Nuff Said...

WOWZAH!

Wow, see I told you I was a blog neglect-or. (apparently that isn't a word, spell check assures me this is so...) So life has pretty much been going the same. Work, work, work...sleep, and more work. But I guess, for the sake of this blog I will go into some specifics...(that is the purpose of these things, or so they tell me...and by 'they' I mean YOU Erin...)

Sabby finally went into heat...exactly 2 days after the stud we REALLY wanted for her moved to Tennessee. So, I guess we will just have to go another year with no puppies. It really is sad because I REALLY wanted some cute little puppies to cuddle. Good thing Sabby still thinks she is a lap dog and LUUURRRRRVVES to cuddle with me still. Tink also went into heat. So to sum up, we have had 2, I repeat TWO females in heat around this house. Poor Adam, I guess it is lot in life to be surrounded by women.

Speaking of Adam, we just got back this morning from a very LONG and incredibly COLD road trip to Wyomming. Seriously, it was -8 degrees. And we slept in the truck. In the -8 degree weather. Good thing we had a very warm sleepingbag and eachother to cuddle with, otherwise, I am pretty sure I would have frozen solid. It was kinda fun though. I got to sit in the truck with my husband for like 21 hours and just talk and cuddle. That is the longest we have been ALONE with eachother in I can't even remember how long. We talked and listened to The Horse and His Boy (Chronicles of Narnia, it is Adam's favorite book in the series.), and we snuggled in the back and at least tried to get some sleep. We went to Big Piney, WY, population 408. For shiz. And just guess how many bars there were in that town... Three. There were three bars in a town with a population of 408. Why? Just...why? Guess what else? as we were passing through on our way back toward home, there was a BAR FIGHT! There were 4 cop cars. At a bar fight in a town with less than 500 people in it. WOW. What a night.

Now I am home, wishing some food would make itself and just hop into my mouth. Wouldn't that be excellent?

Supremely Disapointing

Pretty good day today. Well, it was an alright day. I invited Erin to lunch today at BURGER SUPREME (yummy scrumboes). She got all ready and got Camper all loaded into the car and then it wouldn't start. And so, we were SUPREMELY deprived of our burgers. But hey, there is always Wednesday. right?

So, I ordered Adam a wonderful Christmas gift online. I thought to myself, 'he is usually gone during the day and it will probably come when he isn't home'. RIGHT! I got a call sometime around 2:00 and it was Adam. I won't go into details but it involved a lot of me begging him not to open it. He claims that he didn't but I don't think that I believe him. I guess we will wait to check how genuine his surprise is Christmas morning huh?

Sabby is now ungrounded. She tore the house apart when we went to Midway this weekend, so she got herself into a LOT of trouble. But daddy broke down and let her back in the house tonight. Speaking of which, she is now trying to climb up onto my lap, so I had better go and give her some attention...

Why do Fun Weekends Always Cause Sleep Deprivation?

What a weekend. I didn't think I was going to be able to fit all of the things I wanted to do in, but I managed. All in all, it turned out to be a pretty good weekend. I am a little sleep deprived, but hey, that is usually the product of a busy weekend right?

I got to go see Twilight (for the fourth time) with Erin finally, and let me tell you, it was the best viewing of them all. Let me tell you what I think about that movie...I liked it. I wasn't the best movie and it isn't one of my favorite movies by any means, but I still liked it. It is one of those movies that you can really appreciate the cheeziness of. And believe you me, Erin and I laughed and mocked and critisized our way through it. I am sure that the girls behind us wanted to smack us and tell us to shut up, but hey, we had FUN! Also, kudos go to Erin for charming the McDonald's guy in to making us some mcnuggets FIFTEEN minutes early. Then I made my way over to Wal-Mart for the Christmas decor sale. I bought a bunch of lawn decorations and I only spent $50! A-wooo-hooo! Now my yard is sooper cute. Made a visit to the Land of Goshen to visit the fam and hit my mom over the head with her birthday presents, and then it was off to Midway for us. Adam and I spent the night at a friends house and played Guitar Hero and watched movies and made some kick ass fajitas for dinner with Lynn and Kirk. We made a bold move when we left Sabby and Tink in the house for the night, and let's just say that that backfired, big time. I got to do some shuttling for all of my bike boys. Can you believe that it December in UTAH and they can still ride their downhill bikes down the mountain? No snow. Zero. It is AMAZING. Just finished up some dinner with some great friends, and now I am deciding if I want to read, or just sit on the couch and watch TV with my hubby. To read, or not to read...that is the question.

Not really looking forward to work tomorrow. Although alot of people are going to be gone so at least things will be a little bit quieter. Can't wait for that.

I would finish off this post with some musings on life, but, as I mentioned before, I am sleep deprived, yo. And that was a very large run on sentance...

This one goes out to Erin...

WOW! So I just learned something about myself. I neglect my blog. And for this I must apologize. Erin is seriously disappointed in me. Sorry girly. So let's catch up on the life of me...

As far as the weight loss thing, I have made zero progress. Sad news, I know. I received my Core Rhythms in the mail and I have yet to use it. But I have had a seriously bad cold, yo. So, although that is a lame excuse, it is the only one I have.

The puppies. We found out that Sabby can't have them. Even sadder news. We really wanted a litter of puppies from Sabby. But that is ok. We still love her. We did get another puppy. Her name is Tink and she is WAY bigger than Sabby, but still sooper cute. She and Sabby are like sisters now. They even share bones, which is hard to get any two dogs to do let alone to full grown pitbulls. We hope to be able to have a litter out of Tink. Adam's cousin Ryan has a male who is getting pretty old, but he is a good dog and we think he and Tink would have some pretty puppies.

We did go and get our family pictures done. It was before we got Tink, so she is not included in them. It was awesome and we had a great photographer. We colaborated nicely. She had great ideas and she was very open to all of my ideas. It turned out to be a very good experiance. Adam and I didn't get to take engagement pictures so this was a new thing for us. The only pictures we had of us together before were our wedding pictures and although I love those and they are very precious to me, it just isn't the same. Anywhoozers, they turned out even better than I expected and I was very happy with them.

CHRISTMAS! Yay it is Christmastime! I love this time of year. It is definately my favorite decorating season. I just adore my tree. Growing up, my parents were very excited about seasonal decor and my house was always dressed up for whatever season it was. Turns out, this is something I carried on in my own home. Adam didn't get this kind of enthusiasim when he was growing up, so he doesn't have even a fourth of the passion that I have for it so he doesn't seem to want to help with any of it. Apparently, I don't seem to need him to share in this passion. I am sure that when we decide to start a family that I will want him to be more involved, but right now, I happen to enjoy doing it even if it is just me. Not only do I LOVE the decor, I LOVE the music. It makes me very nostalgic. I have a lot of very specific songs that are directly connected to my childhood and Christmas just wouln't be Christmas if I didn't hear those songs at least once. I happen to have found all of those songs on a couple different CD's so I don't have to go without. I LOVE it. Wow, I said LOVE in all CAPS ALOT!!! Now you definately know how much I love all of this.

Books. I happen to have read A LOT of them since my last post. Suprise, suprise. But let me just list a couple of my favorite:

1. First, there was the Georgia Nicholson series. It is like a Bridget Jones for the younger generation. The author is from England, and let me tell you, I laughed my butt off while reading them.
   

• Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging.
• On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God
• Knocked Out by My Nunga Nungas
• Dancing in My Nuddy Pants
• Away Laughing on a Fast Camal
• Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers
• Startled by His Furry Shorts
• Love is a Many Trousered Thing
• Stop! In the Name of Pants!

2. Don Quixote

I loved them all. I would seriously recommend the Georiga Nicholson books. Not so much for their literical value, but just because they are light-hearted and funny as hell.

Work. It is work, what can I say. I still love it, it is just a pain in the neck sometimes.

I think I am tired of writing now. More to come, I promise. New goal: write at least once a week. Now that I have said that, I have to write. There you go Erin, I hope you are happy. I even wrote the post-it in BOLD letters.

Long time gone...

It has been a LONG 2 weeks...

Work has been hella crazy, every time you turn around there is a new problem to fix or a question to be answered. I tell you, this is why I love my job! (the previous statement was not said in a sarcastic tone). It would be a lot worse if I didn't like the people that I work with though. They are awesome. It makes the day that much more enjoyable.

On a more personal note:
We may buy another puppy. Sabby might not be able to have puppies, but we have found a female who looks a lot like her and she is already knocked up by the stud we wanted for Sabby. I really want some puppies again, and it would be nice for Sabby to have a playmate around. She misses Missy every now and then.

Also, Adam and I are going to have some family pictures taken this weekend! Yay! We didn't have engagement pics so the only photos we have of us together are a couple taken when we were dating and our wedding pictures. While those are nice, they aren't exactly the pretty, professional pictures that I have always wanted. I am SOOPER excited for this. Now our only obsticle is getting Sabby to sit still for them. We will see how that goes.

Life is alright these days. I am able to find a pretty good balance between 'me time' and 'we time' for the most part. I mostly end up with 'me time', as Adam is gone a lot, but we have started spending more 'we time' together. It has been nice. It reminded me of what it used to be like when we were dating and I remembered why it was I fell in love with him in the first place.

Speaking of loving my man...I have re-learned a lot about him in the last couple of weeks.
1. He is an incredibly passionate person. When he believes in something or sets his mind to something, he usually accomplishes it.
2. He is very thoughtful (when he conquers his ADHD long enough to remember to be).
3. When he gets past the 'I am a BAD ASS' complex he has, he is very gentle, compassionate and affectionate.
4. He would never admit it, but he actually likes to cuddle. This comes in handy for me during the winter months as it is like having a little space heater in bed next to me.
5. He is very intelligent. He doesn't clam to be 'book smart' and don't tell him I said this, but he is full of common sence. He can really look at a difficult situation and find a reasonable solution to it most of the time. Of course, as his loving and intelligent wife, I am always there to guide him in the right direction, but for the most part, he gets there on his own.
Even though he drives me nuts most of the time, I know that he loves me and will always be there for me.

Anways, it is getting late (I know, I know, it is only 9:30 and I am still young, but right now I feel very old...).

Hasta la Pasta! And deep luuuuurrrrves!
xoxoxo

Look who's cooking 2

Just so everyone knows, the cake was awesome too. So awesome, I ate two follow-up pieces tonight when I got home. Yes, that's right people, two. It was a long day...

Look who's cookin'!

Tried a new experiment: bacon wrapped, parmesan crusted chicken and parmesan pasta. One word people: HEAVENLY! I am not kidding, I am the shit. Then, just because I felt like something sweet: German chocolate cake. I haven't tried that yet, but like I said above: I am the shit, no kidding...

Family, Salsa, and Shotgun Shells...

So, what a weekend. Adam was gone to Red Bull Rampage (more crazy bike guys, doing back flips off of cliffs, on bikes). So I decided it was time to go and visit the fam. Good thing too, because uncle Benny, aunt Julie, Damian, Mona, and Issac came over for the visit too. I got to play Guitar Hero with Damian and Mona, make salsa with mom, play acecy-ducey with Dad and uncle Benny, help aunt Julie dye moms hair and see Racquell off to homecoming. Oh, and Sabby spent a lot of time up on the pool table, don't know why but she loved it up there. And all of that was done before 6 o'clock. Busy, busy.

Funniest story I will take home from this:

When I was about 17, I went on a date with this really cute boy, whom I really liked. When he came to pick me up, my dad was waiting for him. He had a shotgun shell in his hand, which he tossed to this boy and then he said, to this really cute boy, whom I really liked these words: 'if you don't have her home by midnight, the next one will come a lot faster'. I thought I would die. Now, I told you that story so I could tell you this one. There my sister is, in her beautiful white gown, waiting in our living room for her date to arrive. There is a knock at the door, and my dad says to everyone in the room, which totaled about 9 people, 'I will get it'. So he walks to the door and he stares this poor boy down. He allows him to enter and walks to the opposite end of the room and leans against the wall while they pin flowers on each other. After this ceremony is completed, we all rush in with cameras, and get the picture taking done and over with. All the while, my dad is still leaning against the wall. I know that something is up, and I am laughing on the inside because I can already hear the words in my mind. After all the pictures are taken and they are getting ready to sit down and wait for the additional members of their party to join them, my dad starts to walk toward this kid. He asks him, 'to you play baseball?', to which the kid responds, 'no'. My dad says, 'well you can catch right?' the kid says, 'yes'. My dad then tosses a shotgun shell to my little sister's date and proclaims 'you better have her home on time, or the next one will come a lot faster...' This poor kid's eyes look like they might pop out of his head at this point. Then, my dad adds an extra touch of flair to this demonstration, which my poor date missed out on. He has placed a shotgun next to the door. He points at this and says, 'and I am ready too!' Oh my goodness people, I was surprised that the poor kid didn't pass out. Kudos to him for at least trying to keep his cool. But as he sat there on the couch, staring at my 220 lb dad and my 300 lb uncle, I could tell he was going to have my sister home on time. Oh, what joy my father got out of that demonstration. Made me very glad that I am no longer in the dating, bring a new guy home to the parents stage. He might have a stroke from all the glee.

Anyways, Racquell was home on time, and when I said, 'did he kiss you?', she said, 'are you kidding? If we had stopped to kiss, we might have been late!'. It is fortunate for my daddy that his daughters are good sports.

In Sickness and for Health (but mostly for the skinny jeans...)

So I did come home from work today. All the symptoms of yesterday morning only throw in a little bit of queeziness... It all adds up to just one word... YUK! That is just how I feel in a nut shell. Being sick sucks. Plus I would much rather be at work getting stuff done than sitting all by self at home. But at least I can be at home feeling yucky that at work feeling the same way. It's a little more comfortable, but not nearly as fun.

Sabby does provide a little entertainment, however. At the moment she is wrestling with her bone on the living room floor. She cracks me up. I bet as soon as I go lay down in bed, she will be right next to me. With her head on the pillow and everything (for those of you who don't know, Sabby is my puppy/child. Or at least she thinks she is...).

So my new goal is to lose 20 pounds by the end of the year. To accomplish this goal I have ordered core rhythms. It should be here tomorrow, so I had better feel better because I am going to want to try all of them! I figured to start losing weight I needed to do 2 things: eat right and exercise. At least that's what they tell me (I will never understand how it is sooooo easy to gain weight but soooooo hard to lose it). So I figured, the eating right won't be a big hindrance, it will be the exercising. Which lead me to start thinking about the kinds of activities that I used to LOVE to do and haven't done since I got married. And the conclusion that I came to was DANCING! I used to love dancing. So I got on amazon and searched came up with core rhythms. Yay!

Well, I think it is time for a nap. See if I can't get this awful sick feeling to go away so I can start dancing away the pounds tomorrow! Maybe more tonight...

Toodles!

It just goes to show ya...

So, today flew by and let me tell you how happy I am that it did:

I woke up this morning with a throat so sore that I could barely swallow. And a headache. Not just a headache, a WHOPPING headache. Also, I didn't sleep very well so my eyes were a little swollen and I just didn't feel well. I was VERY close to calling in sick but then I thought: 'if I am not there, everything will fall apart'. So I had a small argument with myself and in the end, I decided it was better to just go in and get stuff done than to sit at home wallowing, with a headache and puffy eyes and swollen throat. This, apparently, was a very good idea because once I started moving around and drank a little water, I felt much better... So it just goes to show you, wallowing is never a good remedy.

On a happier note: I decorated for HALLOWEEN! Yup folks, there are skulls and spiders and skeletons and pumpkins all over my house, not to mention my desk at work. I get excited about these kinds of things... It looks very spooky and Halloweeny. Although Linda is slightly creeped out by the spiders. I like them.

When I got home, I started a crock pot for chicken and potatoes for dinner, which I was very excited for. But then Adam came home and announced that Grandma Butler had made dinner and then rushed me out of the door to partake. It was fried fish and french fries. Not nearly as healthy as my dinner would have been. But, a lot less work. And no cleanup. Now I am home, and thinking that a bath sounds rather nice. I love bath time. I get to watch all the girly shows that I love that Adam turns off when he comes in the room. And drink chocolate milk, or wine. It's good stuff.

Enough for tonight! Toodles!

Imagi-Nation

So here I am, sitting home being bored and what better plan could one have to stifle boredom than to surf the good old net? I happened across the website of a photographer named Jan Von Holleben. This is where I found the above picture. This got me thinking...where does your imagination go as you get older? When I was a kid I could entertain myself for hours with a piece of string and a button. Give me a piece of string and a button now and I would probably just store them away with all of the other strings and buttons I collect 'just in case'... What the heck? Have I forgotten how to make a button string? I need to make one of those...they are always good for at least a couple minutes of entertainment, right?

I think we all need to learn how to be kids again. I bet all of our major health problems would reduce by great percentages if we as adults would just take some time out of our days to climb a tree, or make a nice finger painting. Maybe this is one of the 'new things' I will try whilst enjoying my own company...who knows...

You gotta try new things...

So...I have never been patient enough even to write a couple of lines in a journal since I was 16. But the older I get, I find that I have a kind of urge to get some of the thoughts out of my head since there are so many things floating around in there, so I thought I would try a blog. Who knew? It is time to rediscover myself and there is no time like the present, right?

Since Adam started driving trucks for a living, I find myself in my own company quite a bit, and let me tell you, for a while there, I wasn't even sure I knew who she was. A strange phenomenon occurs when a woman gets married, or it did when I did it anyways...I got so wrapped up in starting my own family, my own life, my own home, that some of the pieces of me that I loved started coming unraveled. I lost myself. And the weirdest thing about it is that I didn't even see it happening. Time is a sneeky little devil. You spend your whole childhood wishing you could be a grownup and when you finally get there, you wish you could go back.

I didn't realize how out of touch with myself I had gotten until about a year and a half into my marriage. I suddenly realized that I hadn't seen my best friend for months and that I had no clue what was going on in her life. This was a girl whom I had spent practically every day of my life with since the third grade and I had no clue if she was even dating anyone or how she was doing at school. How did that happen, I wondered? Easy, I spent all of my free time with Adam and his friends and their girlfriends. Don't get me wrong, I loved spending time with Adam and I really liked most of his friends so it never occurred to me that I was missing out on anything. But after that day it was all I could think about. I had been so caught up in Adam's life and our life together that I forgot of my life as my own person.

Now here I am 8 months later and I am trying to find myself again. Here are some of the things that I remembered about myself from back in the day:

1) I absolutely love to read. I could spend an entire day wrapped up in a blanket with a good book and never get tired of it. I had shelves and shelves of books and they were all packed away in boxes and had been since I had moved out of my apartment. That was the first thing I started doing again. READING.

2) I am a music buff. I could lay on my bed and listen to music for hours, too. I had binders full of CD's and I loved those too. Now the only time I listened to music was when I cleaned or drove to work.

3) Bubble baths. Enough said.

These were the things that I started rediscovering first. And it was an amazing love affair. I think I read 6 or 7 of my old favorites in a months and then I got online and ordered new ones. It is something that I don't think I will ever stop doing, discovering new books. I want my children to enjoy books as much as I do. And music. All kinds of it. Rock, oldies, metal, hip hop, country... All of it.

This is another reason I started this blog. I used to love to write, too. Not usually my thoughts, but little stories. It is on my list of things to do before I die. Write a book, go to Greece...you know, little castles in the air. Maybe sitting down every now and then and organizing my thoughts in typing will help me to achieve these things one day. Who knows? But the thing I am retraining myself in is that you gotta try new things...right?