Goodbye 2009

I'm in the process of taking down Christmas. It is sort of a depressing project because that means the holidays are really over and the cheeriness of the tree lights will be gone. The house will go back to normal, which means it's no longer okay to leave presents in the living room around the tree. Things must be put away. And most of all, the eating MUST STOP.

During the holiday season I pretty much give in to any sweet presented in front of me. Because of that, I need to snap myself into shape. Quickly. We are going to Florida in less than three months. Closer to two months. I want to say that I've never worn a bikini, but I bet my mom dressed me in one as a toddler. So my goal was to wear a bikini in Key West. I'm not sure that goal is still attainable (well, I could certainly put one on right now, but I don't want my fellow travelers to be disgusted at the sight!) but I'm going to try my best.

The Holiday Spirit

What a great Christmas! We had an awesome, drama-free holiday this year. The hubs probably spent too much money on my gift, but I love every part of it, so I'm not returning any of it! :)

The drama-free part of the holiday was sort of bittersweet. My SIL is a little dramatic and has decided that we are no longer part of her life. The sad part is, "her life" includes our niece, who we love dearly. So while we didn't get to see the niece or even talk to her on the phone, we did get a message that if we had any presents that we should drop them off at the grandparent's house for pick up later in the week. I'm guessing that she thought she was being extra nice to us by making that offer. However, it just doesn't work that way. Since we were told that we were no longer part of their lives, we did not buy the niece any gifts.

But Christmas eve was spent with the hubs' family and I had a great time watching all the other kiddos open their presents and bonding with my still semi-new extended family. It was awesome because the SIL was not there to make anyone uncomfortable or cause any unnecessary drama.

I hope your holiday was equally as wonderful.

Merry Christmas

A snippet from Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds concert that I did not attend:

Christmas Day prep

For the past three years, the hubs and I have been waking up at my father-in-laws' house. Our niece was brought there and we enjoyed seeing her open presents from pa-pa. This year, we decided to go ahead and wake up at our house. We are having my parents and sister/bro in law over for lunch before we all head to my grandma's for dinner. This way, the hubs and I can have our own mini-Christmas together before we rush around cooking for the fam. We are both horrible at waiting to open gifts. I'm actually surprised it hasn't happened yet. We love buying gifts for each other and as products of this generation, we seek immediate gratification. We want to watch the other one open the present RIGHT NOW!!

If hubs were going to be home with me tomorrow night, I might consider having our little gift exchange early, but instead he will be at the MO-IL game with his best buddy. I'll be grocery shopping and cleaning the house.

Because it's our first time hosting Christmas, I want to make a record of the planned menu. If you have something to suggest, please feel free. Or tell me what your family eats on Christmas day. I bet the hubs' family tator tots is not the only non-traditional tradition.

Baked chicken
Green bean casserole
Imo's salad
Crescent rolls
Sweet potato puffs
Dessert from Rusty

He's so sweet.

This basically sums up what the hubs and I have been up to. We are enjoying the holiday season together and have painted the beer fridge with chalkboard paint. I found this note when I left for work this morning.

The pugster and his new friend, a Brussells Griffin

Unfortunately, this is my dog's favorite thing to do...

New favorite

I used to be a single-star server at Cracker Barrel. The entire time I worked there I usually ate grilled chicken, biscuits or apple dumpling for dinner. Not once did I try the "Eggs in a Basket" dish on the breakfast menu. A few weeks ago I decided to try it, and I fell in love.

Tonight, I attempted it at home. I made four "baskets" for the hubs and I to share, but only half of them were "correct." I busted the yolk in 2 baskets, which really ruins the entire basket experience for me. I prefer my egg in the basket to be over easy, or as my sister called it when we were kids "dip egg."

I found the only way to not break the yolk was to flip the basket by hand, lowering it slowly back down to the griddle. Poor hubs' first basket turned out to be french toast for the most part. His egg went over the entire basket, but he is a good husband and ate it anyway.

Cookies!!

Most of the time I try to bake/cook somewhat healthy foods. This week, I did not even attempt. I baked cookies all day Friday with a few of my good buddies. If you are unaware, I pretty much suck at all things in the kitchen. I really suck at cooking dinner, but I can usually pull of baking. The image above proves I mess that up too. Can you see how the little chocolate kisses are burned on the tips? Yeah, I baked the cookies with the kisses on them...

But I saved them because I pulled off those burnt boys and used melted chocolate to adhere fresh, uncooked kisses and now they are delish! Those chocolate chips in the background were good the first time around. We also made sugar cookies and decorated them with green and pink (the red was never strong enough) icing. It was a fun day.

I'm workin' on it.

I'm trying to get the treadmill fixed. The problem is that the peeps who fix treadmills work the same schedule I do, in the same time zone (they are in Kansas if you were curious). So I can't call them before or after work (like I could if they were in India) but I'm hoping I'll have time on Friday when I work from home.

Every night last week and last night the hubs and I walked outside. It's been awesome to walk with him every night and have someone to talk to, instead of walking by myself. I'm not sure what is motivating him to walk with me because usually he'd rather just lift weights, but I'm happy to have a partner on my walks. :)

Stupid treadmill

For the record, I did not want to buy the dang treadmill before we moved, but the hubs was extremely motivated to lose weight while I was not living with him. So I caved and we ended up with a 300lb monster to deal with during the move. To get it in the new house, we had to take it apart and put it back together because it was too wide to fit through the doorway. Neither of us bothered to use it while it was in the garage, plus the goody book says not to store it in the garage.

He did use the treadmill daily prior to the move, and I used it a few times a week once it was situated in our bedroom. It was nice to watch my soap while on the treadmill every night. However, a few weeks ago it started jolting to a stop while I was running (which scared the bejeezus out of me every time!!) and not turning on with the first try. Now, it won't beep beep to tell us it's ready. The switch lights up and I can hear the speakers turn on like it wants to work, but the screen never lights up to tell me to push start.

So now what? I have anther 300lb monster just chillin in my bedroom, when it's too cold to really run outside and I'm actually motivated to run. We took it apart this am to make sure it was all connected still, and it was. Soooo... I guess I'll have to call someone to fix it.

Found this at work.

has anyone ever tried these?

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First new photos

The hubs and I have been walking together at night, and even though it was literally freezing out tonight, we bundled up anyway. This might be one of the first times I've worn long underwear. And because I'm in love with my new camera, a self-portrait. I was also on the phone with KT at the time... there's no pausing.

And because the hubs is not a huge fan of his photo being taken, the dog has no choice but to be my favorite subject.

New Camera!!!

Now that November is over I dont have to post every day.

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black friday

I went against my better judgment and ventured out on Black Friday. However I waited until 10pm to make sure all the crazy women were back home and asleep. At terrgit I picked up these cute matching stockings for us. Last year we had 2 random ones and I liked the way these look so much better.

I also picked up a few other decorations and some sweaters for only $8!

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The decision.

After what seems like months of debate (but might have really been one entire month) I finally decided which digital SLR to purchase. It has shipped and is on its way to its new home. As it would be fairly difficult to take a photo of the camera itself, click here if you want more info.

While I will probably take ton of the pictures of the dog because he's my most accessible subject, I'm looking forward to take lots of other cool photos. Right now, I have a nice collection of flower shots hanging in my cube from our honeymoon in Key West. Since we are returning to KW in March, I want to take more photos to add to that collection and maybe hang some at home too. I love original art in our house, and try to decorate with our own works, even if it's just painting stripes on some canvas to coordinate the room.

great success

Highlights from my celebratory MBA graduation/housewarming party:

• So glad all my local aunts and uncles could come see the new house, along with the majority of my cousins. We decided not to drive back and forth on Thanksgiving so it was nice to see them around the holidays.
• the pigs in a blanket were a huge hit.
• my husband makes some mean baked potato soup.
• it was a beautiful day outside.
• i love the Wii, but will probably never buy one because I wouldn't use it on a daily basis.

You bet.

My sister and her husband often compete to lose weight. They set a deadline and say whoever loses the most weight by X date, gets whatever prize they bet on. Usually it's a present of some sort, like an item of clothing or digital camera for example. They usually both end up losing weight, but I've never heard the outcome of who actually "wins."

This morning I proposed this idea to the hubs. What if we competed from now until Christmas day to lose weight. He said no, because he would beat me and I would feel bad about myself. I don't think I agree with that statement, but he is so competitive that he probably would win. He also does not work in an office setting where everyone brings in treats daily like I do. I can usually do fairly well at work because I bring my lunch and therefore control my food. BUT when people bring in stuff, I feel like I should at least try it. I've heard talk of one lady bringing in pumpkin scones and that sounds amazing already. Do you know how horrible a scone is for you? It's not good. For example, an orange scone is 10 points. Compare that to a plain bagel, which is 6.

So, we have not decided whether or not to embark on this friendly competition, but I sort of hope we do. The hubs motivates me like no one else, and if he does it with me it would be even more awesome.

Happy Thanksgiving

This year, I'm thankful for many things. I'm glad we have friends we both love to hang out with. I'm thankful that my marriage is strong and we are both happy to be loving each other. I'm SO glad I'm finished with my masters degree. While I'm not extremely pleased with my recent weight-loss stalemate, I'm glad that the hubs and I are both healthy (financially and physically) and able to do everything we want right now.

I hope your thanksgiving was a day full of over-eating as well.

First ornament

This was the first ornament I hung on our tree this year. It was a wedding gift and I think it is so cute on the tree.

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Anniversary flowers still look beautiful!

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Germ talk

Last night I was reading a similar article, but close to this article in my SELF magazine about germs. Working at a hospital with tons of germs floating around, I'm already someone overzealous with the germ-x, but now it will probably be worse. The article talks about how this woman took samples from all the random places she touches in a day, and some microbiologist tested them for her (side note: my dad was a microbiologist). What were the findings? Basically, you people need to start washing your hands after you take a poop. The amount of feces she found everywhere is just alarming. Seriously, I'm considering yelling at people in the bathroom.

You know how when you are in the stall, and you can hear what's going on in the rest of the bathroom? You hear when people leave without washing their hands. I have such a big mouth that I might just yell out "HEY YOU! Can you wash your hands so no one has to touch your poop-germs? Thanks!!!"

someone is scared of the tree...

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What we did...

Here's what we accomplished this weekend (bold = done):

• change bathroom light fixtures, paint if needed where old fixture was - we took it down, but then realized the new fixture was too heavy to replace the old one because there's no stud to attach it to... this is consider WIP (work in progress)
  
• pull up old kitchen floor, lay new kitchen floor and grout - this one is waiting till after the party. We want to make sure it's done right, and not rushed. Goal: Festivus.
  
• change hallway light fixture
  
• finish staining the fence (ran out of time... hopefully it will get done this week.)
  
• new bed is being delivered on Saturday (YAY! KING SIZE!!) so put that together
• situate queen bed in guest room
• have fun at trivia tonight
• see New Moon (hubs is not participating in this activity.)
• clean like crazy - another WIP.
  

Pumpkin Souffle

Not that I would ever replace pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, I did try an alternative last night. I have been wanting pumpkin pie for a week or so, but I didn't want to make a pie. My photo of the Ted Drewes cup for lunch was a pumpkin concrete, but we all know how horrible those things are for our waistlines. So last night I made a WW recipe for pumpkin souffle. It said the level of difficulty was "difficult" so I was a little nervous. Then I got home from the store and realized I only read milk instead of evaporated milk in the ingredients. So I substituted half and half instead. I had to beat eggs into stiff peaks (a first) and cook the pumpkin before baking the entire thing in a 2.5 quart dish.

I thought it turned out pretty well. It's not nearly as sweet as pumpkin pie, but it's only 2 points per serving (compared to 8 for a regular piece of pie), so I think that's worth it to tide me over until turkey day.

new bed!

Poor little dog can't jump up anymore now that the bed is pillow-top. So we have to put a stool near the bed for him to hop up with.

my cute snowman

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Honey-do list

Things we need to accomplish before next weekend at the house:

• change bathroom light fixtures, paint if needed where old fixture was
• pull up old kitchen floor, lay new kitchen floor and grout
• change hallway light fixture
• finish staining the fence
• new bed is being delivered on Saturday (YAY! KING SIZE!!) so put that together
• situate queen bed in guest room
• have fun at trivia tonight
• see New Moon (hubs is not participating in this activity.)
• clean like crazy
  

36 days

Only 36 days until Christmas!! I'm super excited for Christmas this year. Due to the hubs being allergic to cats, we are going to host "the six of us" Christmas, which includes my mom and dad, my sister and her husband, and the two of us. Growing up, we called it "just the four of us" but now that the sis and I are both married, it's The Six of Us.

So Christmas day, everyone will come over to our house. I'm not sure what we'll cook, because traditionally my mom made eggs benedict for Christmas breakfast, but I don't think we'll be eating breakfast. Maybe brunch though, so I suppose it's a possibility.

I'm also excited to decorate the new house. We bought a fake tree two years ago on clearance for $20 right after the holidays and have never been able to use it. We've hauled that huge, heavy thing from the old house to storage to the new house and I want to see it put up!

Lunch.

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The clock.

Lately I cannot stop thinking about babies. I think about all the logistics of being pregnant, buying clothes, getting fat, giving birth and telling work I'm going to using FMLA. I think about stupid stuff like changing diapers and how I want to puree all the baby food myself instead of buying it from gerber. I think about how it's going to drastically change our lives and put a damper on our social life. I think about how old I will be when the kid is XX years old. I think about how I will have to buy one of those strollers that you can run with so I don't stay fat. I think about how easy it was for the hubs and me to gain weight, and how the obesity epidemic is taking over America's youth. I do not want my child to go through the struggles that I did as a fat middle schooler/high schooler. The good news is hubs did not gain weight until college, and I lost it in college, so the kid has a 50/50 chance of being average at some point. Neither the hubs nor I was ever or probably will ever be "thin" so they are just out of luck on that one unless the kid gets my mom's genes. I think a lot about the unknown of having a husband who was adopted. I have no clue what his parents look like or his grandparents or what is normal for his family to look like. I think I look a lot like my dad's side of the family (but not my dad), and not really so much my mom's.

I know my parents will be thrilled to read all this blabbering, but I also know that we (the hubs and I) are just not quite there yet.

(by the way, I've been asked twice in the last month if we were actively trying to have a baby yet. The answer is no, and that's noneya bidness.)

Cut off.

My sweet tooth is officially cut off until Turkey Day when I eat some of hubs' grandma's sweet potato puffs (stuffed with marshmallows) and some pie. I gained 2lbs this week while on vacation. While that is to be expected, I still don't like it.

So all those Thin Mints, Tagalongs and Do-Si-Dos will just have to hang out in the pantry until then.

Christmas time.

It's officially Christmas season for me. I know it's not Thanksgiving yet, but I love Christmas music and I ordered our Christmas cards today. I've started shopping too and have a pile of presents (even though there are only a handful of presents there right now) ready to be wrapped. For my own Christmas present, I'm planning on buying a new camera on black Friday, so I've been researching cameras for weeks now. I think I've finally made a decision, but I'll keep you waiting until I purchase :)

While we were on our trip I bought an ornament with Niagara Falls on it. I think I want to start collecting ornaments to put on our tree. That way, every year we can reminisce about all the places we've been together. I'll have to pick up an extra from Key West since I didn't get one the first time we were there. My parents have a tradition of getting a fridge magnet from everywhere they go, but our fridge is already full of magnets, so I don't think I want to continue that tradition.

A strange day.

Today brought back a lot of high school memories. I went to the craft fair at my alma mater with my mom. Not only did I shop at these craft fairs in HS, they benefit the band so I also helped work them during my four years there. So it was weird to be in that building again, seeing places and faces I used to see but haven't thought about it years.

Then I ran into someone from my old church. This girl was probably 2-5 while I was in high school and she sat on my lap during the service every Sunday. I can't remember how that started, but her parents were very involved in the church so maybe they asked me to watch her one time and it stuck? I don't really know, but we became good buds. I saw her today, at age 19. She's a freshman in college studying veterinary science. It was so strange to talk to her as a young adult, but probably just as strange for her. She asked me how old I was when we were buds and she said she thought I was an adult then.

Somewhere in Ohio

still in the car...

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My favorite road trip snack.

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the falls lit up

nighttime view

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view from the street

a virtual postcard

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both falls

view from our room

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After a museum...

The Great Lakes Brewing co was closed for the day (found out after we paid to park) so we found another bar called Flannerys. And no I'm not drinking beer. It's cider.

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Cleveland view from our room

That white building sticking up with the glass in front is the rock and roll hall of fame. We are headed there today.

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A lesson.

Working in health care PR, I get to receive calls from the media from time to time asking about a patient's condition. Due to HIPAA rules, we, the hospital, cannot give out anything other than the following conditions:

Critical = you could go at any time.
Serious = you are very sick, but likely to make it
Satisfactory = you are out of the woods, but still in the hospital
Fair/Good = you are much better, probably fair or good.

So when the media covers stories such as the Fort Hood shooting, and says stuff like:

At a thoroughly surprising evening press conference, Lt. Gen. Robert Cone at Fort Hood told media gathered that the shooter in today's attack, Malik Nidal Hasan, is not dead but in stable condition at the hospital.

Stable is not a correct term.

The Laundry Room Process

When we moved into the house, this is what the laundry room looked like:

Just incase you didn't notice the green on green linoleum and counter, here's a close-up (with my foot...)

So I pulled off the baseboards and started peeling up the sheet of tile.

This is what the subfloor looked like.

We started in the middle and worked our wait out, standing on each tile as we went. We bought enough tiles to cover the 10x6 laundry room (60 sq ft x $.88/tile = $53) plus a few extra in case we messed up.

Notice the spacers holding the tiles apart for the grout. We found it was much easier to cut the tile with scissors or the table saw, than using the suggested utility knife.

General oversees hub's helper putting in the last few tiles.
The next day, we pulled up all the spacers and used pre-mixed grout ($11) to give it the ceramic-look.

It was so easy to do the grout, it only took us about an hour and it comes up easily with water.

And this is the finished product. Not bad for about $65. Now the kitchen will be a much bigger challenge, with an eat-in/bay window area, there are a lot more angles to cut.

step 4. enjoy

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step 3. grout

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Step 2. lay pretty tile.

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Green Stuff

My new favorite site to buy stuff from is brightandbold.com. I already love my envirosax, and use them every time I go to the grocery store, but I only had one and most of the time I buy more than one bag's worth of stuff. Therefore, I needed another.

So I ordered myself a bag and also got the bonus back of green stuff. I got a set of green paper towels (basically large flat sponges), a fresh produce saver disc (sits in the fridge and keeps stuff fresh longer), a notebook (that I won't use and will probably give away), a snack taxi (to replace ziploc bags, I will use this!) and some cotton bags (not sure what I'm supposed to do with these...).

So if you need some green stuff, you should check them out! (and no, they did not ask me to write this. I did it all by myself)

Some Kitchen Thoughts

I am the opposite of a morning person, so naturally I start pulling up the old tile at 8pm on a week night. Even though the hubs and I have tackled several DIY projects at our old house, putting new tile in the kitchen floor is going to be a bigger deal than I originally imagined. This mostly due to the fact that the current vinyl tile was one of those large sheets of tile, rolled out while the house was being built. Then they added molding (not a huge deal), door frames (annoying, but do-able) and cabinets (might be a deal-breaker). Also, the current vinyl tile was rolled straight from the laundry room entrance from the garage into the kitchen. Cool for the dudes building our house, except they put the carpet that goes from the living room hallway into our bedroom right on top of that vinyl tile. So, I can't peel it up without ripping the carpet too...

So the hubs and I have a major few decisions to make on this massive DIY project. Stay tuned.

Step 1. remove ugly tile.

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The Kitchen

The hubs and I are slowly but surely taking steps to improve the aesthetics of our kitchen. I absolutely hate the green-on-green look. I hated the wallpaper so much that I peeled it all off in one night. We've picked out new floors and counters, and are half-way through replacing the white appliances with black/stainless. Our new stainless fridge will be arriving thanksgiving, so the only white one left will be the dishwasher.

Our goal is to replace the hunter green floor with a nice gray colored "luxury vinyl" peel and stick tile prior to my upcoming graduation party. At least 2 of the three hideous things will be removed before a bunch of people come over to hang out. We actually bought the supplies back in July, but then football season took over the precise, muscled-half of our team. I'm not about to tackle a DIY project without that, so we've waited. Now that football is over, we are about to get back on track.

EEEK!!

How many of you have started thinking about what to give for Christmas presents? I know I have. I have pretty much stopped buying for all of my girl friends except for a few. I think this was a mutually beneficial decision since most of us have hubs and families to buy for. In our case, we have little nieces and nephews who we like to spoil, so that means less money in the pot for adults. Plus the hubs and I like to buy one large gift to each other. Last year we bought a treadmill. This year we are buying a king-size bed and bedroom furniture for our room. We are still living out of the dresser that I had as a child, and the frame is from when I graduated college. Our nightstand was a table I earned when my grandma's house was divvy-ed up. It's time.

I picked out the mattresses this week, but we have yet to make a final decision on the much larger purchase - furniture.

Someday little buddy.

Eventually, I will have my very own English bulldog. Just not today.

Mostly because he costs $1800 and I'd rather have a king-size bed.

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Anniversary trip

The hubs and I are planning an impromptu anniversary trip next week. We've been debating over where to go, when to go, if to go for about a month now. It all depended on what the high school football team decided to do in the playoffs. Sadly, they lost in the first round (but yay for football being over!). We decided we need to cross the border into Canada since neither of us have ever done it.

A rough itinerary:
Day 1 - leave work early, drive to Cleveland, Ohio
Day 2 - visit rock and roll hall of fame, Old Crow Medicine concert
Day 3 - drive to Niagara Falls, do touristy things like put on a poncho.
Day 4 - drive to Indianapolis, IN
Day 5 - drive to Evansville, IN, see minor league hockey game.
Day 6 - home.

Nudity!

this is on a painting at work.

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To Dallas!

I'm not sure if you all heard, but last week Southwest Airlines had a huge sale. Because my BFF from middle school moved to Dallas, I decided to book a flight to go visit her. Another of our friends will hopefully be traveling with me, but to my knowledge, she missed out on the sale. I got my round trip ticket for about $150. I think it could have been less, but absolutely refuse to fly anything but non-stop. If you've met me, you know patience and I don't really get along, so I don't like to sit around airports or on runways waiting to change planes. So for my sanity along with anyone I might travel with, it's best to fly non-stop.

So I'll be visiting her in January. By then, she should be all settled in her new house and have some fun things for me to see in a city I've never visited before. At some point, the hubs and I will have to go back during baseball season to cross the Dallas stadium off our list.

(as a side note, she has decided to start a blog. She's just getting going, but you can check it out here.)

happy halloween!

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Time for a big bed

It's time. The hubs and I are considering our next adult purchase. We need a king-sized bed. I've been doing some research and most sites say that people taller than 6' (we are both just under 6') need a king-sized bed. (For those taller than 6'6"- you need a california king, which is longer, but not as wide)

In our current set up, we both feel like we are sleeping on the edge of the bed because our 27lb dog gets the middle and likes to kick at us. I know one solution would be to kick him out of the bed, but I enjoy his warmth. His core temperature is something like 101. He's my little charcoal briquette.

So if anyone has any mattress-buying advice, let us know!

Some thoughts

• I do not want to get the H1N1 vaccine. Not only have they not really tested it completely, but I've already had the Swine. However, since I don't have documented proof from my physician, I am required to get the vaccine by my place of employment.
  
• I want to blog more. I'd really like to be a full-time blogger someday, but for the month of November, I'm going to participate in the blog-every-day thing, NaBloPoMo.
• Hubs' team is in the playoffs, so I'm going to Effingham tomorrow if anyone wants to road trip with me?
  
• I'm not dressing up for Halloween this year, but do plan to eat some and pass out lots of candy.
  
• I booked my flight to visit Denise in Dallas in January.
  
• We are booked for Key West in March.
• We plan to go somewhere (possibly not Niagara Falls) in December.
• I will be wrapping all of my gifts in newspaper again this Christmas. I like to find ways to go green and wrapping presents in gently used newspaper, donated by my former roomies, is one way to do it.
  

The swine

this is how the dog and i spent last Thursday and Friday while I battled The Swine. I am still coughing a lot but feel much better and have been busy trying to catch up on the work I missed.

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Funny

You know how some elderly people tend to announce diseases as "the diabetes" or "the cancer"? Well I just got off the phone with my sister who asked if I have The Swine.

Then her husband in the background says "Quit calling it The Swine!"

I think she's getting old.

And while it's possible that I have The Swine, I don't think so yet. I took the Mayo Clinic's quiz to determine if I have the flu or a cold, and it says I just have a cold. I also read that most people don't require antibiotics to fight The Swine, just rest and fluids. I think I'll stick with that for now.

One Year Old

I bought my car one year ago today. It has about 31,000 miles on it. I'm pretty sure that's more than average, but for the first 7 months of that car's life, I was driving 240 miles to the old house every weekend. I still live about 20 miles from work, so it's improving but until the Metrolink and I become best buds, the nameless* car is the way to go.

My five year old car of the same brand has 170,000 miles on it. We stopped driving that car in May. It is for sale and has had a couple of lookers, so we'll see. Apparently people are being sticklers for the timing belt not being changed at 100k miles. Who knew that was important?

*this is the first car that I have not named. My previous cars were Patty the Maxima and Ruby the red Civic.

A list

The shows I love to watch:

• Days of Our Lives. I can't help it. My mom raised me watching it. Every day we'd watch days while she got ready for work (she worked evenings, so she got ready at 2pm), so it's kind of a family tradition. I can remember watching it on the 10 inch screen in their bedroom. After college, when Emily and I were both living at home, all four of us would watch it after dinner.
  
• Law and Order SVU.
  
• Biggest Loser. I heart Alison Sweeney (she's also on Days) and it's a good motivator to not eat for a few hours, and maybe work out. Maybe.
• 30 Rock. If you don't watch it and laugh, you suck.
• Office. Even though it started out funny, now it's more of a I-have-to-keep-watching-to-see-if-it-will-be-funny-again sort of thing.
• Good Eats. Alton Brown is my hero.
• Hoarders. I've always called my mom a pack rat. These people take that term to a whole new level.
  
• Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory. Only to watch the bulldogs.
  

No, I do not watch Grey's, One Tree Hill, or Real housewives of any area.

My new fake real hair

Yesterday I got my very first hair extension. Its hot pink for breast cancer awareness month. Apparently it can stay in for an entire month if I take good care of it. I am not sure I will leave it in that long though since we are going to a classy wedding this weekend. It sort of looks like I'm a lil bit punk if you just saw me on the street.

What do you think?

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what happens when MLK bridge closes?

6 miles.

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Sweet talk

I've recently joined the Hungry Girl's newsletter list. I love it. If you are trying to lose weight, or just want to get a wee bit healthier with your eating habits, I highly suggest joining and perusing the content.

She sends you an email every day. (I do not think it's really THE hungry girl who emails you but whatev). Sometimes there are tips and tricks, and sometimes there are recipes. This is the part that rocks. The other part that rocks is that all recipes come with points attributed to them.

So last week, she emailed out this peanut butter-chocolate cheesecake-y thing that is just wonderful. I can't find the recipe in my inbox anymore, but I'll just tell you that it was good. The recipe called for Diet Swiss Miss hot cocoa, so I bought a box of that specifically for the recipe. I don't usually drink hot cocoa, but this version is no points, so I tried it. When the hubs saw it was diet hot cocoa, he asked for the real deal instead. I made him the recipe listed on the box of hershey's in the cabinet. He tasted both and liked my version better!!! So it must be good.

Fire time

Saturday night we spent our time relaxing outside by the fire. It was so awesome to just hang with friends and watch the flames.

We also roasted some marshmallows on homemade roasting sticks.

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Tailgating

they are cooking a pig here!

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I'm all over the place on this one...

My parents left today for a trip to Spain and France. I haven't bothered to look at the specifics of their itinerary that dad emailed me because frankly, I'm too jealous. The hubs and I are actually planning several trips over the next six months, but we are staying in the lower 48, with a jaunt into Canada.

I talk to my mom just about every day. I always thought I wouldn't be that daughter. I thought my sister would grab that role because she's always been more of the momma's girl while I was the one who played sports and went to the hardware store with dad on Saturday morning. When they are gone, I realize how much I talk to mom and how much I would miss it if she weren't here.

Hubs recently lost a semi-family member and I think seeing people our age go through losing a parent is reminding him of when his mom passed. One of the semi-family member's kids asked hubs "when does the hurt stop?" from losing a parent. His response was: It doesn't ever stop.

And that scares me.

adorable.

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Pandora

Now that pandora.com is not free for everyone, and us cheapskates only get 40 hours of listening per month, I am OCD about pausing my pandora when someone comes in my cube, I walk to the printer or go to the bathroom. Those are moments that I might not get back at the end of the month. I ususally run out of time about the 25th of the month, and then I'm forced to find some other free option online. I should just suck it up and pay, but I'm being cheap right now.

I'm just not that into you.

You being Metrolink.

I think public transportation is a very cool thing, and I really wanted to give it a try this week, but I think I'm going to quit my trial after one day. I didn't really mind riding the train, although I was careful not to touch ANYTHING because of all the germs floating around on those babies. The problem I have, is that even with traffic, riding the metro added about an hour to my day. Maybe some people don't mind that, but I love to sleep. Even 45 minutes of sleep is worth it, plus the 15 minutes at night to walk my dog. It only takes me about 30-35 min drive in the morning, versus the 60 minutes it took on the train this morning. Coming home, took about the same amount of time on the train, whereas it usually takes me 40-45 min driving.

That's less time in my sweatpants, less time attempting to cook dinner and less time chasing my dog around the house.

However, I do know how to ride the metro now, and feel confident should the need arise at a later date.

garage sale crazies

If you look closely you can see the line for the portapotty on the right. Luckily it was close to our house so we were a popular spot. We sold a ton of stuff and best of all we got rid of the foosball table that was taking up space in the garage.

Overall we made almost $300. I consider that a great success for about 6 hours off hanging out with my mom in the garage.

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apple picking at eckerts

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