Random Babble on a boring Friday

1. My Blazer decided to not start- again- this week. Had it towed to the shop to find out it was the fuel pump. $800 and a 2 day car rental later I can pick it up at 5pm tonight.

2. Winter storm whoever was supposed to be terrible last night but as far as I can tell we got a couple of inches and lots of 30+mph wind. But still just enough to make people forget how to drive!

3. My little rental car- Chevy Cobalt- is cute as hell. I loved tooling around in it the last couple of days- but it handles not so well in the snow.

4. In the words of Eric Cartman from Southpark- I am truly a "GINGER KID" (minus the whole soulless part). I purchased a 30 day- unlimited session- tanning package to try to get a base before my cruise. I went for 10 minutes on Tuesday and was a little pink when I got home. I went for another 10 minutes last night and I am so burnt that I couldn't even wear a bra today because it hurt so bad. My freckles are out in FULL force. J thinks their cute so maybe it's not so bad!

5. My mom is coming down tonight to attend my SIL's baby shower tomorrow. I still have to purchase the ingredients and make an ice ring for the punch, make ham & pickle pinwheels and get everything together.

6. Parker and I have check up eye appointments tomorrow morning and I'm ordering new glasses. I have the same pair of frames (and the prescription lenses) as I had when J and I started dating. Needless to say I can't see a thing with my current glasses on!

7. I can't believe that in exactly 29 days I will be on a cruise to Central America! Today is Missy's birthday so I sent her a card in the mail to let her know we'd celebrate- heavily- on the boat!

8. Parker turns 14 in 4 days. I've been trying to figure out where the time went- I can't grasp this yet. And he is ALL teenager right now!

9. I haven't been up north in a while. I also realized that J has only been up once since we moved and that was Thanksgiving. I'd say it's time for a little visit.

10. I am totally addicted to reading other peoples blogs. I am fascinated by what happens to or goes through the thoughts of other people in the world. I am a total "blog stalker" and I don't care!

11. I was a busy bee today getting all of my month end things done. Now I have nothing to do, I'm bored and ready to go home- but it's only 2:18.

12. Our volleyball team is still in first place-by 2 games. Next week is our last game of the season and we play the 2nd place team. Then we start the spring league the following week!

13. I really like my hair length right now. It looks good if I leave it curly or straighten it. I've been straightening it a lot lately- it looks sheek!

14. Body Combat has been kicking my butt. But I feel great afterwards and I don't feel like I'm going to throw up during class anymore!

Have a great weekend everyone. Catch ya later

The College Commentaries-Part 1

College was definitely one of the greatest times of my life. I still talk about it often and relive it quarterly, on girls weekends!
High school, was high school. I was part of the popular group in school. With only 26 kids in my graduating class it was kind of hard not to be in the popular group- the entire class was the popular group!
I was mediocre at best- getting good enough grades to get into a few decent state universities. I remember the day the letters came in the mail. Thick is good, thin is bad, is what we were told. They all came, one by one and each one was neither thin nor thick. The heartburn rose in my chest as I fumbled to open the envelopes with my parents as the audience. UW-Green Bay: Congratulations and welcome! UW- Oshkosh: Congratulations! UW-Stevens Point: Congratulations and welcome! Holy shit- all three. The only three I had applied to. Now the big decision came- where should I go?
Green Bay was nice, I toured it with my parents and the underground tunnels were a definite selling point in the frozen tundra. I didn't even visit Oshkosh because too many of my classmates were attending. I felt it would be too much like living in Pembine and I was trying to get the hell out of there. Stevens Point, I toured, sans parents with my friend Breia, her boyfriend was a Freshman and we were able to stay with him for a weekend. I got to see behind the scene Stevens Point and I fell in love. A small, homey campus with very fun basement parties. My mind was made up. Didn't help that an attractive Junior hit on me and believed me when I said I was a Freshman. I toured with my parents as well and was given the thumbs up- as long as I didn't bring home "one of those DNR agents in training"!
I had made a decision and now all I had to do was wait.....

One of those days...

.....and make it a GRANDE!

50 Completely Honest Things About Me: Part 7 of 50

Part 7 of 50: I am extremely organized and anal about it

I have not been organized, clean or anal my entire life, however unlike some of my earlier posts I know exactly when this happened.

It was the first day of college, when I was forced to move into a shoe box... with a complete stranger...that was an absolute pig.

In high school, my mom would yell until she was blue in the face for me to pick up my room. There was usually a path from the door to my bed and from my bed to the closet. Half empty soda cans, dirty plates, clean/semi-clean/dirty clothes all rolled together, junk, junk and more junk. I'm old enough now to admit my own fault in this- but you all should also know that it's the way I was raised. Both of my parents are terrible pac-rats! It was inevitable that I would also be a "saver".

My bedroom growing up was an odd shape- but overall a decent room: 10x19 with a huge closet. And it was packed to the gills with stuff. Imagine my horror when I was informed that my dorm room- the one I had to share- was only 11x15. It was very hard for me to pack to move to college.

I kept my things as tidy and in order as I knew how, while my roommate was not so organized. There was a day I almost broke my neck tripping and sliding on her stuff! It was then and there that I decided I needed to be organized and became anal about it. I have a color coded file cabinet, all of my shoes are in a shoe organizer, my purses are in bins separated by size and need (everyday, going out, etc). I love organizer contraptions, hooks, holders, etc.

When planning an event or traveling- I have everything in order- usually in a folder. I get a lot of crap from my NSOF's (not so organized friends) but deep down inside I know they admire it!!!
My ladies pool team decided to enter an all woman's tournament in Three Lakes, WI a few years back. We actually did it 3 years in a row but being our first time, I was nervous about finding the bars, what times we played, etc. Having real estate resources for the entire state of WI I was able to photo copy plat map pages of the area we were playing in, make dots where each of the establishments was and had a sheet with address & phone numbers for each place in case we ran late for a match. It was all kept nicely in a folder and we never ran into a problem the entire weekend. But I got harassed the entire weekend as well!!!

Honestly, being organized saves me a lot of headaches and I don't mind anymore- it's who I am- and I like it.......so does J (to a point)!

Karma is a BEOTCH

The Blazer has been on life 6 of it's 7 lives for quite some time now- but keeps on ticking. In dreaming of getting rid of the lemon I often look at cars online if I have some spare time- such was the case late last week. Like everyone else feeling the economic crisis I look and wish but always close the web page knowing that now is not the time to be purchasing a new vehicle especially when the one I have still runs okay.
I received the insurance check from my New Years Eve incident in the mail last week and decided to put it into the savings account yesterday. As previously stated we decided not to spend the check getting the Blazer fixed but keep the money (in case the economy gets any worse and we need it) and leave the Blazer ugly and broken.

KARMA IS A ROTTEN BEOTCH!

Today after I was finished letting the dog out and eating my lunch, I jumped in the Blazer to head back to work and low and behold... it wouldn't start. I tried and tried and check things under the hood- not that I even knew what I was looking for! Nothing. I called my sister-in-law in a panic and asked if she could come get me and take me back to work. Luckily she was available. So now even though I'd like to be able to go new car shopping- it's just not the time- and will be spending some of that damn insurance check to fix whatever is wrong with the lemon... and you won't catch me looking at cars online for a while!

50 Completely Honest Things About Me: Part 6 of 50

Part 6 of 50: I have terrible spelling and grammar

Okay, so lets face it, you've been reading for a while so I'm sure you've all noticed!

English was never one of my favorite classes but I got decent grades. However, it was more of a "in one ear out the other" class for me.

I'm not horrible at spelling, I can usually sound things out but double constants definitely give me problems. J has even said that I wrote him a note one time, had the right word down crossed it out and then misspelled it.

My biggest issue is grammar. I am terrible. I have a tendency for run-on sentences and punctuation where it doesn't need to be or no punctuation where it needs to be. I make up my own grammar using a lot of -'s or ...'s and I tend to throw in a few odd ,'s for good measure!

I'm okay with this... really I am. But I warn you if this is something that you just can not stomach- can not fathom that someone would be this bad and continue writing- then we should probably part ways now........I will miss you!

Girls, Girls, Girls

After college my close-knit group of friends scattered around the entire state of Wisconsin- with the exception of Missy who decided to move to South Carolina. She would come back to WI for 2 weeks during Christmas and New Years and the group would get together somewhere centrally located to visit, catch up and party for 1 night.
One night NEVER seemed like enough so after having a few of these girls nights and Missy actually moving back to the great state of WI we decided that 1 day was not enough and that it was a required 2 day weekend. We've also decided to have one of us host in a different town each time. Third quarter is always at Kristen's in Point for UW-Stevens Point Homecoming festivities!

This past weekend was mine to host in my new city of Matrasha Menasha! Friday night was jammies & games night. J made a taco bar for us with all the fixings and strawberry daiquiris too! I'm pretty sure my cheeks still hurt from laughing Friday night. We played The Game of Things, Zobmando and Apples to Apples until about 1 in the morning. Even J joined in the fun later in the evening.


Saturday was a pretty slow moving morning. Breakfast was made, showers were taken and we were finally ready to venture out around 12:30. We decided to park on one end of College Avenue to walk down one side and up the other going to all of the little shops. Unfortunately, coming up the other side we only happened to make it as far as Cleo's- the crazy holiday bar.
Cleo's is decorated floor to ceiling with holiday decor- mostly Christmas but you can find something from most other holidays in there as well. And it was $2.50 Bloody Mary & Old Fashion Happy Hour! After far too long at Cleo's it was off to MT Pockets for a little bit of reminiscing and a little bit of food!

We ended up back at my house to get all dolled up to go out to Sliders and see the band Bazooka Joe that was playing. J was our lovely chauffeur!

Sunday was again a slow moving day with breakfast being made, showers being taken and the thrift store shopping ritual!

Heidi happened to have the best quote in the history of girls weekends and has now become our official girls weekend motto. We may even have t-shirts printed for homecoming!

"Party like we're still in college.... and wake up knowing we're not!"

(back: Jaime, Katrina, Heidi, Nikki / front: Missy, Kristen)

Thanks for the fabulous weekend ladies- I think we have more fun every time we get together! See you all the end of April!

I am God.... Godmother, that is!

Nearly 5 years ago, J and I were asked to be Godparents for our friends first born- Ayden Steven Payne.
Jaime showed off her pregnant belly at our wedding and we were patiently awaiting our "little man" making his appearance to the world. Ayden has proven to be the perfect little guy for us and has also proven to be a little ham just like his daddy Jason and of course his uncle J! He is so smart and inquisitive. He has J and I wrapped around his little fingers- he even got me to go bug hunting this summer when they were home from Atlanta!

Jaime & Jason have recently welcomed baby #3 -Ava Marie.

The only sister for Ayden and his little brother Jameson. After an early birth and very hard first few weeks Ava is growing bigger & stronger every day!

I received another VERY exciting call tonight. Jaime called to ask if I would take on the roll of Godmother to Ava as well. Her Godfather will be Ryan, Jason's brother. I was very touched to be asked and of course said "yes" immediately. There is no way to express our gratitude to Jaime and Jason for allowing us to be such a special part of Ayden & Ava's lives. We don't take our titles lightly and it kills us that they are so far away.



Ayden we love you dearly- you will ALWAYS be our first born... our Little Man.



But I am so excited to have this little piece of heaven all to my self!

But I like carrots now... doesn't that count for anything?

Most people that I know have a fear of the dentist office. I have always thought this was odd. I don't particularly like going to the dentist- it's not a day in the park- but I've never had an outright fear of the dentist either.

There is a doctor (aside from the obvious OBGYN) that I am uncomfortable going to though- it's the Optometrist. I should definately have ate more carrots when I was little. Mom wasn't lying - I still have never seen a rabbit with glasses.

For me the day that my yearly eye exam is scheduled for is one of the most stressful days of the year. And that day was this Saturday past. Aside from the glaucoma/puff-of-air test being annoying the rest is quite stressful. The other tests I'm not too fond of are the color test (page with green dots all over and a number in orange dots mixed in with the green dots) or the depth perception test (put on the funny glasses and tell which shape is elevated off the page). There is too much thinking involved when having these tests done- and what happens if you get one wrong- will take away your license and deem you borderline blind? Don't even get me started on the which is better option 1 or option 2 test. This is the most stressful part of the exam for me. Sometimes they aren't better. Sometime option 1 is exactly like option 2 and I wonder to myself if they do this on purpose to screw with you. Regardless of my distaste for the eye doctor is is imperative that I make the trip once a year as eye issues run in my family. My eyes continue to get worse every year- which confuses me as I wear "corrective lenses". But what the hell, I have really good insurance now, so there is no excuse to not go!

50 Completely Honest Things About Me: Part 5 of 50

Part 5 of 50: I'm a Homing Pigeon


In keeping with the bird theme, I thought this would be an appropriate post.


I am a homing pigeon. In the directional sense. This is a trait that I inherited from my dad, thankfully! I can get from home to someplace or someplace to home having only been there once in my life. I am exceptional with maps and written directions and I usually know which direction I am traveling in. I am also good at giving directions.


While I was in real estate, my Plat Book was like a Bible and I would travel nowhere without it. I actually had 3 (one in each of the vehicles and one to carry in my briefcase or have at my desk). I could walk a 40 acre parcel like I owned it simply by having the Plat Book in my hand! I will admit, now that I am in the city I sometimes feel "naked" without a Plat Book but you will find me using Google Maps often!


I recall as a child that my parents would play "get us home" games with me. Sometimes this was hard because my dad never liked to take the same road home as he took going. And he loved to take back roads...ALL of the time! In the end it's proven to be a game that obviously worked. I rarely get lost or turned around. Fortunately, I will probably never need a Garmin GPS like my poor friend Roxanne.

Wonderful Weekend

This past weekend was a pretty uneventful yet wonderful weekend.

Friday:

It all started with my husband taking me out for dinner and drinks to our usual Friday night hot spot, Sliders. We have such a great time together and sometimes find ourselves deep in conversation an hour after we get there and realize we haven't even taken more than 2 drinks from our beers!

Saturday:

Saturday morning was an early one- up at 6 am (well J was, I got to sleep till 7:30)! Parker had a dance at the youth center on Friday night so J agreed to pick him up on Saturday morning- but we also had eye exams at 10 am! I was at the gym by 8 for Body Flow -Launch (introducing a new routine for the next few weeks). Saturday afternoon was spent doing a little shopping and a lot of cooking (for our UFC party). I made ham & pickle pinwheels, loaded potato skins and hot & honey BBQ chicken wings.

At 6 our festivities started with the actual fight starting at 9. The first 3 fights of the night were on the boring side, with all three going 3 rounds and down to the judges decisions. The welterweight fight of the night undefeated Lyoto Machida against undefeated Thiago Silva was a good one with Silva being knocked out at the end of the 1st round (as the bell was going off)!

The main event for the evening George St.Pierre vs BJ Penn was phenomenal with GSP dominating from the get go.

It went to the end of the 4th round but BJ was so messed up he could not continue to the 5th leaving GSP the Welterweight Champion. I highly doubt that anyone is going to take it from him anytime soon! They actually interviewed St.Pierre's next challenger for the title and the guy didn't sound too confident- almost scared! Most of the friends at our party were bummed that BJ didn't win- but as they were all frowning I was dancing around the living room humming the Canadian national anthem! I am a poor winner, I admit it- I like to rub it in!

Sunday:

Sunday was sleep in day and boy did I! I think I got up around 10:30 and then lumped around in bed until 11:45. We went to J's dads for lunch and then on to our friends- Greg & Lisa's for a Super Bowl party. I'm not that into football so I pretty much spaced out and just waited till the end of the game. J and I won $100 on a pool so it was worth while watching!

Monday is here and the begining to yet another week. Looking forward to this coming weekend as it is "girls weekend" with some college friends!

Bye for now....