until I can figure out how to actually knit and purl!

I am a knit wit.

2005-07-26T14:40:00.001-05:00

I am having a hard time following the directions. I need more time in my life to learn how to knit. Thank the Gods ya'll have recommeded lots of places for me to learn how to knit - because I can tell ya'll I am going to need it.

As for a LYS - we don't have any. I live in the middle of no where ya'll. I may have to venture into the big city to find a LYS. But then it wouldn't be a LYS now would it.

Wish me luck - if I turn up missing it is becuase I have tangled my self up in my ball of yarn in an attempt to actually knit it.

Did I mention I can Cast On?

To Knit.....or Knot.

2005-07-25T07:50:00.000-05:00

Laurie's happiness with knitting finally convinced me to try it again.

That and the fact that Target had a Knitting Kit on sale for $2 this weekend. And the knitting kit came with a Learn to Knit DVD. It was the wine bottle cozy kit. It comes with two colors of this fabulous fuzzy yarn - but more on that later.

So later that afternoon I sat down and put in the Learn to Knit DVD. Let's just say that I do not think this is the easiest way to learn to knit. I think I wore the DVD remote batteries out with all of the pausing and rewinding. It is very hard to learn from a DVD - everything is backwards.

But after 1/2 hour I had mastered Cast On. You heard me - I can Cast On like you wouldn't believe.

So then I tried to move on to the next section of the DVD - Knitting. It includes the English and Continental Methods. I tried this for 2 hours with disastrous results - and lots of knots. I just can not figure it out. I tried watching the DVD on slow motion and I even tried reading the little How To Knit booklet that came with the kit, but I just can not figure it out.

There are 3 problems I am having:
1) I think the furry yarn is not the best choice to learn to knit with. It makes it kind of hard to see the stitches. And it seems to knot very easily.

2)The DVD is very hard - because as I mentioned before everything is backwards.

3)The book is just beyond comprehension for me. I am so lost ya'll.

Mark was laughing at me and said his mom knows how to knit. So I asked her if she would help me - and she said yes - but that it would be difficult because - she is left handed. This is why I was never able to learn from my grandmother - she was left handed too.

Anyways I figure I will give it a shot - I am going to stop by Wal-Mart and buy some cheap non-fuzzy yarn to practice with. Then I will go to mark's mom's house and see if she can help me figure it out.

Wish me luck ya'll.

Buy Stock in deodorant

2005-07-22T14:37:00.000-05:00

Holy Crap it is HOT outside! Today's feels like temperature is 105. You heard me One Hundred and Fucking Five.

Blech.

I am beyond sweating at this point. My body is going to start shutting down at any moment now.

Of course I am working today - so you know I am not in the coolest clothes possible for this kind of weather.

I stopped at the Farm Stand to buy some veggies on my lunch break. The Farm Stand is owned by the G. Family- I went to school with all of their kids. Mr. G. lectured me this morning about the fact that I was wearing a black shirt. His words were "I know you were raised better than to be out here in this damn heat in a black shirt. " I can't even catch any slack at the Farm Stand.

This coming from the man who raised about a gazillion kids and encouraged them to throw fireworks at birds attacking his strawberry fields since they were old enough to walk.

I would pout that he lectured me like I was 5 years old - but damn those were some good peaches he sold me today.

It drowns out the voices

2005-07-20T08:23:00.000-05:00

Jenn was talking about how she doesn't have her summer soundtrack yet - and it got me to thinking. I always have a soundtrack running in my head.

It is typically about 5-6 songs that rotate through out the day. Some songs stick around for a few days - some only make it to noon. The selection varies and usually includes at least one catchy pop tune that they play non-stop on the radio. Last week it was Hollaback Girl.

So I thought I would add a new section over on the sidebar to share my daily soundtrack with you.

I mentioned my soundtrack to my mom once - she thought I was weird. Does anyone else have a daily soundtrack?

I don't worry much about mine - it helps drown out all of the voices.

This is me. Sobbing.

2005-07-18T14:25:00.000-05:00

The new Harry Potter book made me cry uncontrollably. It was awful, the crying, not the book.
So sad and yet so wonderful at the same time.

The tale begins........
With a friend and I eating and drinking at Chilis on Friday night. About 98% of dinner conversation revolved around the past 5 HP Books and our expectations for Book #6.

At 10:15ish we proceeded to go to the Wal-Mart Supercenter. Yes we were a little early - but we thought we could fill some of the time with some shopping(and a sundae at McDonalds). At 11:15 we got in line(about 25 people were already in line) to wait for the 12:01am distribution of Book #6.

We were entertained while in line by Wal-Mart employees: handing out Harry Potter glasses and popcorn, and quizzing people on the HP books. Those who won the quiz we rewarded with a Bobble Head Fluffy! I did not win one - but my friend did.

I noticed while standing in line that 98% of the people were over the age of 18. Now maybe it was the late hour that kept the little kids form coming out - but by the eager looks on the adults faces I am not so sure. I am pretty sure that the copies of book 6 that the kiddies got the next morning had already been read by their parents.

At 12:01am the books were rolled out and that is when the madness ensued. My God people are crazy for these books. There was nothing orderly or adult about the situation. People were pushing, shoving and being rude - all to get a book. My friend pushed her way in and came out tightly gripping our books. It was madness!

Then we had to stand in one of the two lines Wal_Mart had open to pay for it. But no one complained about the length of the lines - they were all too busy reading. I had at least 20 pages read by the time I had to pay.

On our way home I had to stop by my Mom's and drop her copy off and then I went home to read. I made it until 2am and had to give up and get some sleep. By 8pm on Saturday I had finished reading.

I had finished reading - and was sitting in my living room crying uncontrollably. It was sad ya'll, my crying and the book.

So now I am done reading it for the first time. Oh yes - I will be starting to re-read it tonight.

The only problem now is - JKR has indicated that she will not start writing Book #7 until the end of this year. And that it will probably be at least another 2 years until the Final book comes out.

Doing the Happy Dance.

2005-07-15T08:54:00.000-05:00

It looks like Hurricane Emily is going to miss us. That is good since it is up to a Category 4 Hurricane.

We had some nasty weather here last night. Severe rain and lightning, heavy winds and hail. The wind knocked a tree over onto the neighbors truck - and downtown was flooded. I hate lightning and it was hitting way, way too close for comfort last night. Made the hair on my arms stand up. This storm sat over us for about an hour - it just wasn't moving at all. We ended up getting between 4 - 5 inches of rain in an hour - I think that is more rain than we got during some of the hurricanes last year!

So - now that I won't have the drama of a Hurricane barreling towards me this weekend I need to find something to do with me time. Tonight will be dedicated to reading the 6th Harry Potter Book(won't ya'll be glad when I've read it and can stop talking about it). So that means I will have to sleep in late tomorrow.

Because of the nasty weather last weekend I missed out on my weekly trip to Target, so I will definitely have to make up for that this weekend. I miss Target. Oh how I love Target. My mom usually goes with me and she gets very frustrated because I have a very specific way of navigating Target and I do not like to deviate from my plan. She will see something and want to go look at it - and I will refuse - it is not time to navigate that part of Target yet.

Yes ya'll - I know I have issues.

Oh, I almost forgot - I finally broke down and had sweet tea this morning. But I am not going to let this snowball back into regular sweet tea drinking. I am feeling very guilty at the moment for drinking it. But, oh what sugary goodness it was while it lasted.

Oh Sugary Goodness. Where did you go?

2005-07-14T14:50:00.000-05:00

Ya'll, I know quite some time ago I proclaimed that I was giving up Sweet Tea and Coke. But ya'll, I am weak. It lasted about all of a day(maybe two). But as of today I have only had one glass of sweet tea in the last 5 days and no coke at all. Nothing but water and an occasional fruit juice.

I am a royal bitch. Avoid me at all costs.

It has even effected my sleep. Apparently I am beyond tired without the caffeine. 8pm last night and I was falling asleep on the couch. It is a sad state of affairs at our house right now. I am betting than Mark is wishing I was back on the caffeine.

I hope this gets easier ya'll. I don't know how much longer I can make it.

Plus - now that I have given up sweet tea - what happens to my religion?

Slug looks forward to Friday at Midnight.

2005-07-12T12:02:00.000-05:00

I can't seem to get my ass in gear. Everything just seems like too much of an effort. I am like a slug, just sluggishly going through my work day. I haven't even been doing a whole lot of cooking lately, which I love to do.

I can't figure out what my problem is. I am just in a constant state of blah.

Of course I do have something to look forward to at the end of this week - which will just make this week seem that much longer.

The new Harry Potter book comes out at midnight Friday - and Thank The Gods that Wal-Mart is open 24 hours. A friend and I have plans to go to Chili's eat, get drunk, and then go to Wal-Mart at Midnight to get the book.

Last time I got the book at Midnight I stayed up all night reading it. And by Saturday AM I was already anticipating the next book.

So I am sure by this Saturday Am I will done with the book - and already impatiently waiting for the 7th and final book to come out.

Of course since Hurricane Emily will be more than likely pounding down on us this weekend - at least I will have a new Harry Potter book to read.

I Hate You News.

2005-07-11T08:16:00.000-05:00

So Hurricane Dennis managed to miss us this weekend. But he still managed to make the weekend miserable by dumping tons of rain, wind and tornados on us. It is amazing that the trees in our yard still have any leaves on them.

It poured almost all day Saturday and Sunday. I combated the bad weather by staying indoors eating junk food, reading, napping and watching movies. I did venture out once to go shopping - but the wind was so bad it wasn't any fun at all trying to get form my car to the stores.

Last night after Entourage Mark decided we should watch the news and see what the weather was going to be like this week. I told him I didn't want to - because last year every time a Hurricane had passed us and we watched the news - another damn storm was on the way.

But NO - Mark wouldn't listen and turned on the news - And I was right as usual. Tropical Depression #5 headed our way. It is predicted to be Tropical Storm Emily by this afternoon. And looking at the 5 day Projected Path - it could be close to us by this coming weekend.

Now - the path of these storms changes a lot. But I am completely convinced that by next weekend I will be dealing with Hurricane Emily. It is way to early in the season to be dealing with this shit. I hope it does not continue on this trend until Hurricane Season ends in November. I will be water logged by then.

Laurie - can you knit me an Ark?

I'll Huff. I'll Puff.

2005-07-06T08:06:00.000-05:00

I"ll ruin your weekend.

Not 1 but 2 storms are out there. 1 was a Tropical Storm that hit New Orleans and the other is expected to be a Hurricane soon and is headed on a track to ruin my weekend. I am convinced it will either directly hit us or come just close enough to ruin my weekend with lots of wind and rain. Blech.

They always come on a weekend. It would be nice if they could at least come on like a Wed. or Thurs. so I could get a day or two off from work.

All kidding aside - so far this has been a very active Hurricane Season. You can read all about it here "Record 4 storms already for '05"

And if you want to keep track of how my weekend is going to look check out the National Hurricane Center. The one that would effect me is called Dennis.

Now if you will excuse me I have to go check my Hurricane supplies.

Gone are the days...

2005-07-05T09:26:00.000-05:00

of Summer Vacation. Those glorious months off during the summer where you did nothing but eat, sleep, sleep some more and hang out with your friends.

The whole world should revolve around the school calendar. Time off for Thanksgiving. Time off for Christmas. Time off for Easter. Lots of time in the Summer. A Friday here, a Monday there.

Don't you think the world would be a happier place? Your time off would be guaranteed. Your vacation wouldn't get bumped for some "big project". You wouldn't be jockeying for time off with coworkers. And your friends would all be off at the same time you are.

Help. I'm Melting!

2005-06-30T12:45:00.000-05:00

I heard someone say the other day "Southern girls are cute. They always look dewey."

WTF. We are not dewey. We are freaking melting. It is 99 Degrees with 110% Humidity. That is not dew you see on my face - that is my face slowly dripping away.

I don't care how freakin full of Southern Grace you are - it all starts to melt out of you starting in June and it doesn't stop until, oh I don't know, 1 or 2 days(at least) in January. Christ it is Hot, Humid and Steamy lately.

Call me Chicken Little
It is Steamy because we are in the "Rainy Season". By rainy season I mean the sky freakin falls every damn afternoon. I am not talking a nice gentle rain here - we are talking go build an arc so you can get to the post office before the last pick-up of the day without drowning on the way.

Oh, and on top of the "end of the world flooding rain", we have lightning. The kind that makes the hair stand up on your arms. The kind that keeps you from making calls because you are afraid you will be fried while gossiping about what so-and so's Momma was wearing in the SuperMarket last night.

Of course because I have a long weekend(4 Glorious Days Away From The Office) it will rain all day, every day on my time off. Then on Tuesday I will come back to work and it will be all sunshine.

NOTE: HA HA. When I did spell check it kept trying to replace Freakin with Foreskin.

Mmmmm. Food.

2005-06-30T08:12:00.000-05:00

If you live in FL, or any where near FL, you should stop in and eat at my friends restaurant, Po' Boys. The food is good, the people are friendly, and they are Gator Fans. It doesn't get any better than that.

It's stuck where?

2005-06-28T13:33:00.000-05:00

This was an actual conversation between Mark and I. It took place on my cell speaker phone with my friend Laura in the car with me.

Me: Hello
Mark: Um, there's a problem
Me: What?
Mark: There's something wrong with your dog
Me: Oh My God - which one?
Mark: Opie
Me: Well what's wrong?
Mark: Um, not sure how to put this......

Silence

Me:(very concerned that my dog might be dead)

Mark:His thing is stuck.
Me: What thing?
Mark: You know "his" thing
Me: Oh. Um...where is it stuck?
Mark: It is stuck out. And it won't go back in - and he is whining and biting at it.

I am going to stop the conversation at this point to let ya'll know that it sounded like Mark was cringing over the phone. It was almost as if something was wrong with Mark's thing.

Me: Well help him.
Mark: What the hell am I supposed to do?

Laura: (Laughing Hysterically) Put ice on it.
Mark: That's not funny.
Me: (Now laughing my ass off) Well what do you want me to do about it?
Mark: Come home and help

At this point I was laughing so hard I couldn't even talk. Laura was laughing. And Mark was not happy with either of us.

And as for poor Opie. By the time I got home his thing was unstuck(all on it's own) and he seems to be fine.

Shop til you drop

2005-06-27T14:43:00.000-05:00

Well, you can't shop on it just yet. But you will be able to very, very soon.

I added a link to my friend Sean's store Sugarcreek over there on the sidebar. See - right over there. Now go click on it and visit his site - but be sure to come back to mine eventually.

This is the part where I rant and rave about what a fabulous store it is. It is FABULOUS ya'll. And I am not bias at all. Nope, not me.

Stuck in my head

2005-06-27T08:00:00.000-05:00

I have had this song stuck in my head for a week now. It doesn't help that they play it on the radio about every 10 seconds.

Let me hear you say this shit is bananas
B-A-N-A-N-A-S
(This shit is bananas)
(B-A-N-A-N-A-S)

It's Perfect
Mark and I went furniture shopping this weekend. I HATE furniture shopping. If I like the style of the couch it doesn't come in a color I like, If I like the color the style sucks. It is a never ending cycle of torture.

BUT - I think we may have found the couch. It is comfy, pretty, the color is perfect, the fabric is perfect, the price is perfect - now we just have to measure and see if it will fit in the living room. Wish me luck - because I am not sure Mark and I will survive furniture shopping with each other.

It's Your Birthday!

2005-06-22T09:35:00.000-05:00

No, Not you........Her

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURIE!

Hope your Birthday is as fabulous as you are.

And now a song, sung slightly off key by me.

Happy Birthday to You.
Happy Birthday to you.
You look like a monkey.
And you smell like one too!
(actually you smell a bit like whiskey and cheetos)

Rug Rats & Question #2

2005-06-21T08:43:00.000-05:00

No - this is not a post about how I need to vacuum my carpet because it is being taken over by furry animals. Though at some point I really should vacuum my carpet.

I get asked two questions on a regular basis.
#1 -When are you getting married?
#2 - When are you going to have kids?

Marks mom has actually started asking question #2 and just skipping right over question #1. It makes for interesting family dinners.

The answer to both is Never. I don't want kids. It is not because I hate them - they actually are quite fun. In very. short. doses. Very short.

You see, I am selfish. but it is OK, because I know I am and because of that I have chosen not to bring children into my life. I want to shop for ME, I want to stay out until the wee hours, I want to be able to be spontaneous. None of which is an option if you have kids. My dogs even slow me down more than I would like.

I love my nieces and my friends kids(to which I am an honorary Aunt). And I spoil the hell out of all of them - then send them on home! It is the best of both worlds - I am kid free - but can borrow them whenever I get the whim. The kids love me - because I buy them presents and feed them unbelievable amounts of sugar :)

So the next time you see me - don't ask question #1 or #2. As for question #1 - that is a discussion that requires its own post.

Friday Afternoon Rambling

2005-06-17T12:09:00.000-05:00

I should be working - but I am having a very hard time concentrating. It is Friday - and I have soo many better things I could be doing than working. I could be at the beach, shopping, baking cookies for my dogs, shopping, getting my hair colored, shopping. You get the picture. But instead I am at work. Working on Sales Projections. I hate numbers and the math. I much prefer surfing the internet for adorable clothes for my dogs.

Happy, Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday to Laurie and Sean! May you both gets lots of fabulous presents.

My Bday is coming up soon. I will be 25..............again. Getting so close to 30 it is scary. I think I will just stay 25 forever!

My 5 year anniversary at work is July 5th. Wow. This is the longest I have ever had a job. Of course I am not really old enough to have held a job for too many years.

When I first came to work here we had interns older than me - not so anymore. They are all definitely younger than me. It is sad. I think I will just go cry in the corner while stroking my chin hair.

Lazy Owner
My dogs are pissed at me for not making the great cookie recipe that Minou shared. To make it up to them I will bake them this weekend. I also want to go to Target and get them each a new outfit. They adore being dressed up. They are so damn cute. Abbey's case of Baboon Ass is finally starting to clear up, the hair is slowly starting to grow back.

Alright - I better get back to work before the Boss realizes I am wasting valuable company time(Ha Ha just kidding Larry - I am hard at work over here).

Wooohooo. A Party.

2005-06-15T15:29:00.000-05:00

Laurie worries about her party, I am practically bouncing up and down excited about mine.

OK. So it is not exactly my party. I am on the Main Street Board. And every year we have this huge fund-raiser. The fund-raiser is a raffle incorporated into a great party atmosphere. There is food, drink(lots and lots of drink) money, games, auctions, prizes, music and so much more!

And the best part. I am chairing it for the 2nd year in a row! It is like having a party for myself but not having to pay for any of it! I get to plan, plan, plan right down to the tiniest detail. I LOVE it.

Food, Centerpieces, theme, decorations, music - it is mine all mine to coordinate! This is one of the biggest social events of the year here in my teeny, tiny town. Well right after High School Football, but that's a whole 'nother post.

It is in November - and we start meeting this week! I am so damn excited. Of all the volunteer work I do - this is by far my favorite project.

Of course last year - I had a mini breakdown(it involved crying and walking out of a meeting) right before the event. Then I had to take a mental health day after the event to recuperate. But 7 months later and I seem to have forgotten all of the bad parts of doing this and all I can remember is how much fun it was to plan!

As details of the party emerge I will share - and this year I will remember my digi cam so I can share pics of my fabulous event!

Gotta Go - I have about a million and 1 To Do lists to make before my first meeting.

Baboon Ass

2005-06-13T08:22:00.000-05:00

So Arlene stayed well West of us. All it did was dump lots of rain on us this weekend. It did prompt Mark and I to get off our butts and finish shopping for our Hurricane Supplies. We now have tons of batteries, flashlights, water, etc. If any big storms come our way again this year we are much better prepared.

The weekend was wet and yucky - so we didn't do much but hang around the house. I had to work at a Business Expo for a few hours on Saturday. The highlight of that was that they were doing a Wing Cook-Off at the same time. Yum. Wings.

Actually we did a lot of eating this weekend. Thank the gods I am using the treadmill again!

One of my dogs, Abbey has bad allergies to fleas. Of course we are at the height of flea season here in FL. She gets one flea bite and ends up with hot spots(spots she pulls all of here hair out of). Currently her hot spots are covering her butt. Poor dog has pulled all of the hair out on her butt, back of her legs and the bottom side of her tail. Mark says it looks like a Baboon's Ass! Opie and Abbey are very excited that Minou has finally shared her cookie recipes. It looks like I will be baking tonight.

Weather Obsession

2005-06-09T09:49:00.000-05:00

I live in FL. So it is that time of year(aka Hurricane Season) when I start obsessing over the weather. I will watch the 8am, Noon, 5pm and 10pm weather EVERY DAY until Hurricane Season is over.

I never used to worry about Hurricanes(I live inland) until last year. Now I watch so much weather that I have a crush on the weather guy. Check him out - he is hot! He is incredibly tall!

Oh - back to what I was saying. Inland - never worried much - worry lots now. Last year Hurricanes defied all inland probabilities of being hit and we got hit multiple times. One of those times left me without power for 10 freakin days. 10 days - no power - I was a nasty person(disposition and smell factor). I actually looked forward to coming to work during that time - because work had power.

Oh - Did I mention - that my Boyfriend was out of town during those 10 days with no power? He takes a 2 week trip to Canada every year DURING THE HEIGHT OF HURRICANE SEASON. Bastard. At least he was kind enough o teach me how to use the generator before he left.

So we are a few days into Hurricane Season - we are in the middle of Hurricane Supply shopping(should be done but I am a big procrastinator) - and the first Tropical Storm(aka could potentially become a hurricane) is brewing already! Crap.

So now on top of just watching the weather 50 times a day - I will add in obsessively refreshing the NOAA Website. I will not relax until this storm is barreling into New Orleans - and well clear of me.

Ya'll better get used to my weather rants - Hurricane season does not end until sometime in November.

Catch ya'll later - it is time for NOAA to post another update.

New & Improved

2005-06-08T07:56:00.000-05:00

Sorry ya'll. I have been seriously slow on the posting lately. Busy, busy. Promise to try harder.

Mmmmm. Tasty.
I was grocery shopping last night and needed to pick up some dog food. Abbey and Opie are on a diet, they have gotten kind of chunky lately. I noticed a bag of dog food that said "New and Improved Taste". How do they know it tastes better. I mean really. Is there someone out there who taste tests dog food?

Dog Food Company: Today we will be tasting Chicken and Rice Flavored Dry Dog Food.

Taste Tester: Woohoo. My favorite. Crunch. Crunch. Wow. This one tastes way better than the current one!

I actually stood there in the grocery store laughing out loud at the scene playing in my head. I wonder if they get a glass of dog food gravy to wash it down with.

I'll do it for $20
Typing that just made me think about our friends 30th Bday Party last year.

We have a friend who will do anything for money. I think we all have "that friend" in our social group. These bets always occur after large amounts of alcohol have been consumed.

We were all standing in the kitchen admiring the "Naked Lady" Cake. Some of that cake ended up on the floor and before you know it he was bet money to eat it off the floor. Which he promptly did.

Being the mature bunch that we are people started dropping various things on the floor to see if he would eat them. And of course he did, washing what ever he ate down with more beer.

It was only a matter of time before someone noticed the bowl of dry cat food on the floor. It all ended very badly. Apparently cat food and beer don't go well together. And the sad part - he forgot to collect the $20 for eating it.

Friday-Today

2005-05-31T15:27:00.000-05:00

I used to think that weekends were for rest, shopping and me time. Ha - what was I thinking.

Friday - I saw my Dr for my final follow-up on Friday. He said I was getting better and could resume using my treadmill. He suggested I take it easy and build back up(HA - back up to what?). That night I cooked dinner, went to the Grocery Store, then went to the bar. At the bar I proceeded to drink waaaaaaay to much. Arrived home at 2am-ish.

Saturday - Woke up wondering what the loud banging noise was. Realized it was my head. Eventually dragged my butt out of bed and went into town to eat breakfast. Then I decided to go to Wal-Mart. Being the small town that this is I ran into every damn person I know there - and they all had to let me know just how bad I looked, including Mark's Parents. Went home and washed dogs and did laundry. Then that night we took Mark's Dad out for dinner. It was a loooooong day. I consumed unbelievable amounts of Sweet Tea.

Sunday - I actually resisted the urge to respond to all social requests(Trip to Sea World, Outlet Mall Shopping, Target, etc) and stayed home and cleaned. Good God, the house was gross. Then I plopped down on the couch and watched endless hours of Surreal Life Re-runs topped off by the Surreal Life Season 4 Reunion. Sally Jessie is looking scarier than usual lately.

Oh Yeah, During all of this on Sunday I also cooked about 15lbs of Pork Ribs to take to the River with us on Monday!

Monday - Got up at an obscene hour(7am) and cooked breakfast. Then after cooking, eating and cleaning up after breakfast I cooked Baked Beans to take to the River with us. We left for the River, stopped and picked my friend Laura up and made the cross county trip to Weeki Wachee, home of the mermaids. Once at the River we sat in the sun and ate lots and lots of food. I came home a nice shade of pink and very, very full.

Tuesday - Back to work. When I woke up this morning it was storming, badly. Then my power went out at 7am - before I managed to get a shower and get ready for work! So I came to work in a company T-Shirt and Jeans, no make-up and scary hair. When you have a well, you have no water when there is no power! At Noon I ran to my mom's house and at least washed my hair and put on some makeup. So I have been hiding out here at my desk all day - doing paperwork and crunching numbers.

She frowned at me.

2005-05-26T14:19:00.000-05:00

Ya'll my hairdresser frowned at me.

You see I hate fixing my hair. I have the worst hair in the world. It is very, very thin, and an ugly mousey brown color. I fix the color by dyeing and highlighting, but the thin part I just have to live with. I am very lazy abotu getting my hair done. I am supposed to do it every 3 months, but I was lazy and had not had it done since January.

So when I got there today she frowned at me. That one frown made me feel liek I was beign lectured by a parent. It was horrible. Then I got another frown when I told her I only had time for a cut and no color today. She stressed that I really need to get the color done ASAP.

Then we haggled over the cut I wanted. I always bring 2-3 pictures of cuts that I like - then she tells me which ones would work with my hairtype. Usually one of them will, not this time. So I let her do what she wanted. I figure she is the professional and she be able to figure out what will work with my hairtype and face shape(fat and round).

Of course after cutting it she styled it - which I will never be abel to replicate on my own. But I like it. And I will do my best to style it the same way.

I will tryt o get some pics tonight so ya'll can see!

Hi, My name is......

2005-05-25T12:08:00.000-05:00

This is something that has been driving me crazy for years - and now I have a place to bitch about it.

People who put their name on their car doors - or anywhere on their car for that matter. I mean what is that all about. Do they forget who they are so they must put their name on there as a reminder? It's not like I am talking about a Real Estate Agent or something like that - these are just your average every day people doing this.

What is really funny is when you pass a vehicle and the drivers side door says "John" - but it is clearly not John driving - because it is a woman! Or when the Male name is on drivers side and the Female name is on the passenger side - but there are two guys riding around in it! What idiots.

I could only come up with two good reasons why people should have their names on their cars.

Reason #1 - Say you are out riding around with your friends. You spot a HOT guy in the lane next to you, and you are like "Whoa - He's HOT, I wonder who he is". You see the name on the door and voila, you now know the HOT guys name is Jake. Now you can call out to him using his name and prevent the geeky guy in the car behind him from thinking you are speaking to him. As if.

Reason #2 - The asshole in the lane next to you keeps sliding over the line into your lane. You see his name on the door. Now when you unleash your road rage obscenities at him, he will now know that you are yelling these obscenities at him. As in "Stay in your own Fucking Lane John". No more Road Rage Confusion.

These are the types of things I think about when I have too much free time on my hands.

Wish me luck - I haev an appt. with my Hair Dresser this week.

New Sneaks, Bad Hair & Grass Juice

2005-05-19T10:09:00.000-05:00

Shout Out
A Message to Sean. I hope you read this. Just wanted to say that you did a fantastic job this weekend. Buy yourself something nice(ha - like I have to tell you this). And - I am loving your new sneaks - they are fabulous.

Dodging the Hair Dictator
I hope I don't run into my hairdresser anytime soon. I am in desperate need of getting my haircut - but have just been to damn busy to make it in to see her. If I run into her in public she may very well hurt me when she sees what a disaster my hair is at the moment. It has gotten to a point where it has grown out so much it is hard to do anything with it. So I have basically just been blow drying it. It is bad ya'll.

I have picked out a new cut though. I want the new JLo do. I love it, long but not too long, short but not to short. It is perfect. Of course 99.99% of the time when I pick out a do - my hairdresser refuses to do it. She always has some excuse like: my hair is to thin, or the wrong texture or blah, blah, blah. It is usually best if I just sit down in her chair and let her do whatever the heck she wants. I always walk away happy - and cute.

LOST
Lost was great last night. They are finally starting to tie up some loose ends. While at the same time presenting new mysteries for next season. I LOVE it. I can't wait for next weeks 2 hour Season Finale.

Why would I drink grass?
While out at dinner the other night, eating things that were not healthy for us, Sean said we should both try to eat healthier things. To me this means getting more veggies on my pizza. To Sean it means drinking Wheatgrass. Wheatgrass - Seriously ya'll - who wants to drink grass? Then he mentions Carrot Juice. I like Carrots - when they are in Sweet & Sour Chicken and when I can dip those little baby ones in Ranch Dressing, and I also like them at Christmas time when they are glazed with honey and ginger. Besides I am allergic to grass - not so sure I should be drinking it.

He is right though - I do need to eat healthier. I have been eating out way too much lately. I think at lunch today I will get more veggies on my pizza or instead of the fried meat platter I will get the fried veggie platter. Woohooo - look at me on my way to healthier eating.

Here's to being squishy(this is me lifting my glass of sweet tea in a toast).

Do I work here?

2005-05-18T13:56:00.000-05:00

My company seems to think that I work for them. I have been working my butt off. Well I wish I was anyways - my butt doesn't seem to get any smaller even though I am working very hard. I have been scrambling ever since I was out sick for a whole week. I may never catch up.

I went for a follow up with my Dr on Monday. I was still running a fever of 99.8 and my lungs are still a mess. I have 3 - you heard me right - 3 inhalers I am using, plus a new pill I am taking that gives me trippy dreams. So trippy I don't even want anyone to analyze them. I don't even think I could put just how strange they are into words.

I go back to the Dr on the 26th - and if my lungs are better I will get an all clear and I can go back to using the torture machine - aka the treadmill. I actually miss the treadmill. It has been sitting in the spare room all by its lonesome self calling out to me. I can't wait to get back on it and start working on getting un-squishy. Squishy, Squishy, Squishy, that is me.

Hi, Ho, Hi, Ho - It's back to work I go.

3 Levels of Spring Cleaning

2005-05-12T06:30:00.000-05:00

I need to do some Spring Cleaning on many levels.

Level 1
The interior of my home. You know when you look around and start to notice the grime building up in the places you don't think to clean or don't like to clean? Like on the plant shelves, top of the kitchen cabinets, baseboards, top of the fridge, etc.

I also noticed that I need to take everything out of my kitchen cabinets and clean the shelves. This will be no easy task. I own lots of kitchen crap. I mean lots. Here is a quick glimpse of my kitchen:

My kitchen is small - but I have tons of kitchen crap shoved into the tiny space. I LOVE kitchen gadgets. I am the girl who is happy to get kitchen stuff for any gift giving occasion. It would not offend me if Mark bought me a new Food Processor for a gift. It would make me happy - I would promptly use it to make him a batch of home made salsa.

Level 2
The outside of my house. I do not like to do yard work. I HATE it. We live on 3 acres. There is a lot of yard work to be done. It sucks. I want a perfect yard with a gorgeous garden - but none of the work that comes with it. So, my plan is to research some easy to take care of plants(aka need no attention what so ever) to make the yard look beautiful. Maybe I can just grow weeds. A weed is something that is unwanted -so if I wanted weeds they wouldn't really be weeds. Right?

Level 3
My volunteer life. I am getting burned out on all of my volunteer activities. Which is a shame because I really, truly like the volunteering. It is just that there is so much that needs to be done. And apparently I am incapable of saying no. It seems like every weekend and several nights a week I am doing something. I need to evaluate all of the things I am involved in and decide which are the most important to me. Cause ya'll know it is all about me.

When will I do all of this?
That is the question of the day. Apparently I may need to start with Level 3 and work my way down to Level 2 & 1. Or maybe I should do Level 3, Level 1 and then Level 2.

Can ya'll tell I am feeling a bit better today? I have all of these grand plans - but none of the energy to actually accomplish them!

Not much to report

2005-05-11T13:32:00.000-05:00

I am sure at this point ya'll are sick of my whining. But - I am still sick. This crap has me down and out. I just can't seem to get over it.

This week has been way busy - probably busier than I need to be. You see I work in sales, and I missed an entire week of work. That has got me playing catch up on top of doing my regular work. I am exhausted. I was in bed at 7:30pm last night. But then I made Mark wake me up at 9pm so I could watch Deadliest Catch onthe Discovery Channel. I LOVE that show. Does anyone else watch it?

Of course tonight I have to be awake between 8pm-9pm because LOST is on. I hope this weeks episode is better than last weeks. Even in my sickly, drug induced state last week I thought it was kind of a lame episode.

I don't have much to write on since I have been doing nothing but being sick and working. I did spend some of my sick time reading blogs, Like Laurie's, Jennifer's, Minou's and many others. Just wanted to let everyone know that I LOVE them, I have just haven't had the energy to post any comments.

Call me She-Ra

2005-05-06T14:10:00.000-05:00

Is that how She-Ra is spelled? You 80's kids now who I am talking about right?

My Mom(a nurse) pulled rank and took me to the ER this morning. She tried to bring me to my Dr, but my Dr office told her the meds needed time to work( I have been taking them since Monday). My mom explained to them that I was getting worse, but they didn't listen. So she loaded me up for a trip to the ER.

ER Doc was very nice and did Chest and Sinus Xrays. She said my lungs and sinuses were starting to clear, but that she was worried about my asthma and that I had damaged my vocal chords from coughing so much.

A few breathing treatments and a shot of steroids later and I was on my way back home. I have a hand full of steroids to take for the next week and she said I should be felling better by Sunday/Monday.

I can tell you that at the moment I feel like She-Ra, with a wicked cough and a raspy voice. These steroids kick ass.

I am supposed to be resting my vocal chords. This will be very hard for me. I have trouble not talking, thank the sweet tea for the internets.

So I am trying to be quiet - this so very hard for someone considering I even talk to the TV. Please comment and email so I have some conversations to carry on.

Third Try is a charm.

2005-05-05T09:48:00.001-05:00

OK, so I don't smell anymore. The Dr told me taking a hot steamy shower(is there any other kind?) would help loosen the gunk up in my chest. So while I was standing in there I figured I could apply a little shampoo and soap. She also indicated that i had progressed from an Upper Resprtory Infection to having walking pneumonia. I got soo bad yesterday I thought I was going to have to go to the hospital.

Ya'll - it sucks to get out of breath walking from the couch to the bathroom. Good thing about being sick - i lost 6 lbs. this week - and didn't even get on the treamill once.

Tomorrow I have to drag myself into the office. There is paperwork that has to be done by end of day tomorrow. I may have to go to bed soon to have the energy to do this.

Laurie Tagged Me.

The Rules: Pick 5 of the following and then complete the sentences. Then pass this little meme on to 3 more of your blog friends! But no tag backs! And be careful…you could be next!

Except I have like 2 Blog Friends so far - Jen and Laurie.And they both have been tagged. So if you want me to tag you - leave a comment and I will edit this to look like I tagged you in the first place.

The Premise (pick 5):
If I could be a scientist…
If I could be a farmer…
If I could be a musician…
If I could be a doctor…
If I could be a painter…
If I could be a gardener…
If I could be a missionary…
If I could be a chef…
If I could be an architect…
If I could be a linguist…
If I could be a psychologist…
If I could be a librarian…
If I could be an athlete…
If I could be a lawyer…
If I could be an inn-keeper…
If I could be a professor…
If I could be a writer…
If I could be a llama-rider…
If I could be a bonnie pirate…
If I could be an astronaut…
If I could be a world famous blogger…
If I could be a justice on any one court in the world…
If I could be married to any current famous political figure…

The Answers

If I could be a gardener…I would grow more than Basil and Lemon Balm. I would gorw lots of tulips, roses, adna wide variety of herbs.

If I could be a llama-rider…Umm. Well. I have umm ridden a Llama. it is not fun. They smell and they spit. And it is a very uncomfortable ride.

If I could be a world famous blogger… You mean I am not? This is news to me. Huh.

OK - I had to save this three times and come back to it to get it done. I am going to take another nap now.

The dogs are avoiding me.

2005-05-03T11:34:00.000-05:00

First of all - Yeah - I have new people reading my blog. Welcome - please stay - I need people to read and comment. I am very jealous of Lauires amount of comments.

Ya'll being sick sucks. I have DirectTV and I swear to sweet tea that there isn't crap on. Where did all the trashy TV go? I need trashy TV on while I nap. Then in between naps I channel surf and find more trashy TV to watch while I nap.

I am so bored and still not feeling any better. I think I smell and need a shower - but I don't have the energy to get up and make it there. I really should though - the dogs are even starting to avoid me. Yesterday they were napping with me - today they are sitting on the other side of the room staring at me.

It is a sad state of affairs in my home ya'll. There are half drunk bottles of Power Ade and Water all over, Kleenex, Drugs, and an air of sickness.

More small town stories.
Even when I am home sick, napping on the couch and stinking, I still know what is going on in town.

The power went out at about 6:00pm last night. By 6:03 I knew why and about how long it would be until it came back on. Teeny, Tiny town ya'll.

I miss sweet tea
Since I have been sick(Saturday), I have been drinking nothing but water and PowerAde. My whole goal for getting better is so that I can start drinking sweet tea again. My Mom suggested I use the sickness to break my sweet tea habit. She thinks she is funny, but she is not.

I keep losing my train of thought so I better stop now. I think I will take a nap and see if I can build up enough energy to go shower. The Dr said I could go back to work on Wed., not sure that is going to happen, especially if I don't get a shower soon.

Liquid Codeine

2005-05-02T12:34:00.000-05:00

So if this post makes no sense it can be blamed on the liquid codeine.

I am sick once again. How do I always end up sick? I went to the DR today and had to have Chest XRays done - apparently I have some sort of infection in my lungs and a sinus infection topped off with an infection in both of my ears.

The good part is that the Dr gave me some fabulous drugs. Actually the DR gave me four drugs. My favorite so far - a cough syrup with Codeine in it. Now that is some good stuff. And Dr said I have to stay home today and tomorrow - I can go back to work on Wed.(If I have improved)

Ya'll I have to be sick. I went to the Dr and the pharmacy looking like I was dressed by a 5 year old. No make up and instead of brushing hair it was pulled into a sloppy pony tail. It was bad. If anyone I know saw me this way - I am sorry if I scared you.

I am feeling so crappy that I am laying on the couch not even watching TV. But the meds are making things seem so much more amusing. I got the bright idea to drag the laptop out and post to ya'll. I will probably have to come back and edit out all of the odd drug induced ramblings later. My poor dogs are staring at me like I have lost my mind.

Well it is time for another dose of meds and a nap. See ya'll when I am more healthy and pulled together.

Apology to Raurie

2005-04-29T06:24:00.000-05:00

I so did not hang up on you. But I am very sorry we could not finish our conversation. It is all my fault - I am very stupid.

My cell phone battery died - and I only have your number stored on my cell phone. So until I could make it to a place where I could charge my cell phone(which was several hours from the time it hung up on you) I couldn't even retrieve your number to call you from a land line.

So I am Sorry. Forgive me?

As a side note - this taught me a very important lesson. I should not be relying on my cell phone to act as my phone book. I really must start writing numbers down somewhere - If I ever loose my phone I will be in Big DooDoo.

Ha. I am more popular....

2005-04-28T06:09:00.000-05:00

Than some of you. I was introduced to a new time consuming web site this week. It allows you to plug in a name and get a number based on popularity. Of of course I immediately went and plugged in my name - and the name of about 500 of my closest friends. Here are some of the results:

Me - 687
Mark - 41,000(Surely this is a mistake)
Laurie - 1,320
Chase - 4,900
Molly - 1,390
Sean - 37(Ha. You got a measly 37 - I beat you!)
Jan - 60,200(Great - this will go straight to his head)
Jodi - 38(considering how much time you spend on the net - I thought your # would be higher!)
Kim - 0(How is this even possible?)
Judy - 599
Ann - 127

I discovered there are some flaws with this program. For instance if you have a common name. How do you know this is your ranking and not some poor schmo in Ohio's ranking?

EDIT: Laurie pointed out that I forgot to tell ya'll what web site this was on. Why does it not surprise me that she was the first one to notice this? www.preople.com

Music, Beer and Bathrooms

2005-04-26T13:09:00.000-05:00

I have become one of those people. You know how when you were younger and you would see someone older than you doing something and you would say "There is no way I am going to become one of those people when I get older."

I went to a concert with my friend Allison this weekend. Part of the way through the concert I realized the only time we had stood up was to A) Go get more beer and b) Go pee. By the way, it seems that as you get older, you also have to go pee more than you used to when drinking beer.

When I was younger and would go to concerts I used to be standing there jumping up and down and screaming and singing at the top of my lungs. And I would look around and see people sitting down(I am a big people watcher). And I would wonder to myself "How can these people just sit there. Why aren't they excited?"

And here I was, just a few short years later, sitting in my comfortable seat drinking my beer and enjoying the music without making a fool of myself. There were four young girls behind us all dressed up, jumping up and down, screaming and singing at the top of their lungs. And just for an instant I caught one of them looking at Allison and I sitting there drinking our beers - and you could see it on her face - I am so not going to become one of those people when I get older - I just smiled at her, and got up once again to go pee.

I'll be in the back

2005-04-26T06:30:00.000-05:00

This may surprise some people, but...........I am not Southern by birth. I was born in Massachusetts. I am a Yankee, by birth only. But Thank the Gods I have spent almost all of my life in the South and have become about as Southern as I can get.

I am very social. I can't go to Wal-Mart and push my buggy around without stopping to talk to more people than you can shake a stick at. I was born to talk and I thrive on gossip. Most Southerners do. Lord they can talk. I love the way Southerners can talk mean about someone, but sound sweet as honey while they do it. It's OK to talk bad about someone as long as you end it with "Bless their heart".

Our town is small and southern and gossip runs thicker than molasses. Everyone in town knows everyone else's business. A fire truck pulls out of the station and before they can reach the scene half the town knows where it is going and why. There is a store owner down the street that listens to the emergency scanner all day - he is the best source of gossip in this town.

There was a big social event in town Friday night. Everyone who was anyone seems to have gone to it. Allison asked me if I was going and I said "Of course, Sean and I will be standing in the back talking about everyone." She laughed when I said this. She caught up with me later that night. She found Sean and I standing in the back talking about everyone :)

Note: It may have been me mostly talking and Sean listening since I had downed a few beers. We were also eating cake. What is better than beer and cake?

5 Book Questions

2005-04-22T06:47:00.000-05:00

I am doing this to appease my stalker. If you are not my stalker you are still invited to read the following.

OK – so all of this is going to make me seem like I never read anything deep or thought provoking. I do on occasion – but for the most part I read to entertain myself. I stress way too much – and when I read I want it to be something light and funny that doesn’t make me think too much. So here goes.

Total number of books in your house:
Oh my gosh. Quite a few. Actually not as many as I used to because about 6 months ago I decided that I only wanted to own Hard Cover books so I gave away all of my paperbacks. I am a bit of a book snob.

The last book you bought was:
Last Friday on my day off I bought Ya-Ya’s in Bloom. I read quite a bit of it while I was waiting for my new tires to be put on.

What was the last book you read before reading this?
Ya-Ya’s in Bloom. I did not like it as much as the other two Ya-Ya books. Before that I read Alice in Wonderland for a project I am working on. I love Alice in Wonderland – the non-sensical nature of it appeals to me.

Write down 5 (or 6) books you often read or that mean a lot to you.
Ah, you all will soon find out that I am a big dork. I LOVE the Harry Potter books. I stood in line at midnight to buy the last one, and will probably stand in line at midnight to buy the next one also. So that takes care of 5 books that I like. I have read all of them multiple times. I think the reason I like them so much is because JKR uses so many details that they bring my imagination to life.

I also really like the James Herriot books. For those not familiar he is a British Veterinarian. The books are hilarious. The stories take you through his life as a rural vet – and the people and animals he comes across along the way. I think I like reading them so much because it takes place in a simpler time – when life was slow and less stressful.

I also own a lot of cookbooks – which I do sit down and read. I am not actually big on following the recipes….but I like to read them to get new ideas for my own creations. I especially love Rachel Rays cookbooks. Recipes that can be cooked and on the table in 30 minutes rock.

Who are you going to pass the stick to (three people) and why?
Molly – Because she has been borrowing my Harry Potter books lately and I want to see what other kinds of things she reads.

Jan – Because it will irritate him that I passed this on to him. Jan reads books like they are going to all be burned tomorrow. This man always has a book in his hand.

Aunt Judy – Because she reads a wide variety of books. She recently sent me "The Surrendered Wife" to read.

This one is for Jenn

2005-04-21T01:22:00.000-05:00

I recommend Luzianne Tea Bags if available. Lipton works well too.

6 Family Size Tea Bags
1.5 Cups of Sugar
Gallon Size Container

Place the water in a pot and add the tea bags. Bring to a boil, do not continue boiling. Remove from heat and let steep. Pour warm tea into empty pitcher. Add the sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Fill remaining pitcher with cold water.

Following the simple directions above will get you well on your way to a sweet tea addiction.

What. Is. That?

2005-04-20T09:50:00.000-05:00

So last night I did my typical routine. Which is a 20 minute steamy shower and then getting out and inspecting my face in the mirror. During this inspection time I check for new wrinkles, poke, squeeze, prod, pluck and basically just torture my face in general. I also check my roots to make sure I have no gray hair coming in. This of course is unnecessary since I color my hair so often that it will fall out before I will ever notice any gray.

During my nightly face torture routine I noticed something horrible.

There was a hair growing from my chin. And I am not talking about some of that light colored fuzzy hair you have on your face. It was ugly and horrible. How did this hair get there? It was not there when I was inspecting my face the night before. I of course immediately plucked it. Then I spent an extra 20 minutes inspecting my face and ears for any more rogue ugly hairs. I expect to be sprouting hair from my ears any day now.

I am in pain
The treadmill is kicking my ass. I have one calf muscle that is sore. It mostly hurts is I stay still too long - so I have to keep moving. Maybe this will work off calories from that glass of sweet tea I snuck in this morning. Here are some pics of my new treadmill!

You want me to run?

2005-04-18T09:10:00.000-05:00

I did it. I finally bought my treadmill. I will have to get a pic of it so you can all see my wonderful new treadmill. It has all sorts of nifty features that I have no friggin idea how to work.

My first attempt at using the treadmill was interesting. It has programs that you can use. So I decided to use program weight Loss, Level 1. Now have I mentioned that up until this point I have been very successful at not exercising at all, hence the reason I am squishy.

So the program starts me off walking, then it inclines and makes me walk faster, then before I know it I am running. Me running. I was not expecting to run. Oh, no - I would have been perfectly happy to walk for the 30 minute workout. But no - the machine insisted I run, and it made me run several times at varying speeds! It sucked. But I have done it two more times since then and will continue to do it, because I don't want to be squishy any more. I am scared to see what level 2 will do to me.

I have everything I need....almost.
Having a new treadmill and starting to exercise foe course required that I go shopping. First Stop: Target. Where I purchased several pairs of these cute capri workout pants. I bought, pink, black, and kelly green. I LOVE these pants. And I bought some T-Shirts. Then on to the mall to buy a new pair of shoes. I got a pair of New Balance. They are very cute. Then I bought some new pony tail holders and a new water bottle.

If you are girl who runs - then you see what I am missing here. It never occurred to me that should I be running I might need a sports bra. So today I am going to have to go shopping again before I end up with two Black and Blue eyes.

I Finally Did It!

2005-04-14T09:51:00.000-05:00

I finally added some pictures on here! If you go back to the beginning and look through you will find I have added some pics here and there. I am very proud of myself for finally getting off my butt and doing it. This pic is for Laurie.

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Some Sad News
Yesterday my youngest niece(5) was running at school and tripped and fell. When the teacher got over to her, her ankle looked like it had crumbled. They got her to the hospital and when the X-Ray came back it showed that she has a bone cyst in her ankle and that her ankle had literally crumbled. So now she has to go to the All Children's Hospital today to see a bone specialist. They have to figure out how to fix her ankle(they mentioned bone grafts) and what the bone cyst is from. Poor kid just had pneumonia(sp?) 2 weeks ago.

I am going to be how old?

2005-04-13T13:49:00.000-05:00

I just realized that I am going to be 25...........Again. Soon. How did I get to be this old? I swear I was just 18 last summer, wasn't I? Where has my life gone? I am definitely not in the place I thought I would be at this age. Still trying to decide whether that is a good thing or a bad thing.

When I was younger I thought 30 was so old. Now I am fast approaching 30(still a few years to go though) and it is not looking so bad.

I remember the days when I would stay out all night partying, sleep for about 3 hours, go to work, and then do it all over again. Now I am lucky to make it to the 10 O"Clock News. And then I still have a hard time dragging my butt out of bed in the morning.

A big night out for us now seems to be dinner, a trip to ______(Lowe's, Target, Home Depot, etc) and then home by 11-ish.

Excuse me while I go find my youth.

Yet another case of T.M.I.

2005-04-12T09:12:00.000-05:00

I either have a cold or allergies. It is very hard to tell sometimes since they are basically the same symptoms. I am sneezing like you wouldn't believe and I have to keep blowing my nose because it seems like my brains are oozing out my nostrils.

Which leads me to yet another thing I have always wondered about. Where does your body store all of the snot? I mean I could blow my nose 20 times in 10 minutes and it just keeps right on coming out. If only my body could be that efficient at processing fat.

Speaking of Fat
Mark and I kept seeing commercials on TV for the new Dairy Queen Blueberry Cheesecake blizzard. It looked soo good. So last night I had to pass by a Dairy Queen while running errands. I picked up a small one for each of us and brought them home for dessert. How could this dessert be bad. Ice Cream, good. Cheesecake, good. Blueberries, good.

It sucked. I ate about a 1/4 of it and threw the rest away. Even Mark who seems to eat just about anything didn't finish eating his. It looked so much better on the TV. It was very disappointing, but at least I didn't blow my healthy eating too much.

Healthy Eating
I keep referring to it as healthy eating, because I am trying to trick myself into thinking I am not on a diet. I also have started referring to myself as squishy instead of fat. I am also not crazy, I am just not well.

Frog seems like a good name

2005-04-11T09:42:00.000-05:00

If you are green, slimy and you are a frog.

Why do Celebrities give their children such odd names? Here are some of he strangest I have seen: Coco, Apple, Pirate, Peaches, Pixie, Fifi-Trixibelle, Saffron, Diva.

What is with these people? It is odd that they always say they just want their children to have a normal childhood, and then they give them these outrageous names. Can you imagine if any of these kids grow up and have any political aspirations with names like these? President Pirate Davis?

LOL -all of this talk coming from someone who wanted to name her niece Phaedra Ray, so I could call her Fay Ray. My sister went with Emily Louise. I am glad she did.

Treadmills, Injured Again & Stinky Pee

2005-04-11T07:37:00.000-05:00

So many choices
I want to buy a treadmill. So this weekend Mark and I went to look at treadmills. Now, all I want is a treadmill that does its thing and allows me to walk on it. I mean don't they all pretty much do the same thing? Apparently not. There are so many choices. They have shocks, they incline, they fold up, they have fans. It is just too many choices for me. I told Mark to pick one out and that is the one I will buy.

Once again I am on the injured list
For those who do not know me I hurt myself a lot. I am also sick a lot. I seem to catch everything. If a sick kid is within two miles of me, I will catch it. I also get strange stuff for someone my age. Two years ago I had mono(most people get it in their teenage years). I currently have an ear infection in both of my ears, yet again. I went to the ENT Dr. on Friday, he says I have to clear this new infection up again before he can decide if I should have tubes(most people get tubes when they are young, like 5). When the kitchen sink broke last week I slipped and fell and have a very nice large bruise on my knee now.

So this next paragraph should not surprise you.

Sunday morning Mark and I took his mom to Cracker Barrel for breakfast(good bye healthy eating). His mom rode up front and had moved her seat up. After we deposited her at home and I went to get into the front seat I hit my head on the door jam because the seat was much farther forward than it normally is. It hurt like you wouldn't believe. Hurt the whole rest of the day and hurts like heck this morning. Now I have a nice egg on my forehead, at least it isn't bruised. I am an idiot.

Master of the Grill & Stinky Pee
I cooked chicken on the grill last night, without burning myself thank-you-very-much. To go with the chicken I made rice, corn on the cob(fresh, not frozen) and roasted asparagus. Why does asparagus make your pee smell? And how does it work so quickly? I swear if you ate asparagus you could pee 10 seconds later and it would smell. maybe I should do a test and see how fast it happens? Hmm, just another strange thing I wonder about. I am sure this was way more information than you wanted me to share with ya'll.

It is only Monday
After my sucky week last week I was looking forward to this week. Until I got in and saw my schedule. I have meetings all freakin week long. I have a Board meeting and a Committee meeting on Wed & Thur(yes that is two meetings each day). I was excited when I remembered that I have Friday off, until I remembered that I have to go get my new tires put on that day. Blech, not a very exciting week to look forward to.

Doing the happy dance!!!!

2005-04-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

What did you say Martha???
The teeny, tiny town I live in is located directly next to a town full of snowbirds. For those who don't know what a snowbird is.

Snowbird: Cranky, Old People who can no longer drive. They live up North during the summer months and during the fall and winter they move to Florida to irritate the crap out of Floridians.

Snowbirds suck. They drive slow in the left lane with their blinker on. They crowd up the doctors offices so that when you are sick you can not get an appointment. They walk down the middle of the aisle in Wal-Mart(thankfully they don't seem to shop at Target though). It takes three times as long to get your prescription filled, because they are there getting all 20 of theirs filled. Noise level in general goes up 20 decibels because they all wear hearing aids and can't hear each other and converse by yelling everything.

Old People Fleeing!
But this is a glorious time of year. This is the time of the year when they are going home. Oh yes, the roads will be clogged for the next few weeks with old people wearing wrap around sunglasses and hearing aids, driving 25' Motorhomes with cars being towed behind them. But I will happily dodge them as they head out of town. The noise level already returning to a normal decibel as I drive to the doctors office.

Whining

2005-04-07T07:38:00.000-05:00

This week has sucked. It has beyond sucked. Everything from my personal life to work has sucked. Sucky, sucky, sucky.

The only highlight of my week was LOST. I *heart* LOST. It appeals to my conspiracy theory side. It leaves me guessing. It's just good.

Why are my feet wet?
I used to go home and cook when I was stressed, but my healthy eating has cut most of that out so I thought I would go home last night and clean. That way I wouldn't have as much cleaning to do on Saturday. All I wanted to do was geta little cleaning done, get a shower and sit down and watch LOST.

I vaccumed, did laundry and was just finishing up with my cleaning by washing dishes. Just as I was finishing washing my dishes I noticed that my feet felt wet. i looked downa dn water was pouring out of the cabinets under the sink. Now you woudl think I woudl be smart enough to turnt he water off first, but oh no, I am not that smart. I opened the cabinet doors adn was sprayed down by water. So I then turned the water off(note to self do this first next time) and loked over the damage.

The joint under the sink had let go and had dumped water all over my cleaning supplies and drenching a 20lb bag of dog food. I would have noticed that it was leaking sooner had I not been wearing slippers. They really are very cute slippers. They are pink and fluffy and they have have tootsie pops embroidered on them.

I had to spend the next 30 minutes cleaning it up all by myself because the man of the house was at College. Yet another reason why I should be back in College, then I wouldn't be at home dealing with household disasters. I had to pull out all of my cleaning supplies and carry a 20lb soaking wet(I think once it was wet it weighed about 100 lbs) bag of dog food out to the garbage. Dog food stinks, but it really stinks when it gets wet.

I got it all cleaned up just in time to watch LOST. After LOST I got a shower and when I got out of the shower the man of the house had come home and fixed the sink already.

The sad part is that this was not the worst part of my week.

BTW - The first time I tried to post this it got lost in Blogger Hell. That prompted a phone call to Laurie. Laurie - sorry if I sounded deranged and that it was such a short call. It has been a bad week.

Yawn.

2005-04-05T07:13:00.000-05:00

I like to sleep, a lot. I usually go to bed between 10 and 11pm. I usually get up at about 7:30am to be to work at 8:00-ish. Part of my new healthy living plan is to get up earlier. Mark gets up at 6:30am so I have been getting up with him. Let me tell you, it was much easier getting up at that hour last week when it was daylight at 6:30am. Now it is dark - and it sucks. And it is making it all that much harder for me to give up my caffeine and sugar habit.

So I have been getting up at 6:30am and fixing Mark breakfast. I don't eat because I am just not awake enough at that hour. I am so sleepy I might forget to swallow. Then Mark and I chat, he goes off to work, and I get a shower and get ready for work. I have been getting to work between 7:15 and 7:30 in the morning, that is some kind of record for me.

Smells like a nursing home
My original plan was to go to the gym in the morning before work. But when I went to join the gym it was yucky. In the teeny, tiny town I live in you have two gym choices, Curves and YMCA. Curves is in a tiny shopping strip, consists of about 8 machines and was filled with a crowd of women aged 80+. It smelled of Bengay. The YMCA is about a block from my office and is about the size of my walk-in closet and filled with buff young guys. There is no way I am sweating my squishy butt of in front of them.

I told Mark all I really want to do is find a way to get some exercise in so I can loose weight without having to go outdoors(read Achoo post). So he suggested I get a treadmill. So this weekend we are going to where ever it is that you buy sports equipment to look at a treadmill. Once I buy a treadmill I will be able to walk my squishy butt off in the comfort of my home in front of my TV watching Food Network.

Weekends Don't Count.

2005-04-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

So I am not going to discuss how my dieting went over the weekend. Weekends Don't Count. Besides being good all week, is being 5 times better than I was before. Besides who can go to Cracker Barrell and order a salad. I mean really - do they even have salads on their menus? I do know that they have really good sweet tea!

It's Like An All Natural Plug-In.
We have a screened in front porch and I decided that maybe it was time to put some plants on it. For those who know me you can stop laughing now. I DO NOT have a black thumb, plants just seem to die around me. So off to Lowes I went.(Ha Ha Screws) Where I wandered around the plant section for 2.5 hours on Sunday. I know nothing about plants. I am much more comfortable wandering around a shoe store for hours on end.

I finally struck gold and found myself in the Veggie & Herb section. I know herbs. I buy them at the grocery store to cook with all the time! I was ecstatic, I never thought to grow my own herbs before. So I bought some Basil and Lemon Balm, and a nice square pot to grow them in. I am very excited that I am growing a plant that will actually be useful to me. PLUS, now every time I walk out onto the porch it smells like Pesto.

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I Won! I Won!

2005-04-03T09:24:00.000-05:00

I never win anything. I have some of the worst luck in the world(read The Wheels on My SUV Go...). I have no idea why I continue to buy Lotto & Scratch off tickets. But I do on ocassion. After buying groceries last week I found myself standing in line and buying a $2 scratch off ticket. I stuck it in my purse and went on about loading and unloading my groceries.

I was cleaning out my purse yesterday and came across the ticket. I scratched it off and won $5! So when I went into town I stopped and turned it in for 2 more of the same kind and another $1 ticket. The $1 ticket and the first $2 ticket were both losers. But the last $2 ticket I scracthed off was a $10 winner. I of course will turn it in and use that money to buy more scratch off tickets in the hopes that I keep winning. I know it seems small....but I can feel my luck changing. Maybe I will win enough to buy new tires.

The Wheels On My SUV Go.....

2005-04-02T09:28:00.000-05:00

Flat. Yet, again. You see in my teeny, tiny town there are still unpaved roads. I live on of those roads. Every now and again the County Workers come with a big piece of equipment and grade our road. meaning they push the dirt around and make it smooth again(instead of the washboard like texture it normally has). This is great for driving purposes - but it wreaks havoc on my tires.

You see every time the County Workers grade our road they dig up all of the nice sharp objects underneath. And within 2-3 days of them grading the road I get a nail in my tire. Every frickin time. And every time I go to the tire place and get them patched. I have become friends with the owner of the tire shop - I am there so often he now gives me discounts.

We have lived in the house for 6 years. I have been through 2 sets of tires in those six years. Every tire that is on my gas guzzling SUV at the moment has at least 2 patches. The tire guy says I have to get new tires again. Sigh. At least he will give me a discount.

Can You Fry That?

2005-04-01T08:11:00.000-05:00

Mmmm....Fried Food
Mark and I decided to go out to eat last night. And since I am on my health kick I decided to have a salad. This restaurant has great salads. So I choose a healthy sounding salad - but when the waiter comes I blurt out "I'll have the Fried Green Tomato Salad". Yes, I ate a salad with Fried Green tomatoes on top of it. But half way through I felt guilty and picked all of the Fried Green tomatoes off of it. So I ate the equivalent of 1 Fried Green Tomato and a salad. Better than nothing I guess.

This restaurant also has a Fabulous White Sangria. I reasoned that I could have a glass of Sangria because Sangria has fruit in it. Fruit is healthy. So, Sangria must be good for me. I can apply this reasoning to many foods. Thus the reason I am squishy.

Who Cares it's Fried!
My Fried Green Tomato Salad lead to an interesting conversation at dinner last night. What is it about frying foods that make them taste better? I HATE seafood. But I will eat fried fish(with about a gallon of tartar sauce). And if it is fried and on a stick - watch out. People will eat anything fried and on a stick. Some examples of fried food on a stick being offered at this years fair: Candy Bars, Twinkies, Pickles, and Cheesecake. And people were eating them like there was no tomorrow. I tried the fried pickles - they are good.

Flying Monkeys
After dinner we decided to take a walk around town. We got about one block down when the mosquito's attacked us. I am not talking about your average buzzing mosquito's. these things were blood sucking mini vampires. They were the size of the Flying Monkeys in the Wizard of Oz. They could have carried us away while draining us of all of our blood. So we hurried back to the truck(surely the hurrying part burned a few extra calories) and went home and sat our squishy selves on the couch and watched TV safely away from the Flying Monkey Sized Mosquito's.

Pork Fat Makes Me Drool

2005-03-31T07:56:00.000-05:00

My Fat Ass
That pretty much sums it up, well almost, the rest of my body is fat too. But I have finally gotten out of my funk and I am going to drag my fat ass to the gym. I hate the gym, it is sweaty and loud and people try to socialize with you while you have arm pit sweat stains on your cute gym clothes. But I do not have enough will power to exercise on my own, so off to the gym I go. If you see me there and there is any hint of sweating, please do no speak to me.

I am an addict
Along with going to the gym I have decided to start trying to eat healthier. More Veggies(No Laurie, potato chips do NOT count), Less Sugar. Only I am having a problem kicking 2 habits. First one is Coke. Yes, I am addicted to the sugary, caffeine goodness that is Coke. I tried going cold turkey, I made it a full day. Sorry to those of you who encountered me on that day, I am back on the wagon and everything should be OK now. My 2nd habit is sweet tea. Do you see where this is going......I really just need to admit I am addicted to sugar. I am now trying to decided which is the lesser of two evils...I think I may only be able to give up one of them.

Drooling On My Couch
I have forced Mark to join this health kick with me, I need someone else to feel my pain. Plus he is thisclose to 30 and getting a little saggy around the middle. So we have been eating our Healthy dinners and then later at night settling in on the couch to watch some TV. My favorite channel is Food Network. About 10 minutes into Emeril I was actually drooling. After about 30 minutes Mark was begging me to change the channel. So now we watch way more Home Improvement shows than Food Network.

Beevis and Butthead
That is Mark and I when we go into any kind of Home Improvement store. You would think we are grown up enough now, but apparently not. We spend the entire trip laughing at the names of things sound dirty. Example: Rod(Insert Beevis & Buthead laugh here), Nail(laugh again), Screw(ha, ha). Folks, we never tire of this, we are truly sad individuals.

Sweet Ending
I just finished my first sugary, caffeine beverage of the day...time to go out there and face the world, with a glass of sweet tea in my hand.

Achoo!

2005-03-30T13:01:00.000-05:00

Tree City USA
The teeny, tiny town I live in is designated as a Tree City USA. It is full of old Southern Oak Trees. Very Large Oak Trees. Our house is built on 3.5 acres. 3.5 acres full of Very Large Oak trees. The oak pollen count this year is High. Oak Pollen is one of my worst allergies. You take a guess at how I am feeling.

To top that off - I hate to sneeze. Can not stand to sneeze. I hate the way it makes me feel and I hate having bodily fluids coming out of my nose. My BF swears that some day my head is going to explode from me trying to hold in a sneeze, watch for footage on the 6 O'Clock news.

I went to see my Dr. to see if he could give me anything stronger to combat the evil Oak Pollen. He gave me a shot in the ass....bastard. Not sure if the shot was supposed to actually work or if it was to just distract me from whining long enough that he could sneak out of the room. he also mentioned that I have had too many ear infections(I have one in each ear at the moment) in the last year and that I need tubes in my ears. What am I 5 years old? Who gets tubes in their ears at the age of 27?

Guzzle, Guzzle
I just stopped and filled up with gas. It was $2.15 a gallon for the cheap stuff. This is madness. It almost(almost) makes me want to give up driving my gas guzzling SUV. I still think there is a car out there that can run on water and the Gov't is keeping it from us. Oh, yes my friends. I am one conspiracy theory away from a straight jacket. I have tons of them. But of course if I share them with you on here they will know I am onto them.

Be Careful.....they can see you through the TV
I watched the second episode of The Office last night. That is some funny shit. I am filing away the Jell-O idea for future use. Tonight is a new episode of Lost. So for those of you who wish to remain my friends you will not disturb me between 8 & 9pm. You may call after 9pm if you wish to discuss this weeks episode in depth. Just watch what you say to me on the phone, because they are always listening.

I'm a virgin.....

2005-03-29T16:30:00.000-05:00

Wishful Thinking
Don't get your hopes up. I'm just a A Blog Virgin, but if you believed I was a virgin hang around I got a million other things to sell you, um I mean tell you.

I do so have friends
So I have a friend who I like to stalk on the internet(She is real, I have met her and she is fabulous). She started a new blog and suggested I give it a try - so here I am. I am so very excited, anyone who knows me knows that I have a problem shutting up. And this just gives me a whole new audience to yap at! WOOOHOOOO!

It's so shiny
If you are looking to read anything that may have any sort of structure to it - you have come to the wrong place. Though I am new to this I suspect that my blogging may be just as random as a conversation face to face with me is. My boyfriend suggests that I may have ADD. No idea what he is........ Oh look something pink and sparkly. Oh, where was I?

My religion is sweet tea
About me. I am 27, I work for a newspaper(that's my excuse for occasionally lacking ethics), and I live in a teeny, tiny town. My town is so small that when I sneeze all 500 residents say "God Bless You". Ok, maybe not that small, I like to exaggerate sometimes. My teeny, tiny town is located in the South and unlike the rest of the residents in my town who are Baptist, my religion is sweet tea. I respect it and I am faithful to it. Bow down to the sweet tea. The sweeter and stronger the better.

I live in a house with my boyfriend. More on him later - because he is not quite as important as I am. We share our dwelling with two Jack Russells(Abbey & Opie) and a Prairie Dog(Isabel). We also seem to share our home with the majority of our friends who never seem to leave. That is the downside to being the first ones to actually acquire your own house and not live with your parents anymore.

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I am very involved in my teeny, tiny little town. I am on the Chamber Board, the Main Street Board and the Merchants Association. They keep me very, very busy. Plus being involved in all of the town happenings keeps me up to date on all of the gossip. I thrive on the gossip. Gossip and Caffeine - it's what keeps me going.

I'm not that easy
I can't give up all of my information during my first post.....What would I have to post about later? Check back often - I have plenty to say.