........................................

Anyone else out there bored out of their minds today?! I need some help on how to pass the time at work.

Got any ideas?

a little humor on this fine Thursday morning...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/horse_in_bank

Expensive puppy...

Yoda had another seizure last night. That makes 2 in less than a week and a month before that he had 2 in 2 days. I think it's time to go to the vet. When they were 2 months apart it was fine. But lately they've been getting more frequent and David and I are worried that he may be having these when we aren't around during the day.

So, our next step is to take him to the vet so they can do whatever tests that need to be done and more than likely he'll be on seizure medication for the rest of his life. I really don't want him to have to be medicated all the time but if it keeps him from having these awful things then I'll do it. Whatever it takes to make our little guy better.

It's just so sad to watch him go through these things. My heart breaks for those 2-3 minutes. Luckily he's almost immediately fine afterwards. Well, all but his back legs. It takes about 5 minutes for him to be able to walk normally afterwards but other than that he just looks at us like "why are you guys sitting on the floor, how did I get here, let's go play!"

Anyway, I just needed to vent. I'm sad that our little man now has a "condition".

ooh, my aching back!

Seriously, I've started to feel really old lately. I'm not even 30 yet and David has already uttered "I'm going to have to trade you in for a new model" about 100 times since we've been together.

Today I woke up with incredible back pain. So much so that I decided to stay home from work. Everytime I moved my left leg I wanted to cry. That sensation seems to be getting better but it now hurts when I sit or bend over. Fabulous.

So, here I am, fidgeting around trying to find a position that doesn't make me want to hit the ceiling. What a fun day!

we'll have to do it again sometime!

This weekend was great but I am exhausted! We had a great time with friends all throughout this weekend and the weather was perfect for it as well.

Since I don't have much of an attention span this morning there won't be a lot of text in this post, just pictures :)

Enjoy!

Watching the cows at the farm...and Gracie giving Olivia a hug, aww!

Gracie having an intense conversation with Bailey.

Looks like Gracie found a new friend, hey SuperMom, that would make a GREAT pet for her!

He's a natural :)

Let the dart tournament begin!

the party...

Coach trying to "dance" with Matt!

more partying...

And after 7 hours of darts with 9 couples, the winners are...

Even the puppies were exhausted.

Seriously, can you get much cuter than this??

The happy family with their belated birthday cake!

Even though I'm tired from it all, this weekend was really a blast and it will be sad to see our friends go home. Having the little ones around for these few days was so much fun and last night Olivia reached for me to pick her up and I'm not quite sure if there is a feeling in the world that quite matches that. Completely heartwarming and I want to keep her here with us now!

7 years!

Happy Anniversary David!

let the fun begin!

So, I should totally be doing work right now because I'm swamped but I've decided to procrastinate some more.

Our house is currently filled with the sounds of little people. I've talked to David a few times today and everytime I pick up the phone all you hear in the background is kid related shows and laughs, giggles and screams. He is currently in charge of watching a 3 year old and a 1 year old. It's quite funny to listen to.

Our friends arrived late last night and I didn't get to say hello to them as I was already sound asleep. But this morning I opened my door and was greeted by the intense tail and butt wagging of Jackson (their boxer). Just the thing to bring a smile to my face so early in the morning.

Right before I left Karen came down the stairs so it was nice to say hello to her before I left for the day. Because SOMEONE had to go to work. Yeah, it's great that I'm the only one in that house that had to work today. Sucks! And they are going out to lunch today and I originally said I couldn't because I'm swamped but now I'm debating. Part of me really wants to go! But I don't want to be stuck here until like 6pm. What to do......

I'm really looking forward to this weekend now though. It's going to be completely tiring but it'll all be worth it in the end. Tomorrow we are all going to a farm that currently has tons of baby animals. See you there SuperMom!

Then after that we will be preparing for our super duper dart party. The one thing I am really looking forward to is seeing a friend from HS who I haven't seen in about 10 years. 10 YEARS? Am I really that old!? Anyway, we recently got back in contact and he lives like 20 minutes away. I'm really looking forward to catching up with him and meeting his wife. And hanging out with about 20 of our closest friends (except some who think that seeing Carlin is more important! hehe)

Should be a blast. And I'm sure that I'll have tons of pics to post after the fact.

Sorry if this post was all over the place, I have no train of thought today so I just typed what came into my head :)

Orange & Maroon Effect

Today I am participating in the Orange & Maroon Effect day. As I walk around work I occasionally see spots of orange and maroon. It's great to see so many show their support. This area was really hit hard by the attack. Lots of people have close ties to VT. I received an e-mail at work yesterday that mentioned the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund. The company I work for will match whatever employees contribute up to $100,000. It's just great to see how this country comes together after something devistating like this happens.

Anyway, if you have any orange or maroon clothing, throw it on today. Who cares if no one sees you. And remember at noon, there is a moment of silence to offer support for everyone affected by Monday's tragedy.

What I learned yesterday...

I will never go shopping for a 1,2 and 3 year old all at the same time ever again. I spent over 2 hours in T.arget yesterday. 2 HOURS! That's what happens when you go in there blindly with no ideas on what to get. I wandered around that place like a zombie. In and out of the same aisles over and over and OVER again.

I did manage to finally get out of there with some great gifts but jeez, I felt like a ran a marathon after all of that. Ok, well maybe not that bad but still, it took a lot out of me.

When I got home there was LOTS to do but before all of that David and I finally watched 'N.otes from the U.nderbelly'. Turns out that David really didn't tivo it last week so we watched it from our laptop while eating dinner. Then afterwards we watched the episode that was on last night. I have mixed feelings about the show. I absolutely think it's hilarious but I don't think it's making David want to try for a baby anytime soon! Damn show!

After all was said and done last night we finally got to bed at around 1:30am. Seriously, I can't remember the last time I stayed up that late on a weeknight. We were actually watching Conan. Too bad it was a repeat. I haven't seen that show in years!

So, now I am completely exhausted and it's the worst day to be this way. I have training in a few hours and I need to be able to pay attention. I am going to be the point person on my team for this new process so I can't make a fool out of myself by coming out of there with no information. Looks like I need to grab myself something caffeinated!

Hey, but at least the house is finally ready for out of town friends and a HUGE party this weekend :)

my mood has been lifted!

I just heard a song while I was in the bathroom at work that totally lifted my mood today. You might remember it from one of the best guilty pleasure 80's movies! (turn your volume way up or else you'll get silence)

the good and the bad

Ok, so good news is the patio is finished. Bad news, it's not what we had discussed with the company. It was supposed to run flush with the ground. We even asked the guy "will it be raised at all?" he said no. So, to our surprise we walked out in the backyard when they had completed it and saw that our border was now wood. There was NO discussion about having this and the contractor explained that it was the only way they could do it. Fine but when you have a mock that was approved by an HOA and you change it you should let us know first. In the beginning the guy mentioned that he didn't see any info on the sheet about "timbers" so I assumed he would go with what was written down. Nope.

Just once I would like to be wholeheartedly happy with a job that a contractor does for us. I'm getting really tired of this and now I have a deck and a patio that I don't love.

Now don't get me wrong the guys yesterday worked their butts off to get the job done in one day and the pavers look amazing. The only thing we aren't happy with is all the wood. And not just that, but they don't run flush together at one point so it looks like a shoddy job. And the piece they put on the left side to raise it is all ripped up on one side.

So, here are the before and after pics, click on them to get a bigger view.

David didn't sign the paper that basically states "if you are happy with the job please sign". He will be speaking with our salesman about this and hopefully it can get resolved so that in the end we will both be happy with it. Because honestly, if we are going to be spending that kind of money the job should look perfect.

Not the kind of mood I thought I would be in today.

the waiting game

UPDATE! They're here! The patio is being built! So exciting :)

I'm working from home today (whoo hoo!) because we have possibly 2 people coming out to the house today. Question is, who will show up first, the guy who is going to fix our oven that's been out of commission for weeks or will it be the guys who will build our patio that was originally supposed to be completed on Friday.

It's only 9am and I'm already getting anxious. We haven't heard from the patio company so we aren't sure if they are actually coming today. Everytime David calls no one answers. That doesn't make me confident. But I'm still holding out hope because I REALLY want this installed today. It would be great to have it built for the party we're having this weekend.

And I can't wait to use our oven again! Last week I started making cake batter and after I added all the ingredients I remembered that I can't cook! So frustrating! Keep your fingers crossed that it will be an easy fix. We think it's the ignitor but neither of us are experts so who knows.

In the meantime I guess I'll just have to do a little work and watch those highly entertaining judge shows!

...

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by this enormous tragedy. I cannot even express my anger and sadness right now.

I hate wind!

Today has been interesting so far. When I came downstairs this morning I looked out of the back windows to see our entire patio unit on the left side of the deck. Great. This has happened before and last night I even mentioned to David that we should take the umbrella down because it was going to be windy. When will I ever learn to just trust my instincts?! I went outside to assess the damage and I turned the table back to it's correct side and unhooked the umbrella so that no more damage would be done today (it's supposed to get worse). While I was out there I noticed a few things had been blown around in the backyard as well. Fabulous, more things to do before I go to work, and I was already late as it was.

To make a long story short, after I corrected all the things on the deck and the backyard I was heading out the door and to the car when I noticed that the entire gutter that goes down the right side of our house was now on the ground and in the bushes. Grrr!!! We were going to get it fixed because it needed repair but now we REALLY have to get it fixed. Can't procrastinate on that one anymore.

Oh, and I stopped to get gas on the way to work, $3.15 a gallon! Thanks, I didn't need all that money anyway.

All this before 8:30 in the morning. I can't wait to see what the rest of the day has to offer :)

busy weekend

LOTS to do this weekend. Tomorrow will be spent cleaning the entire house in preparation for our party next weekend. There will be 5 kids and about 20 adults in our house. Fun! No, seriously, it will be fun but there is lots to do. We will be having friends in from out of town for about 3 or 4 days and they have 2 little ones that are both mobile now so we need to prepare for that!

I learned from the last party we had that there needs to be some baby proofing done. Nothing too drastic. I just need to take all the knick knacks off of the coffee table so the kids don't throw everything around. And the bird needs to be placed upstairs for fear that he will bite tiny hands or be pushed off of the table (nearly happened last time!). And there will be NO chocolate fountain this time. I spent way too much time cleaning up after that mess at the last party :)

And after we exhaust ourselves with cleaning, Sunday we are headed off to Dylan's baptism. David has the amazing honor of being Dylan's godfather so we are both looking forward to this! Plus it's been really nice lately to see friends so frequently. We all live so close but our lives are all crazy so it's hard to get together. But lately it seems like we see each other about once a week. I'm hoping it stays this way!

confirming what I've known for years :)

Your Personality is Very Rare (INFP)

Your personality type is dreamy, romantic, elegant, and expressive. Only about 5% of all people have your personality, including 6% of all women and 4% of all men You are Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

The quest has begun!

David finally got around to fixing the elliptical machine so today I am starting my new way of life. Hopefully it will stick this time!

I am trying something different this time to help me stay on track. I'm documenting everything I eat. EVERYTHING I eat and what the calorie count is if I know it. This will hopefully force me to think about what I consume. I had a small piece of chocolate yesterday that was about 50 calories and it was soooo not worth it. I'm hoping that will force me to make a better decision in the future.

However, I realized while trying to complete my lunch entry for today that I had a VERY large brain fart and forgot the word 'crouton'. Yep, couldn't for the life of me remember what those little bread squares were called. I kept saying "breadcrumbs? no that's not it!" I had to e-mail David. And I'm sure he got a good laugh out of it. I expect to see a somewhat witty comment from him shortly.

Anyway, I'm announcing this new start in the hopes that you all out there will help me stay on course. If I have people asking me how things are going I know it will help me stay on track.

I have to lose this weight. I'm tired of looking at pictures from years ago when I was in shape and hating the way I look now. It's exhausting and I'm not going to put up with it anymore. I want to get back to the person I was that could go into stores and not have to worry about finding something in her size or letting someone take a picture of me without rolling my eyes first or having an hour or even a day go by when I don't feel completely self concious about how I look.

I want to be healthy again. And I'm more determined than ever to make that happen!

It's official!!

We got word today from our HOA that our patio application was approved! It's being built this weekend.

Just in time for our dart party the following weekend that everyone and their mother seems to be coming to! (with the exception of a few people who apparently have better things to do...hehe, just kidding!)


So excited!!!

my poor pup...

Normally I LOVE working from home but today not so much. I came downstairs this morning to walk Yoda and before he climbed out of bed he threw up. Then once he stood up he threw up again. And I won't even get into what happened once I took him outside to go to the bathroom.

So, I decided to at least work from home in the morning to keep an eye on him just in case I needed to make an unexpected vet trip. Luckily though, I spoke to my manager who is also a dog lover/owner and she basically insisted that I stay home the entire day and watch him.

Well, he seems to be getting better, even drinking water in small doses. So, now that most of my fear is gone I can concentrate on catching up on my judge shows right? Nope, most of them are repeats today. Sucks! Hehe, I know I won't get sympathy from many of you but those shows are a good distraction from looking at Yoda every 2 seconds to make sure he's ok.

Anyway, keep your fingers crossed that my little man recovers soon :)

We're getting a patio!

You know you've gotten old when you get ecstatic over the thought of a patio being built. No, not a new pair of shoes or even concert tickets. I am doing the happy dance over stone.

Anyway, we are waiting on approval from our HOA. Gotta love that. Have to submit an application with 4 signatures from neighbors, another paper that describes what is being built, a sample of the materials and a copy of our plot of land. It's just a patio folks, it's not like we want to paint our house bright orange!

We should get the approval next week and then it will be built next weekend. I need to start researching patio furniture now. Nothing fancy, just 2 chairs and a table so we can lounge outside in the shade. Ahhh, just thinking about it is relaxing :)

In other news, I am THRILLED that it's finally Friday. And not just any Friday, it's Girls Night tonight. I'm really looking forward to hanging out with everyone and just catching up. Oh and a few alcoholic beverages are going to be nice as well!

because I'm bored!

So, our network is down at work. Actually, no one really knows what the problem is but I can't do any work right now so I spent my time taking fun quizzes :)

Your Personality Profile

You are dependable, popular, and observant. Deep and thoughtful, you are prone to moodiness. In fact, your emotions tend to influence everything you do. You are unique, creative, and expressive. You don't mind waving your freak flag every once and a while. And lucky for you, most people find your weird ways charming!

The World's Shortest Personality Test

You've Changed 60% in 10 Years

You've done a good job changing with the times, but deep down, you're still the same person. You're clothes, job, and friends may have changed some - but it hasn't changed you.

How Much Have You Changed in 10 Years?

ugggghhhhh.....

Yesterday was so gorgeous that I decided to make frozen strawberry daquiris. Figured it was time to break in my new blender and it seemed like the perfect day, sunny and about 80 degrees. They were so tasty and that was the problem. Before I knew it, I had finished the entire mixture. Yep, 4 glasses all by myself and by the time I realized it was too late. Monday night and I was drunk. I'm not proud of it and I totally blame David :)

I drank about 4 glasses of water before going to bed but that didn't keep the hangover away. I called David on my way into work and told him that I wasn't sure if I was hungover or still drunk. Fabulous. What a great way to start a Tuesday.

So, here I am, feeling like a truck ran over me drinking my g.atorade.

Maybe I'll keep away from the yummy rum for girls night this Friday. I seem to be liking it a little too much lately!

mmm rum!

This weekend was interesting. We headed up to Pittsburgh for a friend's wedding. We knew it was going to be an interesting experience before we left because the only people we were going to know were the bride and groom. The ceremony was in a gorgeous chapel. It was on the campus of the U.niversity of P.ittsburgh. After the fairly quick ceremony we were told that there would be no receiving line and no real exit of the bride and groom for the guests to watch. We were told to make our way to the reception. Ok, a little odd but no biggie.

We decided to go back to the hotel and take a taxi to the reception. This way we could both have a drink or two and not have to worry about driving. Plus it was only about a 3 minute drive door to door. When we arrived at the reception we told the taxi driver that we would call their company when we needed to be picked up. It was then that we learned that the taxi company stopped running at 8pm. On a Saturday night?! So, now we were stuck. We decided to worry about that later and headed into the venue.

We got along very well with the people we were sitting with. And even passed the time before dinner by stacking our napkin rings one at a time and passing it around the table to see how long we could go before someone knocked it down. It actually made it to 3 tables and even almost made it to the head table before crashing to the ground. The reception was a tad odd. The bride and groom didn't have their first dance until 2 and a half hours into the reception. And they cut the cake while all the guests were still eating dinner. We wound up leaving at around 9pm, during the c.ha c.ha slide. After hearing both the e.lectric and c.ha c.ha slide I knew it was time to go home. The tons of rum in my system was also helping that. Damn those drinks were strong! But how did we get home you ask? Well, David made friends with some of the valet guys and they helped us out by giving us a ride back. It was awesome of them to do that because our only other option was to walk the 3 miles back to the hotel in the rain.

LONG story short, I woke up with a hangover and David had to drive the 4 hours home. Quite the opposite of what usually happens :)

Anyway, here's the new Mr. and Mrs: