Ten Things Tuesday

1. I need things like "Ten on Tuesday" or "Wordless Wednesday" because they help give me things to blog about. Got anymore? All I can come up with is Thirsty Thursday. I know very well how that relates to my evening, but not so much to a blog.

2. We had a fabulous Chritsmas weekend! So much so that I took over 500 hundred pictures in 2 days. I guess I have some sorting to do ...

3. I went to The Broken Spoke for the first time on Saturday! How I've lived in South Austin so long and never been, I don't know. It was exactly like I imagined it.

4. I went back to the gym today! Woo!

5. I am really, really, really ready for 2010.

6. I wear my sunglasses at night, so I can, so I can ...

7. Ten Things Fail.

Half n Half Hair

Random Posting Warning

Chris created a Facebook profile recently. I just went through the pictures that he added ... and uh, honey - what is this?!

1. I'm about 19 years old here. I'm guessing that's not grape juice in the wine glass I'm holding. Tsk, Tsk, Sara.

2. Do you not SEE that my hair is half blonde and half brown? I had decided to quit coloring my hair (and still haven't since December 2002) and apparently didn't realize the importance of cutting off the old colored blonde.

3. This kinda makes me want to color my hair again. Hmmm...

Ten Things Tuesday?

How does this work? Am I supposed to have a specific topic, and if so -from where? Or do I just make up ten things?

1. I was thrilled to see sunshine on my lunch break!

2. When did I quit wearing makeup? I'm long past being embarrassed to go ... anywhere ... without makeup. Now I only put it on for special occasions.

3. I have watched the video of Bandit in the "snow" about 375 times today. I literally smile the whole time, every time. I just love that dog!

4. Chris told me, out of the blue, last week that he thought I was doing a "good job" on my fingernails and that they always looked nice. And I really, really, really loved that compliment.

5. It is very hard to Facebook stalk someone when you don't know their last name.

6. I am apparently very cheap. I need boots for this winter but can't bring myself to spend $100 + on ankle booties.

7. Speaking of money I don't want to spend - my blow dryer finally and officially died this morning. No air passing through except in smoke form is probably a bad thing. Buying a blow dryer is very far down my list of things I like to shop for :-(

8. Chris has convinced me to keep my car. I'm starting to like it a little bit more every day.

9. My parents have lived in their house for 16 years. It's going on the market any day now. I have so far succeeded in not crying over this yet, but that is not going to last much longer.

10. I wish Christmas tree scent came in a bottle (and actually smelled like a fresh Christmas tree) that I could spray on my fake tree. Yes, I cheat in ways like that.

Count Your Blessings

(**Just pretend I remembered to publish this last Friday**)

Just for Me # 11 - Spend 5 days counting blessings instead of worries.

Yesterday was probably a cheat day since I was feeling very blessed - but I definitely spent the day counting them all up! There have been so many bad things happening this year to my family and friends. It's been a long hard year that I'm ready to put behind me.

However, I spent this Thursday feeling fortunate for the good that there is in my life.

November 12 was my official 5 year anniversary at my company. What a job it is! I love the company I work for, my job doesn't cause me any undue stress, I like my coworkers, it pays the bills. What more could I ask for? I felt very appreciated that day, as well as had an exciting day with some great news on a new product. I am very blessed with my job.

I thought about how blessed I was to have Chris to come home to. He rented a movie, I picked up takeout ... perfect night in on the sofa. We even got free queso from Texadelphia!

I stopped by Newflower and got to see my sister! I'm so happy she has a job that she loves, too. Oh and she got me a 20% discount on candy - what a blessing, hehe!

It was a happy, peaceful day in my life and I really took the time to appreciate it this November 12, 2009.

October 22

I think it is no coincidence that Nordstrom Rack and Windows 7 are coming on the same day. Let this be a GOOD sign!!

Random

Since I have nothing else to blog about ... I just thought I'd share some of my daily judgemental thoughts :-) I'm apparently in a grumpy and mean mood today! This is me over reacting to every day things:

I didn't know there was an intelligence requirement for being a cart gatherer at HEB. However, I'd say that this guy is likely not a good candidate for the job: He was pulling the stack of carts from the front, instead of pushing them from the back. He'd get 4 feet and look back to realize the baskets were sliding out of place and drifting in the parking lot. He'd go put them back in the stack, go back to the front of the baskets, and start pulling again. Repeat. This went on several times, all while he's blocking the lane and multiple cars are in line trying to get by. He never did figure it out ... he waved down another employee to help him.

Who on earth abbreviates the word "please" with "psss" ?? Seriously? I'm a terrible speller, but even I can tell you that makes no sense for multiple reasons. Maybe if you took the time to pay attention to things like that, you wouldn't be working that dead end job. Yes, this person shall remain anonymous.
ETA: I just did a spell check on this blog and the only word it found that wasn't a word was "psss." I'm very pleased with myself :-)

I made roast beef ... for the dogs.

Seriously.


I made the babies a pot roast for Bandit's birthday. He loved it.


Then I tried to make him wear a birthday hat. He didn't love it.

Also, Kimber gets jealous when I put things on Bandit's head, and she tries to take them off.

That last one is from Christmas 2 years ago. About 2 seconds after that picture, she snatched up the reindeer ears and ran upstairs. To this day, I have no idea what happened to them.

Happy birthday, Bandit! You're the most beautiful boy in the world, and your Mommy loves you very much.

You Know You're Married When ...

You tell your husband over the phone that you are flossing, and it doesn't even put a pause in the conversation.

**Ring Ring**
Wife: Hello?
Husband: Good morning, what are you doing?
Wife: Flossing
Husband: Cool. So listen, I'm going to be home around ...

Sheesh. Not even a, "Oh I'm not important enough to stop flossing for?" or nothin!

Wordless Wednesday

Life As I Know It...

...is over. Chris has demanded some space in the closet. This is bad, seriously bad.

Just for Fun

Ingredients:
1 Marci
1 Drag Queen (dressed like a man, oddly enough)
1 Sara
1 Intoxicated Crystal (taking pictures via camera phone)
7 Chopsticks
and ...
Sake bombs to taste

Updates, Schmupdates

So ...

Family, Friends & Pets #3: Find Chris a dentist. CHECK! We found him a wonderful dentist that he actually likes. Dr Candy Rodriguez has been wonderful and we are finally getting the daunting task of "fixing" Chris's teeth behind us.
Also, Health #2 is about me finding and going to a new dentist - I'll be seeing her as well! So that step is half way done, right?!

Soo I'm going to put "Finish wedding thank you cards" on the uncompleteable list. I'm a terrible person, I know. I was really, really thankful for everything we received. I even got about 3/4 of the way through writing my page long thank yous, and I printed wedding pictures for everyone. I think I just tried to shoot to high to show my thanks and ended up showing none. I'm so emberassed!

House #13: Power wash the house. CHECK! It's so bright and clean now :-)

House #24 is 1/3 done ;-) I hung the blinds in the downstairs bathroom. Now Kat will pee at my house.

And Just For Me # 31: See an IMAX movie!! Ohmygosh, this was so much fun. Mostly just the whole experience was great. We took Mom for Mother's Day to see Star Trek at the IMAX (a wonderful gift idea from a friend :-). The whole entire freakin' family went and we had a blast. However ... the IMAX gave me major motion sickness. The movie, though, was great!

And I leave you with even more pictures of my tormented dogs.

(This picture above just describes Bandit's personality so well!)

I think that's the "leave me alone, I'm sleeping and that flash is annoying" face.

On to Kimber! Enjoying her nightlight "Checkup"

Finally!

(I'm starting this post with the warning that my husband is out of town and doesn't know yet that I've done this. So don't tell him. I plan on just surprising him when he gets home on Friday. I think he may hate my surprises, but I'll do anything to get rid of that THING below!)

When my dear, dear husband moved into his first apartment, he purchased this entertainment center:

...which has been taking over my bedroom and causing me nightmares for over 6 years.

I, um, made some changes last night with my recent Craigslist score!

From this:

To this:

Total cost? $40, a birthday gift (the lamp from Four Hands), and a quick drive to Dripping Springs. I prefer armoires, but I read recently that in 2009 TVs are an accepted part of a room and to hide them in an armoire is outdated and a waste of space. Whatever, I disagree, but this is cheaper and I have the okay from an MSN designer ;-)

However, this corner still looks weird. The dog bed can go (Bandit sleeps in the closet and Kimber sleeps on her back leaned up against my side of the bed). I'm also thinking that is too much curtain. I'm going to take it back to just one panel, since there is a parallel window on the other side of the room - they'd still open "correctly" (i.e. aways from each other). I know I need some kind of art work for the walls. I found this picture in a closet:

But then I realized this picture was on the adjoining wall:

(For the record, that is a queen sized bed, we don't sleep on a twin like it looks. That is just a really big picture and 2 really big dogs!) Anywho, those pictures are too much alike and the first one is much smaller and gots to go. I can't decide if I should move the lamp to the corner where the dog bed is, or if I should put a plant there. And what on earth am I going to put on the wall above the TV?! Decisions, decisions.

I do know for sure that the small, matching TV stand is a huge improvement over the big-black Walmart (that he swears he bought at Sears) monstrosity!

My First Ma'am

Obviously, people who encounter me in a professional situation call me ma'am occasionally, especially when I'm the customer and they are the servicer (Chris, that's not that funny). However, I've never been called "Ma'am" by a random stranger ... until last night.

Somehow I got talked into going to Midnight Rodeo (a mistake I won't make again), and as usual it was filled with people just a few years younger than me ;-) This kid bumped into me, as happens in crowded bars, and turned around to say, "I'm so sorry, Ma'am - are you okay?"

:::I will not cry - Sara, be nice, he doesn't have a clue what he just did and is just trying to be polite::: "Yes thank you, I'm fine" ... walk away, burst into tears.

Last weekend we went to Prauge. The door guy spent much time examining the girls' IDs in front of us and seriously didn't even look at mine - just waved me by like, "Oh you are an old hag, I don't need to see that." Then a kid calls me Ma'am?!?!?!?!

Back to my normally scheduled anti-wrinkle-cream-applications.



One way out is all you're ever gonna get
From those who'll hand it out don't never let it upset you
Cos they'll put words into our mouths they're making us feel so ashamed

Making us take the blame
Making us cold in the night
Making us question my heart and soul
And I think that it's not quite right

Hey! stay young and invincible
Cos we know just what we are
And come what may we're unstoppable
Cos we know just what we are

Feed your head with all the things you need
When you're hungry
Stay in bed and sleep all day as long as it's Sunday
Cos they'll put words into your mouth they're making you feel so ashamed

Bandit as a Puppy!

I've been so sad the last few days. I found out that the cat we've had since I was 13, Skeeter, died on Sunday :-( He lived a long, wonderful life. The vets didn't expect him to live past 8 or 9 years old because he had a pretty bad heart murmer. However, he lived to 12 and came home to my family for a peaceful death. No matter how prepared I thought I was, I just wasn't and have been so sad.

Emily and Skeeter ("her" cat):

(Uuh yes, he was also an extremely large cat. And Emily is a very small girl :-)


So today I got the most wonderful surprise email! No April Fool's, I received an email of Bandit as a puppy! We adopted him at 2 1/2 years old and I never expected to see a picture like this. It was such wonderful timing, it really made me feel so good and made my whole day (week? year? life?) a little bit brighter! A woman who adopted two of Bandit's littermates sent it to me out of the blue, and I'm just beyond giddy about this!

Bandit as a puppy:






His whole litter:

All grown up -

Bandit:

Desperado and Rustler were both adopted by a woman in Dallas that I keep in touch with. She is the one who sent me the pictures today!

Desperado:

Rustler:

Random Pictures

The Austin Nesties (if you don't know, don't ask, you're not cool. Just kidding :-) are uploading pictures of themselves from high school or early college. It's half depressing looking at this, half super fun! I giggled my way through them, and only cried once. At my hand, if you can believe that. My hand was so young looking! I won't upload that picture though, because I was using my hand to cover my face, which needed covering due to over consumption of alcohol. Anyways, here are some of the pictures. They are pictures of pictures - this was "back in the day" of disposable cameras.

With my nephew, Beck, in Dallas. I was 17, and my sister called this my pineapple hair. It was always in a pony tail on top of my head with the hair sticking out like the top of a pineapple:

Graduation Day from high school with Heather (I'm sure she wouldn't mind me posting pictures, right?):
We took a lot of self portraits. I am 18 here, I believe we were at Zilker Park with Jono and Lambo. Now known as Jono of Jono and Carmen, and yes ... Years later I married "Lambo." You think the nick name would have been a warning!:

Halloween ... Junior year, I believe. Maybe Senior year. Around 2001 or 2002. I was a cowboy, duh. Damn look at those legs! Hehe:

Thumbs Up

Happy St. Patrick's Day?!

Not so far! I'd just like to take a moment to whine and moan, please.

- I must have plugged something in wrong, because when I took my MP3 player off the charger this morning, it was completely dead.
- The first 3 machines I tried at the gym had something broken on them. I hate 24 Hour Fitness!
- I broke a nail on a drawer in my bathroom this morning.
- I burned my head with my flat iron.
- It took me 57 minutes to drive 8 miles to work this morning because the light at 360 and Mopac was closed down to 1 lane.
- I found a new wrinkle between my eyebrows. It is by far the ugliest and has me seriously considering Botox, something that has never crossed my mind before.
- I left my ID in Chris's wallet, which is in West Texas.
- Chris is in West Texas with his wallet. This has me depressed and not feeling like even attempting to go out.
- I am swamped at work, and all while knowing my boss is not here working. He's at Fado's enjoying green beer.

Bite me.
Thanks!

P.S. What is it with me and grumpy St. Patrick's Day? My MySpace blog from last year I was bitching, too!

Bathroom Remodel, FF&P #20

We have finally remodelled the upstairs guest bathrooms (aka Chris's bathroom)! Warning, the before pictures are fugly.

And the after pictures!

What we did:

- Replaced the 1984 roll out laminate floor with tile.

- Replaced the brown base boards with new white ones.

- Painted the tan walls grey with a dark grey accent wall.

- Painted the tan cabinets (yes, the cabinets and the walls were the same color, ugh) white.

- Added handles to the cabinets.

- Replaced the laminate countertop with black granite.

- Replaced the yellow plastic sink with a new undermount white one (came with countertop, I love stock).

- Replaced the ivory fixtures with bronze.

- Replaced the toilet (Chris loves his "king size" toilet!).

- Since the mirror was glued to the wall, to avoid damage we just added a frame to the existing mirror.

- Added a curved shower rod.

- Redecorated.

And last but not least, I can cross of item "Family, friends, and pets #20" - Get a wedding band! Chris bought me a beautiful wedding band for our 1 year anniversary in January. What an awesome husband I have!