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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