Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Just Say No To Paneling

Today was my day off and I got a few things done. Dogs got baths, dusted, cleaned the hardwood floors, spot painted the kitchen trim, and filled in holes and patched areas in David’s room. If anyone ever wants to put paneling up I’d advise against it. I don’t know why anyone would want to put paneling up this day in age, but you never know. We have 2 bedrooms and one of our bathrooms with the paneling….obviously it’s all going to come down. We started with the upstairs spare bedroom that we call David’s room. It will eventually become a Vikings room. We’ve been slowly working on it for the past few weeks. Usually I’m in the mindset of “let’s get it done.” But with having the door closed it’s easy to forget about it and put it on the back burner. Originally it was to be David’s project and all the sudden the other day he said, “I’m going to need your help…you’re better at filling in the holes.” Right. I’m supposed to believe that? So guess what? He’s going to be good at sanding and painting. So the paneling is down, the holes have been patched…next up is sanding, painting the ceiling, painting the trim (even though David says it’s fine the way it is), and then the walls. We were pretty lucky with the shape the walls are in. They do have a form of weird wallpaper on them and we’re going to do the big no no of painting over it…..but if you could see the walls, you’d understand. I think the paper is helping hold the walls together. Some areas just want to crumble. But there was no glue involved in holding up the paneling. I hate to say it but I don’t think we’re going to be that lucky for the other 2 rooms. I’m 99% sure that the downstairs bedroom has some form of glue and then bathroom I’m not sure about. But the sink is going to have to come down in order to get the paneling down. Enough about paneling. We’re having dinner tonight with some friends and then of course we’ll be watching American Idol. This is the first year that we’ve actually watched the show and not just the tryouts and the end. It’s been interesting…I think a little more interesting for David. I can’t just sit still to watch it. I got to be doing something. But what’s new? I’m always moving. Time to get going….

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Time To Donate!

Hey everybody. Just a friendly reminder that my cousin's wife Erika needs donations to help her attain her goal for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Marathon that is fast approaching. I know everyone goes through each week and says, "next week...." At least that's what I kept doing. But now is the time. Even a small donation adds to a bigger amount. I hope to add to what I've already donated and I ask you to help out in any way possible. Check out her Team Roth site and see what it's all about.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Girl Scout Cookie Time

I have a few minutes before heading to work. This weekend went fine. David was still on call so we couldn't go far. But we had fun with our little bit of time off. We went to Max and Erma's for dinner on Friday. We had a coupon for $5 off, so we figured we'd use it. They have one of those things going on, just like everywhere else, where you can choose an appetizer, entree, and dessert for one price. Since we figured we could splurge a bit we each got a 3 course dinner only to find out that the coupon couldn't be used with that type of promotion. I was just a bit peeved but it wasn't worth spoiling a good dinner with my husband. But FYI, if you try to use it, you can't...there was fine print, but it stated that it couldn't be used on daily specials. Whatever...it was a good meal and I got to spend some time with David. And we walked out feeling fat and happy. We went to Sears to pick up a weekly tool for David. That's what we've been doing. He gets a tool a week in order to build his inventory. Then we stopped at PacSun and we got some deals! They had 50% off their clearance and sunglasses for $6.99. So David got two pairs of shorts, a hat, and a pair of sunglasses for $23. Not bad, eh? And what was even better...we knew the shorts were on sale but we didn't know they were an additional 50% off until we checked out. Sweet. We made a few more stops and then headed home. Saturday, Saturday...what did we do Saturday? I can't remember much...must not have really done anything. Oh yeah, David received a call for work so we had to take care of that. And I got my first ice cream of the season from Dairy Queen. Obviously it wasn't my first ice cream of the season...it was our first trip to Dairy Queen. Went to dinner at Cedar Villa with the 'rents and then spent the night playing cards with our neighbors up the street. I hadn't played cards since I was probably in 6th grade, in the hospital, when Grandma R taught me how to play rummy. For real. But we had a joyous time and learned how to play Contract Rummy. And guess what? I won. I'm serious. So that was even better. Oh yeah, we got our Girl Scout cookies from Cass on Saturday. Yum Yum in the tum tum. Needless to say I'm already down a box. The Thin Mints didn't even make it to the freezer before they were opened. What is better than Girl Scout cookies?? Okay, there are some things, but you have to admit they are pretty good. Sunday was spent bumming around as usual. Got grocery shopping done and things like that. I ended up having kennel duty by default so I had to stop into work a few times to let a dog out and then we chilled the rest of the day...really it was quite a lazy day. That is all the time I have for now...Have a beautiful day no matter where you are.

Monday's Thought For The Day


Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Sign of Spring?

As we headed out to dinner we went past Dairy Frost and it was open! Say what? That's a sure sign of spring, right? Just the other day I saw that the owner's car was there. I even said to David I'm sure they'll be open in March. But it was a surprise that it was opened today. We had planned to stop on our way home and they were already closed. Man. I know we'll have many more times this year to get our goodies though. Then we were talking, I'm wondering if they were even selling ice cream yet...maybe just candy. Dunno. Whatever, McDonald's ice cream fulfilled my craving...at least for today that is. Can you tell I love ice cream???

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Throw Me Something Mister!

If we lived in New Orleans we'd have the day off because it's.....
Mardi Gras!!!
Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler...

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Happy To Be Me

As usual, we had an enjoyable weekend and don't want the work week to begin yet. On Saturday morning I worked and then that afternoon we battled some snow flurries and went out to get some things done. We decided to go see Music and Lyrics at the movies during the late afternoon. It was too cute and funny at the same time. We had hoped to see it earlier in the week but couldn't because of the massive amount of snow. Anyway, it was very good and I recommend seeing it. And as I always say I am the luckiest person in the world for having my husband. Of course for multiple reasons, but one thing is that he'll watch and go to the movies to see chick flicks. And not only does he not complain but he often wants to see them just as much as me. Not to mention he has to take criticism from those around him for watching them and them saying that he's "whipped". And ya'll know that he's not just trying to impress me by watching them because if he's still doing that after 4+ years of being married that'd just be crazy. So as I said, I highly recommend it especially if want a good laugh (I didn't know Hugh Grant could be that funny) and want a warm fuzzy movie.
Justin and Cass also came into town on Friday evening so we got to spend some time with them throughout the weekend. Of course we did the usual...Chet and Matt's. Otherwise we just hung out. Since they were in town we got to keep Sloopy and as usual he keeps the cats on their toes while giving us a few laughs and many smiles. You can't resist when you come down in the morning and all he wants to do is circle your legs and beg for your love and attention.
I got some school work done tonight. Have I told you yet how much I dislike my speech class? God love it, but it's giving me anxiety. I don't have a problem with the speech part of it, it's just putting everything together and trying to plan everything out to make sure I have enough time to do everything. One more step to my degree....
With that being said I've noticed recently that I am not as positive as I used to be like I was back in the early years of high school. I shouldn't say recently...actually I've been noticing it for a long time. Man, I used to be so happy go lucky and wanted to bring sunshine to everyone's life. What happened and where has all the negativity come from? Instead of opening my mind as life continues, it has begun to close off. Anyone else ever notice this has happened as they age? It's not like I'm unhappy with my life. On the contrary, I love my life and those in it. I think the negativity started when people were constantly putting me down for being that "happy go lucky person". I could only handle so much criticism then my happiness slowly turned to negativity. Then you add the stress of everyday life...worrying about money, your job, trying to make people happy for the wrong reasons....So that's where I am. I'm now trying to slowly change that negativity into happiness for myself. Trying to stop judging people. Because if I remember correctly, I don't liked to be judge. I'm trying to open my mind and trying to live in the moment. Not trying to run around so much. For instance David and I were in the car today and I was just enjoying my time. I wasn't worried about where I was going or how long it was taking us to get there...I was enjoying that one moment with my husband. I want to just "be" and then that will turn into my own happiness that I can in turn spread around. Corny, I know, but I think well worth it. I think that's why I like the blog so much. It's a release for me. Who cares if no one reads it. I write it and it makes me feel better and allows me to put whatever I want to say, pictures I want to post, or anything I want and no one can say "you can't do that." And if people think it's stupid. So what. Same thing with the Crocs. Although I know about every person in the world has them now I can finally wear something that is bright and crazy that screams "this is me". I used to wear bright stuff all the time because that is who I was...I am still that person. I have always been able to continue to wear bright things, but the Crocs have helped me to enter back into the world of being me and wearing what I want to wear and not worrying about whether the person walking past me thinks they're God awful. Actually I love seeing people's eyes watch my feet as I walk past...I always wonder, "hmmm, I wonder what they're thinking." But in no way am I worried about what they're thinking. Alright, I'm deep into this now, but I think y'all get what I mean. I want to be happy to be me again and I got to say, it's coming.

On a much lighter note, we actually booked our trip to Hawaii last night! Sweet. I've been saying "Our Hawaii trip...." But it is now truly ours. How very exciting and something so great to look forward to. I hope everyone had a bright and enjoyable weekend that continues through the work week. Good night.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

The Snow Has Arrived

Everyone got home safe last night. David's work van ended up freezing up on him while he was on Route 2. We're talkin' no brakes, not being able to steer, or anything. So he coasted to a stop and called his supervisor for assistance. They called to have it towed and his supervisor brought him home. In the meantime his supervisor got his car stuck outside the front of our house. With the assistance of a guy that came out of the blue and David, they got it loose. It's amazing how people come together in a time of need, isn't it? Mom was working over and it took her awhile to get to her car from the inside of the plant. It's not that it's a long distance but the wind mixed with snow burns your face and then she had to bust open he doors and kick her driver side door open. She ended up pulling forward out of the parking spot as the drift behind her car was up to the trunk of her Sunfire. She said it was the worse driving conditions she had ever driven in. The amount of snow isn't as bad as the blizzard in the 70's but the wind and visibility were much worse according to her. As usual, the pictures don't do justice. Luckily I already have today off since that's how my schedule falls. David wasn't so lucky. But when he got up he called in to see if anyone was there. At 6am only 3 people had arrived and 2 trucks were already stuck in the parking lot. Obviously David stayed home. It looks like most of the blowing has ceased and we'll be heading out to start shoveling here soon.





Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Snow Day

Actually it's not even that snowy, more blustery than anything, but you get what I mean. It's 1:34pm and I am home after our boss closed the clinic and sent us all home. As I said, the snow isn't that bad, it's the drifting and the wind. We had to shovel our cars out at work just to make sure we wouldn't get stuck. That was tons of fun. But I'm proud of my little Aveo. It handled quite nicely and didn't get stuck. I actually feel safer in it than I did in my Explorer. When I got home there were just a few drifts, not too bad. So I figured I'd might as well clear as much as I could since I was all bundled up. I'm sure I'll find myself out there in a few hours doing it again. I spoke to David at 9am and he had made it up to North Ridgeville (he's up there doing some training for his new position) but said that the snow had just started. I have tried calling him twice since to let him know I was heading home and there was no answer. I figured he was driving and I'd rather him be safe and focus that try to talk to me. So...I hope he makes it home safe and sound. You know, I think I may just have to chill today. I have tomorrow off so I can push school work off til then. Hey, I'm actually finished with all of my Animal Nursing class assignments, with the exception of performing normal day to day tasks that I have to have my preceptor sign off on. I don't think that's bad considering I'm only in my 4th week and I have all 12 weeks of assignments done. Rock on....now Speech....tomorrow....

Snow, Snow When Are You Falling...

Okay, so who's going to have the most accurate winter storm forecast? It's is 6:59am and there's not much snow on the ground. I'm sure I'll be thinking, "you get what you ask for." later as a foot of snow falls. Nah, I don't know if we'll get that much. According to weather.com we should have accumulation of 8-12 inches of snow by tomorrow. And snow was supposed to start early this morning. As stated, there's not much snow, but boy do you hear the wind. Surprisingly all the schools in the area are already cancelled. I swear, when I was in school a blizzard had to occur in order to not have school. They've cancelled it about 3 times within the past 2 weeks. The first two times it was too cold and then with the impending storm that is to hit today I guess they didn't want to take any risks. Whatever. This is how I think it will all go down today. We'll be seeing clients and then all the sudden the snow will hit, people will start to cancel appointments and then our owner's will plan to close, but one person has to stay to man the phones. And guess who that one person will be? Yep, if you guessed me, that's right. I live the shortest distance away and don't have any kids. I also have the smallest car....haha. A visual just went through my head of me driving my little Aveo has the wind tries to blow me off the road. I guess it's really not that funny, but it made me smile. We'll have to see. We have a pool at work to see who will be the closest to the amount of actual snowfall. I got dibs on 7 inches. Then one of my coworkers thinks it's going to be a bluff and only have 3.25 inches as her bet. Only time will tell. I'll tell you this though, I will be wearing my big honking snow boots to work and changing into my Crocs when I arrive. Yep, just like what you did in elementary school. Ah, remember those days? When you'd wear a skirt to school with sweatpants underneath it to keep warm. My question is this...why the heck was I wearing a skirt in the winter? That's just crazy. Or the days when you'd feel like Randy from A Christmas Story, where you could hardly move in your overall snowpants, boots, and gear. It's amazing that you could even move when you're that bundled up. All I remember was it was pretty hard, but I had the coolest snowboots that would change color when they got cold. Yep, the Freaky Freezies. I loved them and thought they were so cool. And what about the feeling of your snow boots feeling like they're never on tight enough. Ok, maybe that's just me...but I always use the velcro around the ankle/calf area but my feet have so much room and when you walk you don't want to pick up your feet too much because they may just fall off. Or when you're in deep snow and you lift your foot up to find that you only lifted your foot up and not the boot too, leaving the boot deep down in the snow. How about when you're sledding and fall off the sled, or get snow down your neck of your jacket, or when you go face first into some snow, freezing and scratching your face up at the same time. I kind of see it like a slip and slide. You're all excited to do it. And then when it happens you run, slide, and go bump bump bump bump over the not so smooth ground, causing all of these bruises, but hey it's fun, and you go back for another slide. Ah, at first I saw these as fond memories, but looking back reading this after I have written it, maybe they're not so fond and that's why I tend to stay inside. But I sure realized how I stayed fit when I was younger....having fun was hard work. Hope ya'll enjoy any snow. And for you in the non-snow states, don't you wish you were here? Okay, maybe not.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Indulge Yourself In....Something

As I write David is trying to get a groove with the Sports Hoop. Yeah, we received it on Friday and he's trying his darndest to get it. God love him. He just stated, "it's got to be my big gut...it's throwing off my rhythm." I just had to laugh. We didn't even get it out on Friday. For some reason my hip has been killing me. I thought it was the weather and my bad leg combined together and then I slipped at home on Friday night and hurt it even more. I dunno what's up. Sita says my alignment is off. As usual I don't want to get help for it and am just trying to let itself work it's way out of the funk. We'll have to see. Anyway, even though it hurt I had to use the hoop last night. Got to work off the pounds. Hawaii's coming man. Yeah, it's 10 months away, but I got to be lean and mean by that time. A goal to work towards at least. Obviously we're indulged in the whole Hawaii thing. To be honest with Tara having the baby I started having baby thoughts. At the same time my mind was saying "are you crazy??" As David said, "I think this is the longest you've actually taken it into consideration." As most of you know we're pretty adament about not having kids. I know everyone says, "you're young....you'll change your mind" And it's not something I'd like to totally rule out but at this time it's not the direction we'd like our lives to head. And if God wants it to be that way, then it will be, but let me tell you, I'm trying my hardest to stop any future developments in that area. I really love our "kids" that we have. I love the freedom, and the little (stress the little) financial freedom we have. But then you think "what if...." And that's when you start to have dreams. It's something that's fun to think about but scary and also something that I want to leave my thoughts....all at the same time. Hard to explain, but I'm sure the ladies will understand. So those thoughts were going on for a few days and then we started thinking heavily about vacation. Whoop....there went any baby thoughts....Hawaii here we come. I got the books (3), got what hotel we want to stay at all figured out, and all. We've decided against the cruise thing at this time for financial reasons. The trip hasn't been booked but I hope to do that sometime early next month. Just wanted to pass our ideas by our boss' making sure we don't plan something and lose our jobs at the same time because we wouldn't be allowed to go. Not good. This weekend was quite laid back. We slept in on Saturday and then went tool hunting for David. With his new position he needs more tools. He has some of course, but you can never have enough and you always need to add don't you know? That evening we took a a jaunt to the Winking Lizard in Avon. KD and Erika are always talking about the one up near them so I figured we'd give it a try. Mom and Dad came along too. The menu was large and everything was quite filling. Very good. And we spent last evening watching 50 First Dates...remember, we can't get away from the Hawaii thing. I got up at a decent time this morning and started back on the school work. Spent a few hours doing that while David worked on his Vikings room. Then at about 3pm we went out to get the grocery shopping done and met up with Mom and Dad again for some good Cedar Villa food. And that's our weekend in a nutshell.

On a serious note I'd like to ask you all to say a little prayer for my Grandma Q. She had back surgery a couple weeks ago. As you well know when you get older your body doesn't heal as fast as it used to. And any kind thoughts and/or prayers sent her way would be greatly appreciated. Love you Grandma!

Also, don't forget it's Grandma R's birthday tomorrow 2/12/07. Make sure to wish her a Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday Grandma!

Hope you all have a beautiful start to your weeks. And as always, don't forget to smile...you never know who's watching.....

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

The Y has arrived

FYI we drove by the La Quinta hotel and David's "Y" has arrived. Too funny. I was driving and all the sudden David yelled "I got my Y!" and we both busted out laughing. He's truly a celebrity now. I just hope I can get a "final picture" of his name up in lights before it blows away or is taken down.

This weekend Sita noted that Kroger has King Cakes for sale. Say what? I had to see it for myself. So we stopped by and they really do exist in northern Ohio. You mean I don't have the pay $40 to have one shipped up this year? Awesome. So we enjoyed some King Cake while watching American Idol tonight. I will admit it's not New Orleans Gambinos King Cake, but it's King Cake.

I'm still working on school work on a daily basis...as I just wrote that I realized I need to send my assignments in for tomorrow. Crap. As my printer scans I guess I can continue to write.

In other news we've been trying to figure out what our next vacation will be. Yes, we just came back from vacation but it's never too early to plan for the next. So we've been going through all of our options....a cruise to the caribbean, or something smaller say like Philadelphia or up to the Mall of America and Wisconsin Dells. Or what about Williamsburg and Washington DC. Texas is out because we'll be going there in a year or two (not soon enough) when I graduate from school. I want to go to Italy, but that's going to be way expensive and I'm not sure if David's in that type of mind set yet. It's going to be hard to beat Disney. So we have come to the conclusion of Hawaii. Don't know how we're going to pay for it, or when we're going to go, but I'm going to start looking at guidebooks and I've already starting searching online. Basically, how to get there and what to do. I think we'll end up sticking with a cruise so we can go everywhere, but we'll have to see. The idea is crazy, but I've always thought, if you put your mind to it, you can do it. Or maybe it will just be a pipe dream. We'll see. At least I'll have guaranteed fun looking. Any ideas, please feel free to spring them on me.

In addition to all that's going on I've been looking for ways to make my blog look a little more personable. Ya'll know I have to have 50 million things going on around me and in my head to make me happy. I've been searching for free templates and things and have found a few I may implement. I wish I had enough knowledge to build my own. I'm sure if I had the resources I'd be able to figure it out, but at this time am limited to my own knowledge and anything I can find online. I also don't want to pay a fortune to by something from somebody since this is just a fun thing for me to do. My dad said he has Photoshop so I may be checking that out soon to see what I can do with that. Never worked with it before so that should be fun and a learning experience. Hey, it will come as with all of the other things that I've worked on including my Pinnacle set up, etc. Just takes a little patience. If anyone has any ideas for this too, send them my way.

It's 10:20pm and my assignments are emailed.

Have you smiled today? If not, you better hurry, the day is almost done. Good night and sleep tight.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

It's Not The Number That Matters, It's If The Pants Fit

Hey all! Just waiting for the guys to finish watching the Super Bowl aftershow. So here I am. I had a productive weekend. On Friday night we spent some time with Sita and Alpa and surprised Alpa for his birthday, by stopping by with everything to make sundaes. Whip cream, cherries, Reese Pieces...you name it, we got it. I worked on Saturday. Due to the boss being out of town we didn't have any appointments which left me up front at the desk...meaning I got a few weeks of work done for school. Good to go. In the afternoon we braved the frigid weather for the best carmel apples in the world. They are at Kalahari and are SO good. When David worked there for a short time he would bring me one home. They are huge and they come with almost anything you'd want on them. I like the one with sprinkles. Anyway, it was cold. There were white out type of conditions outside due to the amount of blowing snow and being out in the middle of no where with all the wide open land. If you've ever been there the parking is very far from the building and you have to cross a bridge. I guess that's the way they get you to use the valet parking. But we made it inside and it was worth it. And a bonus, Alpa was participating in a Poker Tournament for charity out at the convention center, so we stopped by and saw him. Then we bummed around the rest of the day. I worked on making DVDS, with Pinnacle, of all of our recent family movies in the evening. It's fun when you get the hang of it and as usual I get addicted to stuff like that. I transfered Allysen's delivery video from my camcorder that mom took throughout the day. I hope to crop it sometime this week and get some footage online so you all can see her. It's not as good as seeing her in person, but better than stills. On Sunday we ate brunch at Chet and Matt's with the 'rents. They have the buffet and I must say I was quite surpised at how good it was. It's definitely a repeater. We stopped by to see Allysen, Kara, and Tara and to delivery some baby goodies and the DVD. She is so small, you wouldn't believe. And so perfect at the same time. Mom made Aunt Bernie's candy and chili this weekend. Double yum. Aunt Bernie's candy is kind of like a taffy and carmel at the same time. It's a one of a kind thing and so addicting. We'll have the chili tomorrow night for dinner...I don't think the candy will make it that long though. Speaking of all this food, believe it or not I'm still trying to whittle down my waist and am succeeding thus far. Mainly with watching what I eat, how much, and doing crunches, etc. I feel this weekend was almost a free for all, but even though I didn't eat very nutritious foods, I didn't eat that much. And Sita got me hooked on something. She got this thing called a Sports Hoop. It's a weighted hula hoop and I'm digging it. You work from 3-5 minutes to start all the way up to 10 minutes after doing it for a few weeks. And boy, do you feel it. Since we've seen David's parents the past 3 days I've been able to use it. It hurts a bit because your waist has to get used to the weight (and you feel bruised) but I'm sure it will be worth it. This evening I broke down and purchased one on the internet and hope to get it ASAP. I'm not one of those kinds of people that buy into those type of infomercial type things, but it's a little more "enjoyable" than doing crunches or leg lifts. If you can call exercise enjoyable. It's kind of like doing belly dancing and how that works to slim you down. You feel it in the abs, butt, and can even feel it in your arms. It works on cardio too. Let me tell you by the end you're breathing pretty hard and have a decent sweat. But it's not the kind where I feel I can't go on, like when I run. But I'm hoping for it to take the place of my crunches or I can do both. Since starting to watch what I've been eating, etc. I've lost about 5 lbs in the past 2 weeks. Not too bad. But as I tell clients with overweight dogs, it's not the number that matters, it's if the pants fit. I'll keep you posted.

Kind Of Funny

Mom called me on Saturday morning to tell me that David's name was on the billboard at the hotel where the Madden Tournament was. We thought it was kind of funny so we decided to go out and of course take a picture. I guess the Y flew away or they didn't have enough letters. Funny.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

She Has Arrived

Allysen Reese
Arrival Time: 5:29 pm
Weight: 6 lbs 0 oz
Length: 18 1/2 inches

Both Mother and Baby are as happy as can be.