Lazy Sunday...

Well, not really. Well, kinda. Idiot dogs got up at 9am to go out, which doesn't sound bad, until you realize I was up until 3:45 watching a movie. So, I went back to bed, alone, since John was watching the Olympics on the couch downstairs. That didn't last long. Leinie was actually already up there under a blanket and I didn't know it until he groaned. Yes, groaned. He really is weird. When he's sleepy, he makes these deep groaning sounds that almost sound like a growl, but it's more like a cat purring, just really, really loud. Startled me a little bit. Next came Wolfie tripping up the stairs with his little handicapped gait that he has now. He banged on the door, I let him in. I closed the door, just so it was touching the frame, because I knew darn well the inevitable would happen. Took only three minutes, and there was Odie popping his head through the door. So, needless to say, I didn't exactly have a whole lot of room on the bed. One would think that a king sized bed would hold myself and three smallish dogs comfortably. There one would be wrong. Not when they decide that the perfect place to sleep is under your butt and armpit. I have never figured out why they are so hard to move when they're sleeping. I guess the just look so darned cute you don't want to disturb them. In my case, I think I might wake them up and they'd be ready to play. Not in the mood for that this morning.

Anywho, I finally dragged myself out of bed at noon, and John and I split a box of Girl Scout Cookies for lunch (Nutrition? Who needs nutrition?). I went upstairs and decided that, instead of cleaning the bathroom, it would be a really good idea to clean out my closet. Got it done, though. Now I have room for more crap! Yay! It'll be behind closed doors and not out in the open! :)

At least I feel slightly accomplished today. Tonight I get to make a Boy Scout Brag Vest for my godson, Christopher. I hope I don't screw it up, considering I created a pattern for it on a puppy pad!

Have a great Monday!

Pondering the Weekend...

As I sit at my desk, I have come to the realization that I itch. Everywhere. Unnamed places. Winter has certainly taken a toll on my skin, as well as my psyche. I look outside, and can't wait for that first warm day. You know what I mean- you sit outside on a lawn chair, and feel the warm breeze on your skin, and it feels like velvet (or velour if you're poor!). Not a hint of chill in the air. That's what I am waiting for.

I vow to cherish every second of this spring and summer. Hopefully, it won't be spent napping and wasting my days of sunshine and happiness. Oooh! Now I want a nap. I keep telling my co-workers that we need to get rid of the treadmill in our "gym" and just put a damn bed in there. Personally, I might actually step in that room.

I digress. Wait- gotta scratch. Better now.

Seriously, why the heck do I take shots every two weeks to help my skin, and it starts to work, and now seems to have stopped? Hmm? I haven't missed a dose. I stab myself regularly. What else should I do? Oh, yeah. Get me some sunshine!!!

March starts the "vacation season" at my office. I swear, every single person but me has at least a couple of days scheduled off. Three of them are going to tropical places! I just have to hold out until November, and pray we can come up with enough money to go to Cancun for our 10th anniversary. That was our plan all along, but money is extremely tight, and my bonehead accountant just told me last night that we owe the feds a couple hundred bucks. Now that made my evening.

Shoot, I am pretty snarky today, aren't I? I do believe it's time for me to spend a little time scrapbooking this weekend to de-stress myself. I'm gonna lock myself up in my craft room, the filthy bathroom be damned!

For Aunt Judy...

Thank You for welcoming me into your family. Thank You for watching Wolfie when no one else gave him a chance. Thank You for loving John when he was sometimes difficult to deal with. Thank You for inviting my mother to your home. Thank You for making me laugh! Thank You for not judging me. Thank You for always making me feel at home. Thank You for making delicious kolacky cookies (even though you won't eat them!).

Thank You for for being you!

The Lost Weekend...

I have now completely let myself down! I didn't clean a damn thing last week. But, I managed to get the part for the snowblower that cracked off, and I spent 2-1/2 hours sewing buttons and making up replacement "catches" for the hooks on John's pants.

So, here's how the conversation went:

"Can you sew a couple of buttons on my pants for me?"
"Sure, where are they?"
"I don't know. Somewhere."
"So, I have to sew buttons on and you don't know where they went?"
"Yes."
"OK, where are the pants?"
"Here's the pair I'm taking off."

Hands me the pants. Then proceeds to pull out three more pair from his dirty laundry, and three more hanging in the closet. I looked at him and asked if all of them were missing buttons. He said, yes, they were. Turns out he's been holding them up for weeks with just the zipper and his belt. Not only were the buttons missing, but the majority of the pants have the little silver hook inside the front in addition to the button. All but one pair was missing that stupid catch for the hook. I created new ones with upholstery thread, and I'm crossing my fingers that they hold. I had to find a shirt with larger buttons on it (mine) and remove them to sew on his pants. Next job- sew the split up the back of one pair. When asked what keeps happening, I was told that they just keep shrinking. My personal theory is that Leinenkugel should start making dress pants.

I made the mistake last Monday of talking about how nice Mondays were, blah, blah, blah. Big, huge, stupid mistake. I spent the rest of the day turning into a psychopath due to work issues. Not one person wanted to come past my office. Apparently, though, I'm quite amusing when pissed. None of it was directed at my co-workers, just vendors who need to get their heads out of the sand (or their asses). Enough said.

This actually turned out to be a good week, and a terrific weekend. I went to a grade school friend's birthday party on Friday night with my mom, and Saturday I spent the afternoon sampling Tastefully Simple stuff, getting the snowblower part, getting an amazing deal on a couple of shirts at Catherine's, eating Long John Silver in the car (to keep up my snazzy figure so I can continue shopping at Catherine's), and then on to Dave's for a Win, Lose, or Draw game night. It was great. Sunday night I finally hooked up my mom's new used computer from Katie. She can finally do games, look at videos, and play Bejeweled! I'm very happy for her!

So, once again, I will attempt to get to the bathroom this week. One can only hope.

Have a great day, and terrific week, if I don't get to check back in!

Yay! It's Monday!

Am I the only person in the world who likes Mondays? Don't get me wrong, I love Saturday and Sunday, too, but Monday is a chance to start fresh. Forget about all of the things that made you wish Saturday would come quickly, and think about all of the things you can do right this week in comparison. My heavens- I sound like some demented motivational speaker!

Seriously, I get so mad at myself for slacking off during the week, knowing I have tons of crap to do. This is not only at work, but at home, too. My house could be beautiful if I'd just get off my ass and do something about it. All the plans in the world will not get anything done unless I motivate myself. So, that being said, I'm going to attempt to use this blog to assist me in this endeavor (or endeavour, if you're British).

Each week, I'm going to set some sort of house cleaning goal. Not, "Oh, today I'm doing the dishes". No, something along the lines of: "This week I will clean my bathroom from top to bottom so as not to acquire the plague or whatever flesh-eating disease might be living in there".

Actually, that sounds like a pretty good idea. This week I will detail my upstairs bathroom- from the top of the wall cabinet, to the soap scum covering my tub.

So, who's with me? Everyone has something they can accomplish, even if it's only one project a week. My ultimate goal is to have my whole house de-junked and tidy before late spring, so when swimming season comes around, there's no guilt that I should be doing something else, and I won't have to worry about people just "dropping by".

So, here's to a cleaner, happier Monday for all of us!

The "New" Post

Pfft. This new post is for Jennifer, who is apparently unable to update her OWN blog for two months, and I wait a week and get snotty comments! :)

I've been trying to rest my twisted ankle, but I don't seem to be making as much progress as I would have hoped. It still hurts every day, and I really don't want to take Motrin on a daily basis so I don't eat a hole in my stomach lining. Once you've seen someone with bleeding ulcers, you never want to get them, too. Maybe I'll go get an x-ray, but probably not. Avoiding doctor visits is becoming my specialty. Although, I do have an appointment next week with my rheumatologist that I will not skip. I don't self-inject Humira every two weeks for nothing! By the way, that is the greatest stuff in the world. My psoriasis is getting better, and my psoriatic arthritis isn't bothering me at all! Yahoo!

So, we got some snow. OK, we got tons of snow! My friend, David, lives just about a mile from my office, and kindly let me stay at his place for a couple of days to avoid my commute. John worked his ass off clearing the snow at home (until the auger fell out of the snowblower), and still drove back and forth to work. It was such a relief for me not have to do the ride back and forth.

Not only did we get snow- we got an earthquake, too! Woke me up out of a sound sleep!

When I finally got home last night, I think I was scaring Leinie. He avoided me like the plague until bedtime. Then he finally realized I wasn't going away again. Now, this morning, while leaving for work, I looked back, and all three of them were sitting smooshed against each other staring at me. I just wanted to turn around and hug them all!

My Valentine's Day will probably be just a little lame this year, since John is working at the stupid liquor store all weekend. I think I'll scrapbook. Or clean. Somehow I think sleep will actually win out over all other ideas. Love you all!

The Baby Shower Was A Success!

Well, the baby shower is finally over! Months of shopping, crafting, laughing, and hard work have paid off.

Jennifer, Deata, Anita- we couldn't have done it without you! From the awesome food made by Deata and Jennifer, to the set up, the clean up, just absolutely everything.

The day started off quite well. Everything was ready to go, with the exception of my baking the meatballs and boiling the pasta. We started loading the cars up (Jennifer and Deata spent the night at my house), and while walking down from my kitchen to the laundry room, my shoe got caught in my pants, and I took a swan dive off the stairs. I only missed one step, and fell flat on my face, sprained my ankle, cut my left knee open, and broke the dog ramp. Nothing like picking the most inopportune moment to hurt myself.

Since it was my right ankle I sprained, I couldn't even drive. John had to drive me to the shower and I had to limp my way in. Unfortunately, I couldn't put any pressure on it at the beginning, and was unable to help with any of the set up. My friends are the BEST people in the world. They made me calm down, sit down, and quit freaking out. I sat with my Maria (Anita's 4 year old daughter) and filled the treat bags with Hershey's Kisses. She was SUCH a big help! All she kept saying was "Auntie Beth, I love helping you!". The feeling was mutual!


Katie and Rick were only 30 minutes late, beating our first estimates by 15 minutes! They seemed to love everything that we did. Rick's mom, sister, sister-in-law, niece, and his "aunt" all came, and we were thrilled to have them. We will be attending another shower for them at his mom's house on Saturday. It's going to be fun- just like they are! Rick cracked us up while opening their gifts. I honestly don't think Katie opened more than a couple. He giggled when opening everything, and it was terrific to see his enthusiasm.
All of the centerpieces and most of the decor were all homemade using the Cricut machine John got me for Christmas. That thing is awesome! The centerpieces were simply made from a 4x4x8' piece of pine, cut down with a chop saw loaned to me by a co-worker. I bought 59¢ craft paint bottles and put a couple of coats on the blocks. The cutouts were all done with the Cricut, scrapbooking adhesive, and a few rhinestones for eyes. They were so cute!

It was Jennifer's idea to make a "clothesline" of cutouts, and we made the above onesies with different animals on each, with the baby hanging in the diaper in the middle. It turned out great!

Now that Wednesday has arrived, I can walk again. I kept the foot up as much as I could, and I seem to have healed quite well. Not bad, considering it hurt so badly on Sunday that I thought I fractured it. My friends said it was a way for God to tell me to chill out, and quit worrying. Couldn't there have been some other sign? I get thrown down the stairs to prove a point? :)

Here's to Sammy- my future new nephew!