Hoppy Thanksgiving all!
We had a frog casualty last night. it was quite sad. it was our longest lasting frog. The three in the pond are a bunch of 5. most are bigger than those. One of them, i think it's the one on the top right, is the one we got as a little guy. we put him in the tank with the lid off and he followed me across the house and hopped on my foot. i love that kid
my mom
my mom buys really cool things. like, to a point where i have people all over asking me, "where did you get that?" 9 times out of 10, it's from my mom. when i go to the same hair place that she does, they all tell me what a hip mom i have. this is funny to me. i don't know why. it is she who wouldn't listen when i told her i didn't WANT a short, swingy jacket, and then me who ate my words when everytime i wear it i have people coming up to me asking me incessantly where i got it. it was she who bought me the "train conductor" type hat and it is now me, who will not take it off. she bought me a belt, made from soda tabs, she bought me purses, made from candy wrappers...
but my feet were REALLY happy today, when she bought me these slippers. 
only him...
t was in a surgery today and the song "i shot the sheriff" came on. he doesn't like it and when he doesn't like something, he tends to make up his own words. the songs ususally have something to do with tacos and cheese....of which he eats neither. anyway, he was the case and makes up these little gems: "I ate some carrots, but i did not eat the celery". he thought it improved the song dramatically.
build a bear? really?
my friend invited me to go to a build a bear store with her for some adult company (i use the word "adult" loosely). i was intrigued by this place, had never been in one but had always wondered what drew 20 kids in at a time to this place for birthday parties and such. i left, shockingly, knowing what drew them in. that place was awesome. i would have completely dug it...if i were 12 and i almost did at the age of 33.
we moseyed over to starbucks and had some eggnog lattes and scones (yum) over some girl only conversations. it was a blast.
then, went over to the t's bro and sis' house to help move. i didn't do a lot...i'll admit. i did bring up a lot stuff, but figured since there were 5 strapping men there, they could do the lifting. i've done too much of my share of moving and breaking things, etc. it also make me take a deep breath and realize that this is now the longest i've lived somewhere since i graduated from high school. and we're planning on another 20plus years here. i don't know why this feels o.k. to me, but it does. i think now, it's mainly that i don't want to move.
i then proceeded to take a gander at some stores, bought some toilet paper for FREE. yes, FREE. like 12 packages of it. the cashier guy thought i was nuts as i cheered myself on as he scanned each coupon. or maybe that i was buying 12 packages of toilet paper. i don't know. don't care...it was free.
we moseyed over to starbucks and had some eggnog lattes and scones (yum) over some girl only conversations. it was a blast.
then, went over to the t's bro and sis' house to help move. i didn't do a lot...i'll admit. i did bring up a lot stuff, but figured since there were 5 strapping men there, they could do the lifting. i've done too much of my share of moving and breaking things, etc. it also make me take a deep breath and realize that this is now the longest i've lived somewhere since i graduated from high school. and we're planning on another 20plus years here. i don't know why this feels o.k. to me, but it does. i think now, it's mainly that i don't want to move.
i then proceeded to take a gander at some stores, bought some toilet paper for FREE. yes, FREE. like 12 packages of it. the cashier guy thought i was nuts as i cheered myself on as he scanned each coupon. or maybe that i was buying 12 packages of toilet paper. i don't know. don't care...it was free.
the goods
here is a picture of just the shampoo that i've gotten for .19 cents a bottle. i know....this may not be very exciting to everyone else, but really, it's exciting to me. it has cut down on my grocery bill by hundreds. literally.
pictures
my friend june mentioned yesterday that i hadn't posted a picture. this is true. however, there is a good reason. i went yesterday to take a picture of my frogs that she wants to see. i didn't think she would want a picture of what i would have taken. i don't know what the heck happened, but there was a fried frog in the tank. sorry! we'll do some today!
surrounding yourself with goodness
This is your own responsibility. i truly believe this. you are responsible for the people that you are around. not for their actions, but for the fact that you CHOOSE to be around them. i hear people consistently say how upset they are about so and so and they don't even know why they are friends with people. it is simple. you are around the wrong people and you are owning what they are doing and not what you are responsible for.
after choosing to be in some not-so-hot relationships, i can't tell you how refreshing it is to come home from a long day and have someone say, after i have burnt dinner, my finger, and am frustrated, "you are the best, oh...and you are so cute too" i can't tell you how great it is to be on IM with my friend and after telling her about a time in life that was not so great, have her say, "you are awesome", or how great it is to get online and find a blog that is singing your praises as a friend.
i don't need these reassurances from any of these people, i'm confident in myself...but it is most important for me to know that these people are wonderful, healthy, and honest.
i've picked a good bunch this time
after choosing to be in some not-so-hot relationships, i can't tell you how refreshing it is to come home from a long day and have someone say, after i have burnt dinner, my finger, and am frustrated, "you are the best, oh...and you are so cute too" i can't tell you how great it is to be on IM with my friend and after telling her about a time in life that was not so great, have her say, "you are awesome", or how great it is to get online and find a blog that is singing your praises as a friend.
i don't need these reassurances from any of these people, i'm confident in myself...but it is most important for me to know that these people are wonderful, healthy, and honest.
i've picked a good bunch this time
saving, saving...oh, and saving
i have a problem. it's something that other people, more old, more musty smelling people do. i have an addiction to coupons. i get them everywhere. out of the paper, online, off of ebay, anywhere i can find them. i have to say though, at least i just don't collect the coupons themselves, but i do use them. when i get home, i'm taking a picture of my cabinets. i have 10 bottles of shampoo, 3 things of styling stuff, 15 tubes of toothpaste and 60 rolls of toilet paper that was all....FREE. yes, free. and we all know that in these times, free is good.
it turned out to be more of a money saving strategy at first, but then, it turned cathartic. i mean, i really relax doing this and it's something i can plan for and i can achieve. o.k., so my acheivement is getting free stuff to wipe people's behinds with....but still.
a little ditty
i got this from little pea, so thank you! it gives me something to write about when i don't have anything. well, yes, actually, i do, but this will be much more interesting, i would think.
1) What book has most touched your soul?- without a doubt, "the little price", hands down, no question, that is it. this does it for me because it's about human nature, the value of innocence, and the power of fidelity
however, that being clarified...i would say that every book that i read touches my soul. i do not finish reading something that i don't feel would be worth reading, so in that respect, it's hard to answer this.
But i did just read this book last night that i think is worth mention. wow, i would have a hard time with this, without saying that it was the last book that i read. I just read "The Memory of Running" by Ron McLarty. It was really a great book. It was fairly toned down from my usual taste. for some reason,i usually pick things that have some crazy surprise twist at the end. This book, to me, was exhausting to read. it had aspects about mental illness and hopelessness, which are exhausting concepts, i think. but, it ended up very much different than i had ever thought it would.
2) How do you think being a teenager today is different from when you were a teenager?-i think it is very different. and NO, it was not that long ago that i was a teenager. i think it is a much scarier time to be a parent right now. you can only control how you raise your kids, not the way that other people raise theirs and i think that right now, there is a much more prevalent "flippant" attitude with parenting....SCARY.
3) If you found out for sure there was no afterlife at all, would you change how you live your life?-i don't think i would change the way that i ran my life currently. it would definitely bug me though. one of my favorite things to do, is have a good friday night cry, watching john edward on the we network. i love the idea of people being able to "connect" with people...in life and in death. i don't know for a fact that it can happen, but the thought that it MIGHT, is good enough for me
4) What is the biggest regret of your life so far.
i don't have many. i wouldn't say this wide blanket statement of, "i wish i would have never met ______". but i will say, that i wish that i had been strong enough to leave him when it was very early in the relationship. there was a specific time that i had to go to the hospital for nothing more than a horrid kidney infection. it was not life threatening, i'm sure, but it was 2am and i was going to the hospital for the first time in my life. i called him. he was sleeping. he basically said: go and hope all is o.k. he had been up all night drinking wine with his roommate.
i kept wanting him to magically show up at the hospital and hang out with me while i was waiting in a cold room in a paper gown in the middle of a scuzzy part of Denver, but that did not happen.
when i got home and told him that i was home, he did not come over or call to find out himself. i called him. when i finally did see him that day, it was me who went over to his house. That is the day...i regret not getting out then.
another thing is that there are a couple times when i have done things or not done things, for my parents. i can think of two, but i wouldn't have done them now and will never do them again.
1) What book has most touched your soul?- without a doubt, "the little price", hands down, no question, that is it. this does it for me because it's about human nature, the value of innocence, and the power of fidelity
however, that being clarified...i would say that every book that i read touches my soul. i do not finish reading something that i don't feel would be worth reading, so in that respect, it's hard to answer this.
But i did just read this book last night that i think is worth mention. wow, i would have a hard time with this, without saying that it was the last book that i read. I just read "The Memory of Running" by Ron McLarty. It was really a great book. It was fairly toned down from my usual taste. for some reason,i usually pick things that have some crazy surprise twist at the end. This book, to me, was exhausting to read. it had aspects about mental illness and hopelessness, which are exhausting concepts, i think. but, it ended up very much different than i had ever thought it would.
2) How do you think being a teenager today is different from when you were a teenager?-i think it is very different. and NO, it was not that long ago that i was a teenager. i think it is a much scarier time to be a parent right now. you can only control how you raise your kids, not the way that other people raise theirs and i think that right now, there is a much more prevalent "flippant" attitude with parenting....SCARY.
3) If you found out for sure there was no afterlife at all, would you change how you live your life?-i don't think i would change the way that i ran my life currently. it would definitely bug me though. one of my favorite things to do, is have a good friday night cry, watching john edward on the we network. i love the idea of people being able to "connect" with people...in life and in death. i don't know for a fact that it can happen, but the thought that it MIGHT, is good enough for me
4) What is the biggest regret of your life so far.
i don't have many. i wouldn't say this wide blanket statement of, "i wish i would have never met ______". but i will say, that i wish that i had been strong enough to leave him when it was very early in the relationship. there was a specific time that i had to go to the hospital for nothing more than a horrid kidney infection. it was not life threatening, i'm sure, but it was 2am and i was going to the hospital for the first time in my life. i called him. he was sleeping. he basically said: go and hope all is o.k. he had been up all night drinking wine with his roommate.
i kept wanting him to magically show up at the hospital and hang out with me while i was waiting in a cold room in a paper gown in the middle of a scuzzy part of Denver, but that did not happen.
when i got home and told him that i was home, he did not come over or call to find out himself. i called him. when i finally did see him that day, it was me who went over to his house. That is the day...i regret not getting out then.
another thing is that there are a couple times when i have done things or not done things, for my parents. i can think of two, but i wouldn't have done them now and will never do them again.
bye bye blonde hair
about a couple years ago, i tried something new. that would be, being blond. as blond as i could be...without my hair falling out or breaking off. I accomplished the first. through this, i learned that half japanese girls....are not SUPPOSED to be blonde. There is nothing that says ever, ever, that they are supposed to be blonde. my hair people, god bless them, would say, "are you sure?" every time i went in. i noticed at that time, also, that fathers will ALWAYS like their daughter's looks better when they are looking the way that they came into the world, if you get my drift. my dad HATED every time i'd dye my hair. the funniest time was when i had my hair done and met my mom and dad and in CT and they drove by me. it was platinum...i can understand...but really...i'm your daughter.
i know that some of those girls that live in the playboy mansion are naturally brunettes, so I thought that it should have been easy. it, however, was not. i didn't understand how their hair looked so healthy and bouncy. now, i am in a different place. i still do not know how their hair is so healthy....and now...i could give a shit.
i have spent months, after realizing that i had fried my hair, doing...well...nothing to my hair. it is long now. it has not been touched by scissors in ages, it has not touched anything for ages. i mean, i've washed it, but let it dry on it's own, etc. i've let the grey come through. i have a lot of it. i mean...a lot.
it's o.k. i think it's kind of cool and i'm going to leave it. in fact, when i dye my hair dark, i'm trying to leave out as much as i can that has the grey in it.
revision
o.k. maybe the run isn't happening. i woke up this a.m. to the first snow on the ground! i don't know if i want to be doing that with a high of 40 degrees today. but who knows....maybe i do. we'll see. oh, i just thought of a way....keep posted
full moon
I have an opportunity that I might do. there is a running club that is having a "full moon run" tomorrow. it sounds awesome. it's at 6:45pm, so already dark and it's a 3.3 mile run in the light of the full moon. i would likely be running on my own, but can you imagine....
Life is a mind-set
I was thinking about how funny it is that I'm loving doing all of these activities that I'm doing right now.
Mostly, I was thinking about running. Now, I know that it is not "good" for your joints and you can do things that are much better for your strength, so that is my disclaimer. But, as I've been doing these races and going to a running group, I really find...that i ENJOY it. i think most of all, i enjoy the fact that this is not something that i'm "supposed" to be good at. i was never one of those twiggy, beautiful, doe-like, looking kids that decided on a whim to run cross country or track.
so, i revel in the fact that last night, before my spinning class, i took a 4 mile run. it wasn't fast, by any stretch of the imagination. by looking at me, you may think i'm listening to some fast, techno music, as anyone would to motivate them. but no....i'm listening to the music from Ferris Bueller's day off. you know the one? when they are in the museum, looking at art. it is the perfect soundtrack to my running in the fall leaves. i would ALMOST go so far as to say that it is relaxing.
the latest baking creation
I made a pie. This may not seem like a feat to many of you. I've seen the parties you throw with friends and the amazing food that makes you drool when I read your posts. But to me, this is the unattainable thing that I can never make. I was a caterer of pastries in college, so the fact that i cannot make a pie to save my life, well...it's just weird. There were the crusts that were soggy, the ones that were crispy, the one, oh yes, there was the pecan one (think LOTS of sugary corn syrup) that bent from the aluminum pan and then think taco shaped pan. From there, think lots of scalding hot sugar syrup all over my brand new oven. . so, you get my drift.
t got a fail-proof recipe from a doc in WY. I did it.
You may think, "Why is that in black and white, surely it would look better in color". The reason is this: 1. it actually does look better in black and white and 2. my archaic computer at home just edited it this way.
it tastes amazing
t got a fail-proof recipe from a doc in WY. I did it.
You may think, "Why is that in black and white, surely it would look better in color". The reason is this: 1. it actually does look better in black and white and 2. my archaic computer at home just edited it this way.
it tastes amazing
the challenge
My dear internet, turned in-person friend dared me to a mission, which i most thankfully will accept. I am to post pictures daily on here for a full month. I would have one today, but my camera is sitting by my side with a dead battery as we speak (well...as I write). so tomorrow....watch out!
update
what we did this weekend:
1. ran the 2 mile turkey trot in Longmont
2. got overtaken by what seemed like thousands of middle school cross country runners
3. went to the "christmas party" for t's work
4. even though we've been married a year and a half, they had us do a "first dance' at this event. ugh...it was really...well, gross. not because of him, but ick...to have that thrown at you unexpectedly.
5. They redeemed themselves by having little chocolate sleighs filled with a creamy custard and fresh fruit
6. baked banana bread that was actually good
7. made hardboiled eggs that actually peeled
8. went to a new restaurant with my cousin.
9. reminisced about "the way things were" and made some semi resolutions to make them back that way again
it was an awesome weekend, all in all. next weekend should be interesting and just as fun and exciting. i'm going to a dog's birthday party. i'm thinking it's an excuse for a party, but still, what a terrific idea! t is out of town for the weekend, so i'm looking to do a lot of reading, beading, and hanging...stuff i don't do a ton of when he's around. it's not because he "keeps" me from these things, but we just seem to have even more active things to do when he's around. it should be a good time!!!
1. ran the 2 mile turkey trot in Longmont
2. got overtaken by what seemed like thousands of middle school cross country runners
3. went to the "christmas party" for t's work
4. even though we've been married a year and a half, they had us do a "first dance' at this event. ugh...it was really...well, gross. not because of him, but ick...to have that thrown at you unexpectedly.
5. They redeemed themselves by having little chocolate sleighs filled with a creamy custard and fresh fruit
6. baked banana bread that was actually good
7. made hardboiled eggs that actually peeled
8. went to a new restaurant with my cousin.
9. reminisced about "the way things were" and made some semi resolutions to make them back that way again
it was an awesome weekend, all in all. next weekend should be interesting and just as fun and exciting. i'm going to a dog's birthday party. i'm thinking it's an excuse for a party, but still, what a terrific idea! t is out of town for the weekend, so i'm looking to do a lot of reading, beading, and hanging...stuff i don't do a ton of when he's around. it's not because he "keeps" me from these things, but we just seem to have even more active things to do when he's around. it should be a good time!!!
it cracks me up
it cracks me up when people assume that they know your political affiliations. i didn't even know my affiliations, so i sure do not expect others to know, unless they have asked and i have told them. what is the funniest is that many times, it's with people you do not know or haven't talked to in ages. I cannot tell you the number of times that I got, "well, as long as you're voting for McCain you can go...don't bother going if you are going to vote for Obama" or my favorite, "let's wait to see obama go into the ground" now, i don't care either way, which way you voted. really, and i surely wouldn't be telling people that they should be voting for someone when i don't know what has happened to them in the past 15 years that would sway them in any way. it just cracks me up, that's all.
wouldn't that be nuts?
What if Michelle Obama voted for McCain, but no one knew but her? I wonder how many people profess to be republican, but really vote democrat to appease their families or something.
creation
i was made fun of. yes, i know...hard to believe. but i WAS made fun of. About this pumpkin. I have made templates and did pumpkins out of them for years. I mean, before it was appropriate. i love this pumpkin and i know...it's stupid. I spent 2 hours on it, but who cares. this is what it turned out like. It's bad ass
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