Tuesday, October 30, 2007

A few wedding pictures, from the professionals!!










14 INCHES!

I got my hair cut on Saturday. I decided that it was my hair and I was really ready to have something new and different. The results of which was FABULOUS! I even decided to color it too once I got home so it is more brown now too. My husband really liked it, once he warmed up to it, except for the color - he liked the blonde and wanted me to go even blonder than I had been before. Maybe, maybe not!





I love it!!

Thursday, October 25, 2007

To Posh or Not To Posh...


What do you guys think??
I am planning on getting my hair cut like Posh's on Saturday. I say planning to, because, while I have the appointment scheduled, work may interfere and I may be forced to reschedule. I have had (like most women) a lot of different hair styles over the years, and have never been nervous about trying new styles or colors. That said, I have had long, straight, blond hair for about 7 years now.

I think that I am ready for a change!

I am also really looking forward to donating my hair to help make wigs for children with cancer. I don't have a lot of money to donate to charities and I have low iron so I can't even donate my blood! But I do have a lot of freakin hair people!! I can help ease someones pain and suffering a little. I can do good and help my fellow man!

Knowing that the new style is a bit drastic, I have enlisted the opinions of my friends and family. Everyone is cautious, telling me to think about it or start with something less dramatic. My sweet husband, bless him, told me that while he will love me forever, even if I am bald, he is warning me that he will never cease to make fun of me if it does not turn out well! Sassy and Smug-Sister were both positive, but both expressed their disbelief that it would actually happen!

It is hair people - it does grow back! What is the worst that could happen? I hate it. I have to wait for it to grow out. Big deal! People are losing everything the own in CA right now, there is serious water shortages in GA, and no one knows for sure if J. Lo is pregnant or not!! These are the issues worth worrying about - not hair!

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Best Laid Plans...

Well, I have spent most of the weekend on the couch with a nasty sore throat and sinus headache. My sweet husband has been doing the male bonding thing all weekend, so I have been pretty much on my own. Which has been fine, because I have not felt like doing anything, or talking to anyone, or, I hate to say, cleaning the spare room.

I have been taking Airborne and Immuno-Shield, I have done the Netty pot a few times and took some Benadryl - nothing has giving me much relief, but the vodka that I drank last night was a wonderful sleep aid!! I have been sleeping on and off all day.

I am sort of half watching the Redskins v. Cardinals game since that is where Smug-Hub and my family are today. I am thinking that I would like to eat something but nothing sounds appetizing right now. I am glad that I have this weekend to rest because I am going to be working a lot of long days this up coming week.

I am working on the laundry, as I am out of bras and underwear and putting items from one machine to another is not what one would call stressful! I really wanted to get some gifts returned and the spare room cleaned, but I think that it is in my best interest to rest while I can.

You know what is ironic? I am sick with allergies or a head cold or whatever, but I am scheduled to get a flu shot tomorrow, which may make me feel a bit sickly for a day or two afterward! No matter what, I am going to feel crappy most, if not all, of the week! Great!! :)

Friday, October 19, 2007

Week Wrap Up

So, this week was pretty good overall. The Transformers movie was finally released on DVD, the president of my company came to town and was pleased with how things are going, we held the annual employee tent sale and it was a rounding success, and best of all.... the weekend is here!!

Transformers was released on Tuesday, I had pre-ordered it from Amazon, so it did not arrive until Wednesday which worked out well, since we had my nephew staying with us Tuesday night and we would not have been able to watch it while he was awake. My time with him was really nice, we played in the park and then he watched some Generation 1 Transformer cartoons while I made dinner and then he helped me make ice cream. He had trouble falling asleep, which I think was caused by not being in his own bed with his own stuff and his normal routine. Not to mention when you are 4 your mother is your whole life and when he stays with me he misses her terribly. It breaks my heart to hear him quietly sniffing and wiping tears away while trying to fall asleep missing her.

Wednesday the president of my company was in town, I went pretty much undetected by him, which, if I am doing my job right, is the desired result! He did have all good things to say about the way that we are running things and all the improvements and updates that have been done to help make our peak selling season run smoothly. When I left work, I took a walk with Mom while my husband finished up at work. This gave mom and I time to catch up and get a little exercise. When he was finished, we picked up some dinner and turned on the movie!!! It was so much better at the movies, but our big screen TV made it seem almost as good!! We have decided that we really NEED to get a surround sound system, to really do the movie justice!

Thursday was the employee tent sale and I was in charge of the people working it, so that translates to on my feet for 14 full hours, on asphalt!! My feet, knees and legs were so killing me by the end of it - I normally work at a desk, in an office, so my body is just not used to all the physical work of lifting, carrying and standing for long hours. I ended up spending the majority of the time working security at the tent door, to make sure that no unauthorized people got in. It sucked! But, my wonderful husband went for Chinese take out while I took a hot shower and then rubbed my feet until I fell asleep - at 8:00pm!! He got me up and I brushed my teeth, took an Advil and went to bed! I actually tossed and turned for a little while, my legs were hurting/burning/tingling so bad that I had a hard time getting comfortable. I was asleep before 10pm anyway! Smug-Hub said that he tried to wake me a bit later without success. I have no memory of it at all!!
Today, was more relaxed. I was able to get my whole list of "to do's" done and get all prepped for next week, which is going to be a killer week, but I only have these really crazy ans stressful weeks 4 times a year, the rest of the year - much better, even fun most of the time, so it is a totally cool trade off!

My sweet husband is going to an NFL game this weekend with my dad and uncle. It should be fun filled day of male bonding, easting food that is soooo good, and yet soooo bad! They are leaving Saturday evening and will be back late Sunday night. Smug-Hub is also taking a few guys out to test a new fishing rod in the morning, so I will have the house to myself most of the weekend! I bought a small pumpkin and a small butternut squash and I have plans to see what wonderful fall treats I can make! I am also going to catch up on all the taped TV shows that I have missed all week, return some wedding gifts, and clean out the spare room.

Speaking of the spare room... what a huge mess it has become! This apartment is way too small for us and we are trying to use the spare room as an office for us both, a guest bedroom and a fishing/hunting supplies room - it is just not working! I think that I am going to try to get most of my stuff organized and packed up. I can get all my school stuff packed up or tossed and everything that is needed office stuff (checks, bills, thank you notes, banking statements, etc.) I am going to take into my office at work. It will be much easier to keep important stuff there, where I can get to it, than spend an hour looking for the blank check register here at the house. I think that I will try to take everything else, including the wedding gifts that we want to keep, but have no room for, to the storage unit. While there I will pull out one of the boxes of books that I want to sell and get them onto eBay. We have got to get our lives in order and while I can't make the bills go away or make the landlord keep this place nice, or speed up the home buying or baby having processes, I can de-clutter the spare room!!

Everyone! Have a wonderful weekend and remember to be thankful for what you have and take time to smell flowers and enjoy fall!!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Ice Cream, You Scream

Well, I attempted to make Mango Mint Sorbet with my new ice cream attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer. I have been wanting this attachment for a long time and finally got it from my dad for my birthday.

I thought it would be fun to make with Will, who was having a sleep over. So, I made up the mix the evening before, because it has to chill for like 10 hours before putting it into the mixer. Will sat on the counter and helped me put all the attachments together and turn on the machine. I poured in the mix and we watched it start to thicken. Now, let me explain something about this mix. It was oddly separated. The recipe was followed to the letter, but you know how you are supposed to temper eggs into a hot liquid or they will scramble? Well, this is what the ice cream mix looked like, like tiny little pieces of cooked egg, only there are no eggs in this batter. Milk, sugar, corn syrup heated together until all dissolved. Pureed mango with a bit of lemon juice and chopped fresh mint (more on the mint later). Mix together and chill.

We let it mix/freeze for about 3 times longer than the recipe said, and it was still pretty slushy. Will said that he liked it, but when I gave him a little bowl of it, he left a lot behind! Now about that mint - it was all stuck to the mixing blade, I guess that I did not chop it finely enough or something, cause it was really odd. I thought and my husband agreed that the taste did not come out all that well either. It was a bit gritty (I guess from the "cooked egg" thingies) and had a strange aftertaste. Maybe too much lemon? Maybe? I don't know?

I put it into the freezer to see if it just needed to get really hard or something. I will test it out tonight, but I have a feeling that it will be getting a nice up close look at the garbage disposal!

I am going to try freaking vanilla next - how hard can this really be??

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

The Fridge That Never Was

When my husband and I moved into our current apartment, we listed two (count um, TWO) type written pages of items that needed to be fixed. Several were of urgent need and others were less urgent and still others were things that we would like to see fixed but weren't causing problems. The ONLY item on the list to be fixed was the ceiling fan in the master bedroom, and that only after many phone calls and begging and pleading. There are safety plates missing from the electrical plugs, we were told that all the flooring would be replaced, they only replaced the carpet, leaving the vinyl which is yellowed from the previous tenants smoking and full of holes. We were told that screens for all the windows were "on order", they have never arrived. The fridge does not close/seal correctly, thus wasting electricity if you are not careful to push the door shut from all 3 sides. The paint job was terrible and many places were missed. The whole place still smelled like smoke!

Now, I was deep into finishing school and planning the wedding, so most everything else was left alone. I just did not have the time to do all the begging, pleading, phone calls, and letter writing needed to get anything done. Then the bathroom sink begin to leak... hot water... I called the maintenance guy on a Friday morning and no one called me back. On Monday I called the landlord, no call back. He did finally call me back on Tuesday and gave me the phone number of a plumber. While I had the landlord on the phone, I mentioned that it had been a few months since he told me that the new refrigerator would be arriving. He told me that the one that he had ordered was on back order and it should only be a few more days. I think that this man must either be very dumb, or just used to dealing with dumb people. Anyway, the plumber came out a few days later and the leak was fixed - really not the point of this post, but it still burns my ass that my hot water dripped for 5 full days at the rate of 1 cup full every 20 minutes! Yes! I timed it! You want to make something of it?!?!?!

Yesterday afternoon about 3:30pm, I received a call from Lowes, letting me know that they were going to deliver the new fridge this morning between 8-noon. When I tried to figure out who scheduled this and why I was getting such late notice and how I might be able to re-schedule, he was very rude and basically told me that he was doing me a favor even calling. He told me to call the retail store in the morning and ask for this certain guy. When I asked for his name he would not tell me - this tells me that he knew he was being nasty!

I got up this morning and started making phone calls to all 3 of the local Lowes stores. I attempted to call the landlord (to find out which store he got the fridge from) but his phone was going right to voicemail. None of the 3 stores could find a record of my delivery. I arranged for my husband to stay home while I went into work to put together the important morning status report and then I would come home to wait while he went into work. During the drive to work, while at work, during the drive home and during my 3 full hours of waiting I was still trying to call the landlord.

At about 5 minutes before noon, I called the stores again and finally found the store where the certain guy worked, but he was out sick... I asked to speak to his boss and when he came on the phone I explained everything including that now it was noon and I had missed work and no one was there. We put me on hold and when he came back he told me that the landlord had called late yesterday evening to reschedule the delivery for after the end of October and he would call to reschedule.

I am livid! Not only was Lowes rude and unhelpful both yesterday and this morning (the final guy was very nice and it turns out it was not Lowes fault at all), but I wasted half a day that I could have been working, wages that my husband and I both would have lost (were we hourly) come to $301.28, not to mention the missed meetings, late reports and everything else. I am going to tell him that I am taking the $301.28 out of next months rent. I am sure that there is some agency or government body that I can complain to about this! We seem to be a sue happy country, maybe I can sue for a few million in damages for mental and emotional anguish!

I have left an urgent message for the landlord - it is going on 31/2 hours without a response from him. I did not tell him what I was calling about, I just told him who I was and asked him to call me right away. Now, if that was a message on my voicemail, I would be thinking that the place was flooding or something and I would be calling right away - nothing from this man.

I think that I dislike him very much. You know that we have never met this man? He had an agent show us the place and sign the lease. I doubt that he has even been on the property to see what a dump it is. He must be used to renting to people who don't mind living in filth, if the last tenants are any indication. How can he run his business this way? I would think that it would be a landlords dream to have clean, non-smoking tenants who pay on time and have a history of long term rentals. We were 2 years at our last place, only leaving because it was being sold as a home not a rental. The place before that we lived for 5 years! Again, only leaving when the landlords changed and rented the other unit to drug dealers - two slashed tires later, we felt it time to move!!

My husband says that I need to calm down and stop being mad, that being mad does not solve anything and make things better and he is right - that is one reason that I have this blog, I can let out all my anger, or pain or whatever without hurting anyone.

Fuck it - we are buying a house soon anyway and then we will be out of there :)

Monday, October 15, 2007

Recycling..NOT!

So it is Blog Action day today! This is actually a topic that is close to my heart, although you would not know from the amount of recycling that I am not doing! I did my senior thesis on the impact of Business on the environment and all the ways that businesses are helping to make things better. There is a lot being done out there, but there is still so much to be done!

I lobbied hard for recycling bins to be put in at work, so that employees have a place (where they already come each day) to drop off their recycling. My company recycles cardboard and paper. We have a drink can recycling bin too. We have also adopted a section of the main river in the city and have had major clean up days already 3 times this year. My company is really trying to do what they can to help!

I personally am not! My husband and I current live in the smallest, crappiest apartment ever. There is literally no place to keep multiple containers for recycling. I have been looking for a stacking or small set of recycling bins, but have not found anything workable yet. I have thought about just using old plastic grocery bags, but my minor OCD will not stand for that kind of clutter. For now we are just throwing everything into the one main trash can. I feel so bad about it that I can hardly stand myself!!

We are looking for a house to purchase and once we have more space, recycling will be much more doable. If I can live with the guilt until then - I am personally responsible for large amounts of landfill waste; something that my children and grandchildren will have to live with - I can't stand it!! I have to find a way to recycle!! There has to be some kind of bin system that can fit into the kitchen somewhere!

I wonder if those Rubbermaid set of drawers would work? They must make something for small apartments? Anyone have any ideas? My brain is too full of guilt to find a workable solution. I truly have about a 1 foot square section of open floor space in the kitchen. I have less than no cabinet space, what should I do??

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Loot and House Hunting

Smug-Hub and I spent the day yesterday totally together! I was so nice to really spend time together, just enjoying each others company and doing fun stuff.

We got up late and had breakfast at the house. Then I had to make a deposit at the bank, so it was about noon before we got to Bed, Bath and Beyond. We had a ton of gift certificates and a 10% off coupon. We decided to get some of the stuff from our registry that we did not get at the wedding. We got so much stuff!! A memory foam pillow for Smug-Hub, the Sonic blade (an electronic knife that Smug-Hub was dying for), we got a really nice set of 400 count sheets for the bed, a salad spinner, the Britta filter for the water tap, several under the cabinet organizers, and of course some coffee for our coffee maker! We spent $3.74 out of pocket!! The trunk of the car was STUFFED!!

We ran into my Dad and Smug-StepMom at Sams, we had ICEE's and talked with them for a while and then did some shopping. I found this cool book of baked Christmas gift ideas, which is going to be so fun to spend several hours in the Kitchen making gifts for people at work and stuff!

After that we had to drop off Smug-Hub's bow to be re-strung (don't ask me what that means, cause I don't know - something hunting related). Then we decided to take a drive around this one neighborhood and see what houses there were costing. We spent the next 3 hours looking all over Roanoke for houses. We actually found a few in decent places that are just outside our price range. We are not really ready to buy right now and have about 6 months left on our lease, so I am hoping that the recent trends continue and the interest rates drop and house prices drop.

We actually found the neighborhood that we want to buy our second home in! It is really nice and has great views and the house are all about $350,000!!! We are looking for something in the $100,00-$130,000 range. But if the housing market stays bad, the houses that are in the $160,000 range will perhaps be willing to take more what we can afford and if the interest rates drop more we can afford a higher priced house!

I am sure that it will all work out the way it needs to!!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Flowers


These are the flowers that were waiting for me when I returned to work from lunch! I really have the most wonderful husband ever! Here I have been having a little pity party for myself, "oh woe is me, I am getting so old, life is passing me by" and I have this really amazing man in my life who loves me more than he loves air! How many people in this world ever find what Smug-Hub and I have? How many people are in unhappy relationships, or alone, or messed up so bad from their past that they are not capable of having true love? Smug-Hub and I are so lucky to have found each other and I am totally ashamed to have forgotten that for even one second!
Smug-Hub and I have waited so long to find each other - I honestly believe that we are meant to be, and so will our buying of a house, and having children and all the rest of it. I have to stop worrying about what I don't have yet and take time, here in the present, to stop and smell the roses.

It's My Birthday!

Ok, so I am 31 years old today... I have not had as much trouble with this birthday as I did last year on my 30th, but I am feeling a little worried about continuing to get older. I really want to have children, I always wanted to have a big family, and that is most likely not going to happen, but I still have time to have at least 1 or 2, but every day and week that passes the chance of having kids dwindles. I have been on the pill for about 9 years and it could take years to get pregnant after coming off the pill and I am worried that we are letting the chance to have children pass us by. I think that my husband feels that they is plenty of time to do everything that we want to do, and for him he does. I know that there are lots of women who get pregnant in their 40's, and that is great, but I don't want to be retiring at the same time my children are heading into college!!

I am also having a family dinner thing tonight. I know that my family loves me and wants to celebrate with me, but I don't feel like making a big deal about this, it is just a reminder that time is passing, and eggs are dying....

Smug-Hub is being so sweet, he took me to dinner last night and then took me to Circuit City and got me a "pre-birthday" gift, of a DVD player with up converting to 720p/1080P, so my current DVD's will play with better quality on are huge projection TV. I am excited to hook it up tonight!!

The bathroom sink has been leaking from the hot water faucet since Friday. I have been calling and leavng messages for the maint. guy and the landlord. I finally got a call back from the landload yesterday and the plumber wil be here this afternoon. I still have to leave work early to let him in, but I don't want to be at work any longer than I have to be, so that will be fine.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

I am so excited to have fall TV back! I have picked up a few new shows and so far I like them all, but I am so happy to see so many old fave's back. All the CSI's, Boston Legal, House, etc. I also picked up Bones and Heroes both of which are returning shows, but shows that I have not watched before. I am so enjoying all of them!

I have really needed something to help me decompress, I jumped from starting school, starting a new job, wedding planning, more school, more wedding planning, the wedding itself, etc!! It may sound lazy to be parked in front of the TV every evening, but it is really great not to HAVE to DO anything for a while.

I only have a few weeks until the school thing starts up again and I am desperate to take all the leisure time that I can muster while I have the opportunity. I want to read for fun, watch TV, cook and bake and spend time with my family and other fun stuff.

I plan on chopping veggies for a nice big salad for dinner, but then I want to make something like apple crisp or something else decadent. I want to make food that is good and takes time and effort to prepare, but not too much time - you know that balance of fun without it turning into work!

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Back To Life

Well, the house is clean, the bills are paid, all the laundry is done. I have a few minor things still do to on the name change front, but for the most part things are getting back to normal.

I have decided that while I have a few weeks before school starts back up, that I am going to try to get on a good, normal, workable, workout and eating plan. I started a new profile on SparkPeople and I am going to try to focus on getting my body ready to house a baby. Smug-Hub and I want to try for a baby sooner rather than later given my age and I want to do my part to make it happen. I want to get pregnant easily and quickly. I want my pregnancy and birth to go well with no or minimal complications. I want my child to have the best start in life as possible, without birth defects or health problems. I don't want to have one of those kids who is sick all the time, because their mother did not care enough to help them grow a strong immune system.

So, the plan is to start taking 400mcg of foliate, and a prenatal vitamin. I am going to lose about 15-20 more pounds to get my BMI into the optimum range for conception and pregnancy. I am going to stop eating out several times a week and start cooking at home so I can control the foods that I am putting into my baby making machine!! I am going to develop a workable workout plan that is doable for someone working and going to school. I am going to stick to this plan... our baby is going to be worth it!

Monday, October 1, 2007

Starry Eyed!

Well, I have been a married woman for just over a week now! I love being married - they is something different about being married than just dating or living together. I am having a hard time putting it into words. The day to day activities are still the same, the witty banter between us is the same, the love is the same, sex is the same, etc.. Something has changed though - a feeling or an attitude - something. I asked Smug-Hub about it and he said the same thing. I don't know if it is that we feel more like adults, or more responsible or what, but it is different!

The wedding was everything that I could have dreamed of!! Everything was perfect! I fully expected for things to go wrong, but I would not have changed anything! One of the bridesmaids felt a bit faint just before we headed down the aisle, but after removing her tight fitting bra was fine. I did realize just as the church doors were opening to allow Dad and I to walk down the aisle that I had forgotten to put in the contacts that I had gotten specially for the wedding, but as it turned out - Smug-Hub fell slightly apart upon seeing me for the first time, and if I had seen that I would have been crying through the whole thing - so it totally worked out for the best!

The pictures after the ceremony were fun, but slightly stressful, as we only had 45 minutes in the church to get everything that we needed. It was all running along smoothly until my mom requested a picture with everyone in her side of the family - no biggie as this was only 8 people including Smug-Hub and myself. But then... not to be left out, Smug-StepMom (read, evil stepmother) wanted to have a picture of that entire side of the family (including VERY distant aunts and uncles) people had to be found and arranged and about 6 different times the photographer was about to take the shot when another family member would wander by and Smug-StepMom would yell to include them too - this totalled about 15 people!! The photograher was less than thrilled about this - but what are you gonna do?? As it was, we still made it out of the church will about 17 seconds to spare!!

Here are couple of cool shots - sorry they are a bit blurry!

More to come later on the reception!!