Just Call Me Aunt Jenni!!!

I’ve been dieing to put this out here but my brother asked that I don’t say anything until everyone knows he and his wife are expecting. He is also a very private person so I am choosing not to talk too much about the pregnancy. But I can chat all day long about how I feel!!!!!

I’ve so excited! They are having twins, a little boy and a little girl. Due sometime in May, possibly earlier because they are twins. I’ve already told my brother that I want to be called Aunt Jenni. It sounds so much more fun than Aunt Jennifer. Jennifer sounds professional and boring but Jenni sounds young and fun! He just laughed.

I am starting to look for toys to buy the babies, just to get an idea what is out there. I keep my eye out for toys that are learning instruments, which I feel is important in the development of a child. My favorite age starts at 2-3 when they start talking and walking. This is the age that they start communicating. become more independent and playing is much more fun.

I’ve been asking around on how I can help them at first. I don’t want to get in the way. Several people have said making food they can heat up in the microwave is a huge help. With twins they will not have the time to cook much for them self’s and frozen dinners from the store get old real quick.

Ms. E explained that it’s important for the parents to spend the first several weeks bonding with the baby’s and getting into a routine so I should stay away from offering to take care of the babies, unless they ask for the help. Let the parent take care of the babies and I could offer to help clean the house, do laundry maybe even do any little errands they need run.

I figure I could help out once a week or every other week depending on every ones schedule. When I make food for myself I can make some extra, throw it into a container and take it over to them. Luckily I live about 2 minutes from them. There are so many people(family and friends) who want to help out that they won’t be hurting for extra hands around the house.

In all honesty, I don't expect to be "needed" very often. I figure if I stay out of the way and make home made food once in a while that will be more helpful than constantly bother them.

Don’t expect to hear too much more about this topic until May, when the babies are born. I’m respecting my brother privacy in this matter.

Christmas...I've lost the Xmas spirit

It was kinda depressing this Christmas day because it didn't feel like Christmas.

I can't really explain it...it just wasn't Christmas on Christmas day. Maybe the weather had a lot to do with it. It was warm and rainy. All the snow that was on the ground had melted away. It was over cast. Just not a pretty day at all.

I normally texted everyone to tell them "Merry Christmas" but this year I only texted those who contacted me first. I was in the bah humbug spirit I guess. Its the day after Christmas and I already took my Christmas tree down! My house is back to normal.

I only time it really felt like Christmas was during my ski trip with Mitch. There was several feet of snow on the ground and snow was still falling. I just wanted to run out to the middle of the parking lot and spin around in a circle with my arms out and eyes closed. Every time it snows I just want to forget I'm a grown up and act like a kid the first time they see snow.

In my mind snow means fun and young and let your hair down and be a kid. The one time in life I don't have to control every little thing. The one time that I don't care if people look at my like I've completely lost my mind. The one time I just don't care!

When we walked out to the truck to go skiing I loved the sound of the snow crunching under my feet. I love the snow flakes falling on my face and turning into cold spots of water. I love how the snow lays on the hair, jacket and gloves and you have to shake it off before you go inside. I love the beauty of the snow falling on to the trees. It's peaceful. It calms my thoughts and relaxes my mind.

Have you ever taken the time and watched how slowly a snow flake falls through the air? There is no sight or sound more beautiful than snow falling through the air.

Best Xmas gift ever!!!

I had the best time skiing in Michigan this past week. Mitch bought me a season pass for my BIG Xmas gift to Caberfae peaks and took me up there for a week trip.

It was perfect. The hotel was so nice, including a hot tub and pool. After the first day of skiing we took a dip in the hot tub and then swung over to the pool.....too cold for me! So I ran back over to the hot tub. The hotel even had a free dryer so you could dry your swim suit. Believe me it is all about the small things:) Another great thing was we were there just before the crowds hit so we were the only ones sitting in the hot tub.

The first day of skiing was a little cold but all the slopes were good. I dared to go down a blue slope and of course I fell and decided against trying that again. Don't worry, I didn't hurt myself. Although I did gt a ton of snow shoved up the back of my coat. Talk about COLD!!! my back was soaking wet by the time we were done.

Mitch took to the blue slopes rather quickly and by the second day that was all he was going down. Yes, Mitch did fall but he didn't let it bother him and he kept trying.

We both used our new ski gear...that was exciting! Although I learned a very valuable lesson. I should have been wearing my boots around the house before I went skiing. The first day my feet were killing me. The second day wasn't so bad. I am going to take them to a boot fitter and see if they can make my boots fit my feet better.

That last day we were there Mitch had to make me stop skiing. I didn't want to stop but my legs were getting tired and if I would have kept going I had a higher chance of hurting my self. I have some pictures but don't have time to post them. I will have to post them later.

Not all the slopes were open however it was still fun. I can't wait to return. Since I have a season lift pass, which also allows us 1/2 off lift tickets at a few other ski resorts I will try to use it as much as I can this year! Only three months left....I better get planning!

Seriously my mind is fryed right now...I will have to give more details about the trip a little later on.

Tis the Season

I've been following another blog and on one of her posts she had decided to give to other bloggers a gift of music!! It's a selection of music that she enjoys and wanted to share with others.

I thought that was a great idea. Music really is a huge part of a persons soul and it can describe who you are as a person or your feelings in a moment.

Yesterday I received the CD in the mail along with the list of songs on stationary and a chocolate candy bar. I was excited to receive the music but when I saw the hand written note and list of songs written on stationary it moved me in a strange way. An actually hand written note. She took the time to write a personal note on some very pretty stationary.

It has been a long time since I've actually received a hand written note in the mail. It was nice for once. Because of technology, I think we all have forgotten the impact of what a hand written note can make on someone.

Long Story Longer has a great spirit and I encourage everyone to visit her blog. She is listed in my side bar.

Jingle Bell Run Finished

I have to say it started out a little rough. I had this great plan of running to my MP3 Player. I bought a new CD and loaded it on my computed. Created a new playlist so I could keep a good pace. Everything seemed to be working well until my MP3 player died. I'm talking completely dead.

Crap! I thought. Now what? One strike was I couldn't get anyone to run with me. The next strike was my MP3 player died. The third strike is the weather was frightfully cold....20 something degree's.

So here I am wondering how I'm going to do this without any mental distractions. I have this hard time with mental blocks. There is always that voice in the back of my head and it aways questions everything I do and at times stops me in the middle of a run.


Little Voice: why in the H#!! are you doing this? Your legs are starting to hurt...you could just walk...just for a minute. Your feet....your back....aren't you just tired? It's freaking cold out here!

Without some type of distraction I wasn't sure how this run was going to go, but I moved forward. I went ahead and drove to the race. I figure since I purchase a new watch and a new running jacket I should actually use them.

It was crazy busy. It seems like there were more people there this year than last year. There was a new location to go to register and the race route was changed a little bit. Which made it a little harder.

We all lined up. The first mile was almost all up hill. They had you turn off on to this side road that had a pretty steep decline just to turn you back around to run up the incline. My first mile I clocked at about 10.30 min mile....which is amazing for me.

The 2nd mile they had a water station, which was not running smoothly. I went to grab some water and there was none. I had to actually stop to get a drink...which I just needed something to wet my mouth. For those who do not run, stopping in the middle of the run can slow you down and it's hard to get back to a good pace.

The 3rd mile was pretty straight and easy to run. I have to wait for the finally posting to find how I actually did but I think I ran about 11 1/2 min mile. Which my goal was a 12min mile.

Outside of a few little hiccups I had a really good run. Now I have to find my next run!

UPDATE!!!
Results are in! I ran an 11:14 min mile (34:55 total)

Wish Me Luck

I'm running the Jingle Bell Run and it's freezing outside. I can't believe I am getting up this early to go out side and run 3 miles.

Oh, Well. It will be fun because there are about 3000 participants so it should be fun:) I will follow up when I get home!

So much to do today. I really need to go shopping and get some xmas gifts because next Sunday is my mom's xmas and I don't have a darn thing bought....really putting me in pinch. So after I run I'm going to shower and run out to the stores. Luckily I know what I want to get for everyone.

VACATION IS FINALLY HERE!!!!

I've been looking forward to my vacation. Work can really stress me out and it will be good to recharge myself. So how am I going to do that you might ask.

Well, of course I will recharge my batteries skiing!!! It's my xmas present from Mitch and we are leaving next week. I'm sure people are tired of hearing me talk about my ski trip...well at least at work.

I can't believe it is already here! I have everything I need to go skiing. The ski resort is open and I am ready to hit the slopes. I could go on and on and repeat myself but I will spare you the redundancy:)

I will definately take pictures and have Mitch take pictures as well. I'm so excited!!!!!

Crazy Neighbors!

Mrs E has these crazy idea's for her daughter birthday party's. Which means her daughter always has the best parties ever! Her daughters 12th birthday party was last night and it was completely crazy.

Let me back it up to about two week ago when I got a call from Mrs. E.

Mrs. E: Hey Jen!
Me: Hey, Mrs E How are you
Mrs. E: I'm good. Hey what are you going to do with all that sand in your driveway?
Me: Well I was going to put it on Craigslist but haven't gotten around to it.
(Seriously, when I was working on my patio the company I called for sand delivered a cubic yard to much. So I had way to much sand in my drive)
Mrs. E: Do you mind if we take it?
Me: ummm, sure
Mrs. E: Don't think we are crazy when you see us wheeling it into our house.
Me: What!? (giggling) Why?
Mrs. E: It's for M's birthday party. I'm doing a beach theme for her.

Of course I asked a lot more questions but my mind was going wild on how this would all workout. She literally had all the sand moved into her front room (which has hardwood floors), moved in some outdoor palm trees and hung up these huge plastic wall pictures that made it feel like you were at the beach next to a beach hut.

The sand was about a foot deep and tapered out about 5 feet or so. Mrs. E also buried some small gifts in the sand and at the end of the night had the kids line up and take turns digging for them....kinda like a treasure hunt.

It was truly crazy. There were about 15 kids there and when I walked in they were all singing karaoke. All the kids played along with the theme and came dressed in beach attire with beach towels in hand. It was so awesome.

Mrs. E has the most creative ideas of parties. If I ever have kid I'm totally calling her for some idea!

Asking for prayers/ positive thoughts

Please pray for my coworker and her father.

I have a coworker who is going through a difficult time as her father has fallen seriously ill over Thanksgiving. I don't want to provide to much information because she is a very private person but I want prayers or positive thoughts for her father and her family.

She is in a lot of emotional pain right and he is in a lot of physical pain. In your prayers tonight please include her and her father.

Jingle Bell Run

The Jingle Bell Run is just around the corner. It looks like I will be running this event by myself. This will be a challenge because I've always needed someone there to encourage me but since I can get anyone to go with me I have to do it solo. The other challenges is that I haven't trained as much as I wanted to. This may be somewhat painful.

It's just in two weeks and I'm only up to running 2 miles. That's not completely bad but it's not where I wanted to be at this time. I wanted to be at least at a slow three miles. Time to increase my training and get where I need to be.

I was planning on running this morning but after 4 hours of hunting on rough terrain yesterday my inner thighs muscles are killing me. I might just push through the soar muscles and see what I can do anyway.

I'm enjoying the races and plan on running more 5k races next year. I'm already tagging a few that look both interesting and are fundraiser for charities I believe in.

I thought I wanted to do a mini one year but after last years training I don't think I'm build for long distances. The last run I did before I hurt my back was 6 miles and I have to say I didn't enjoy it. My body hurt with every step and running became more of a choir than something I enjoy.

Which, of course, for several months I stopped running. Then picked it up and then stopped again. This year I'm planning on running on a more consistent basis. If I schedule myself for a 5k every month it will give me a goal to focus on and a reason to run.

Now the scary thing is I am still interested in completing a sprint triathlon....maybe something for me to focus on in the future.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I hope everyone has something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. I know I have a lot to be thankful for.

I'm thankful for my health, family, friends and my job. I could write an entire novel about why I'm thankful for each of these thing but I don't want to bore everyone with the details.

I'm also thankful that for the first time in a while I actually felt a true laugh. I smile and laugh but I haven't really felt it inside. And the other day I was getting out of my car and something on the radio actually struck me as funny. Don't remember what was said I just remember bursting out a single laugh and feeling it. It was amazing, I'm finally coming out of my dark fog. It's so great...I just can't explain it.

I'm also thankful that my little ladybug made it through surgery on Monday. The mass has been sent off to biopsy and I should hear something next week. I have to say I was shocked when I picked her up and found the vet had removed the entire breast. I thought they were just going to go in and remove the mass and some of the breast tissue. Boy was I wrong!!!

Here she is showing off her war scar:) Just four days after surgery and she is running around like nothing ever happened. Its amazing how fast a dog can recover from surgery.

My dad made it through surgery yesterday as well. Nothing serious, just a hammer toe that needed to be fixed. It sounds like he will be off his feet for a while. But over all he is in good shape.

So now I am cleaning house a little bit and cooking green bean casserole to take to my brother to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family!

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.

Poor little one:(

About a week ago I discover a lump in my little doggies breast. I decided to wait a week to make sure it wasn't a swollen gland or anything. It didn't go down so I took Ladybug into the vet yesterday and we determined that the lump needed to come out.

She is scheduled for surgery for tomorrow morning to remove all the breast tissue and the mass. From there I am having it biopsied and depending the outcome depends on the next steps. Now I can plan all I want but I think this time I'm not going to plan anything. I'm going to wait and see what the biopsy comes back as before I start planning. At this point there are to many "what if" scenerios to try to start planning.

How can your heart not fall in love with my little princess? Look at that face! So damn cute!!!

Full night sleep finally!

For a while now I haven't been getting a good night sleep, waking up around 2-3am every morning. I think I finally figured out why.

It must have been my furnace. For a couple of years my furnace has made this awful rattling sound as it was shutting down. My furnace guy came out last year for the annual cleaning and I pointed it out to him. He poked around a little bit and found that is was the motor. Which was a sign that is was heading down hill. He told me he could replace it then or wait. I decided to wait and see what happened.

Now a year has passed and the past couple of weeks the sound has gotten unbearable. It's gets so loud I have to up the volume on my TV to hear it. At night it seems to echo in my house and in the weeeeeee hours of the morning I am woken up to this sound.

I had the furnace guy come out for the annual cleaning again except this time I asked him to fix the noise and now it's fixed!!!!

Last night was like a dream. I never work up (at least that I can recall) and I was up bright and early this morning feeling refreshed for the first time in a very long time.

Jingle Bell Run

I'm doing it again this year. With the weather the way it has been I'm sure December is going to have better weather than last year. It was sub-below zero! Completely to cold to run but I did it last year and ,although I've falling behind in my running, I'm going to hammer away at it again this year.

It's only a 5k ( I can't believe I just said only!).

Last year at this time I think I just barely complete 1 mile and it was a painful mile. So I'm better off than I was last year...I'm up to an easy straight 1.5 miles. It won't be any time before I warm up to my three miles again. My time maybe slow but one thing at a time.

It felt great to get up and run again...although my legs are feeling a little mushy and sore. I run two days then off one day. By the end of this week I will be at 2 miles.

I just can't explain how good running makes me feel....both physical and mentally. Plus it prepares me for skiing....yes it's that time of year again!!!

It's my own little theater:)

I'm so excited. My 46" LCD is installed and I'm enjoying every inch of it.

Before

After

Doesn't it look great?! Mitch came down tonight and helped me arrange and hook up everything.

Love this entertainment center because we were able to remove the top portion to make room for my LCD. It's at least a quick fix.

Ski Boots

Very quickly.....I got my ski boots this weekend!

So, now that I'm completely broke I have to stop buying stuff:) Which I'm glad because I don't need to purchase anything else.

OK that is it for now!

Early Black Friday Sale

I've been wanting a big screen TV for some time now but I couldn't swallow the cost of $1000 or more for the size I wanted. I'm just to damn cheap I guess.

Well Mitch, yesterday, told me about an ad at Wally World for a 42 inch LCD. Good size for my home! I looked into it and it was an awesome price. Called around and OF COURSE the stores couldn't tell me how many they had. Since this was an early Black Friday special I knew I had to get down there early in the morning. The sale started at 8:00am

I arrived around 6:30am and there was a small line of people. I was 7 people back. Then about an hour later they started to bring out the TV's. The tally was 3 - 42 inch LCD (1 display) for a total of 4, 3 - 46 inch LCD, 6 - 46 inch Plasma and then 2 or 3- 52 inch LCD.

Everyone started to ask each other what they wanted. Wasn't looking good for me. The first 4 people in line wanted the 42 inch!!! Crap, really!

That left me with the possibility of getting a 46 inch LCD (had no interest in a Plasma). Of course the 46 inch was a little more money...but I could chew on it. Mitch was on the phone with me and I asked him to research the Sharp 46 inch LCD and see if there was any major issues with it. He came back and said there wasn't very many complaints...most of the reviews were good.

Then the first guy got a call from his neighbor and decided to purchase a different TV for his neighbor. The rule from this store is that we could only purchase one of each item.....which sucked. With such a small inventory it would run out quickly.

We also shortly found out that the other line at a different register could also purchase TV's....so now I was running out of time. TV's were flying out of there in minutes. It was an amazing site!

The guy infront of me announced that he didn't need a TV because he just got a call from a relative who was able to pick him up one. I did the math really quick and I thought I would be able to get the 46 inch LCD.

AND I DID!!!!

I got about 30-40% off the TV. However if I couldn't get the Sharp 46" LCD I was going to walk out. Even though I spent over an hour and half standing in the same place, surrounded by rather interesting people...at least they like to talk:)

SOOOOOO, here it is. My grand Early Black Friday Sale item!!!!!





It's a splurge....did I really NEED it...No, but I wanted it. I deserved to enjoy my life a little bit and I deserve to have a Large Splurge for myself every once in a while. OK, maybe I had TWO big spluges this year the Patio and the TV. But who's counting:)

You might ask why it's not out of the box yet...there is a good reason for this. Do you see my entertainment center? See the small hole that my current TV is sitting in? Well my new TV won't fit into that hole. Good new is the top half of the entertainment center does come off, bad news I need help.....this is where Mitch comes in!

He will have to help me tear down everything and remove my old TV and then hook up everything again with my NEW TV!!!!

I can't wait to see this thing all hooked up.....next purchase? Ski boot, but these I NEED:)

Wish Upon a Hero

Have you ever had a neighbor that finds the most interesting things out on the web. I was talking to Ms. E today and she was telling me about this web site called Wish Upon a Hero.

It's a web site that allows you to put your wish out there in hopes that a "hero" will grant your wish or a part of your wish. People put wishes out there as simple as "send a Christmas card to my friend" to "help with my down payment on my van".

You can also provide comments to help them find what they are needing. Sometimes the comments are just for support. It's an interesting website. When you have a chance take a minute to go out and look.

www.wishuponahero.com

Tired....so tired

Seriously, I'm tired of working 9-10hr days. I know that it all evens out but really I'm wanting to have a better work/life balance.


I've been through a roller coaster ride with my job. There are some weeks that I love my job, some weeks that I like my job and same weeks I ask my self what the hell did I do. Right now I like my job but want to have a normal 8 hour day....not possible right now.

I still have "homework" to complete from one of my classes at work....that, to be honest, I have no plans on trying to complete it. Probably not good because I'm being graded on it...but right now I have wine in my hand, sitting on my couch relaxing.....not going to pick up work now;)

Anyway, things will slow down, someday....I hope.

X-mas gift early!!!!!

Well early sort of...I know what I'm getting for X-mas. Mitch got it Saturday!

Can you guess?

OK, maybe not!

He is taking me on a skiing in December. He purchase this package that gives us a season lift pass (no black out dates!) and 6 nights stay at a hotel. For the life of me I can't remember what hotel....but it doesn't matter. I'm excited about skiing.

And it's the gift that will keep giving because we aren't going to use all the nights in December. Don't think I can handle 6 day's of skiing in a row. Talk about a really sore body. We're going to spread it out through the season. I'm so excited.

If I could show you my happy dance I've been doing I would. I even went out Saturday and Sunday looking for ski boots. I want to make sure I am ready! I don't want to rush at the last minute and I will be damned if I'm renting ski's!

I'm so excited.....Thank you Mitch, Love you!!!!

Volunteer

I've been thinking lately that there has to be more to life. I'm missing something and I can't quite put my finger on it until this last couple of days.

I miss giving back. I miss helping people who are in need. I've been involve in the past with small fundraisers and I enjoyed the heck out of them. I want to start volunteering again.

Where?
Morning Dove Therapeutic riding center. It's a little distance to drive but I've been reading about them and it will be a mix of everything I need. I can work with horses and possible learn more about them. I can help children, with disabilities, love horses as much as I do.

Maybe not everyone thinks this is the best fit for me because I'm not the most patient person in the world but maybe the kids can teach me something too. Maybe I can learn how to be a better person through this.

I first learned about them from one of the my 5k races I did this year and was interested at that point but the change in jobs stopped me from wanting to start something new. Now that I'm getting my life back in balance I think it's time for me to start doing something to help others.

I think this is the perfect place for me to help.

Halloween Party

Yep, I'm finally getting around to writing about the Halloween party we attended last weekend.

It was a friend of Mitch's (Scott and Casey's house). Me and Mitch went as a pirate couple. Him as a pirate and I went as the pirate wench. We did win the best couples costume!!!

The party started off pretty slow. In the beginning it started with people from all ages. Little kids to grandparent. Pretty tame party. Food was good from what I hear. I didn't actually have any because I wasn't feeling well. The served Chili and hot dogs and some sweet food/ finger snacks. You had to bring your own drink.

Then around 10:00 the party started to pick up. The kids and grand parents left and the only ones staying were people our age:)

They had a fire dancer. She was a close friend to the hostess and has been practicing fire dancing for about 2 years. I didn't get any good pictures but I tryed to clean this one up a little bit.

She basically had to long chains and containers at then end of the chains. She soaked the containers in some type of flammable liquid and lit them. Then she swung them around her body in different ways. It was good entrainment to have at the party.

I really didn't take to many pictures but I did get a few of some interesting costumes that were there. I missed getting Octomom...that one was funny. She had 8 baby's penned to her shirt in front and on the back a box labeled government with money taped to it. Now that was funny. Anyway here are some pictures of a few costumes.

Met the host and hostess (Scott and Casey)

The someone brought out some homemade.....ummm....alcoholic liquid:) One was cherry flavored and one was peach. When the guy opened it I could smell fermentation. It stunk!! Mitch was rather daring and tryed some. He said it was smooth, I just took his word on that one!

Needless to say a lot of people got drunk after that. Around 12:30 people started to use half the barn as a dance floor. It was so much fun. Around 1:30 my feet had enough and I was not feeling well anyway so we headed home.

I did get a chance to snap a picture of people dancing before we headed out.

I hope they have another party next year!

This weekend is all about relaxing! The last month and a half has been busy with the patio, wine party, book club, Halloween party and this nasty cold.

Happy Halloween everyone. Enjoy yourself and be safe:)

Almost well!!!

Let me tell you, getting what ever I got is horrible. It's Wednesday and I'm still coughing up stuff and have a hard time catching my breath. I thought about calling the doc but as the days go on I feel better. I just need a few more days and I can start running again!

I at least had enough energy to make some real food and clean my kitchen....and the kitchen needed to be cleaned!

Really, the only reason I decided to blog today was because, once again, Mitch's princess's bad habits are rubbing off on my precious Chaunzie. I will let the picture talk for it self.

Notice the box of tissue on the table and the trash can and then notice my innocent puppy with tissue under her paws and in her mouth!!!

What the heck...first she destroys her favorite toy, then she starts to bring tree branch's into the house and chews on them and now she steals tissue out of the trash! Tess is so rubbing off on my dog in a bad way.

Oh well at least it gives me a good laugh.

Still Sick

I've been sick since Thursday. The worst of it was Friday and I'm sure I didn't help myself heal because I decided to go into work on both Thursday and Friday and also attend a Halloween party on Saturday. I figured since I suffered through work I could at least enjoy myself with something I really wanted to do.

Which I'm happy I did, I had a great time...runny nose and all:) Down side is I'm still sick....probably shouldn't have gone but what ever!!!!

Pics of the party will come a little later. We used Mitch's camera because I left mine at home. So I have to wait to get the pics from Mitch....then I can blog about the party.

Now it's Monday and I'm still sick! I even called off of work and canceled my personal training because I needed to rest, which was a good choice since I've slept most of the day away. Looks like rest is what my body needed! I'm hoping I will feel better tomorrow because I need to go back to work. I've been sick way to long.....5 day's is not acceptable!

Even though being sick sucks there is one bonus.....Mitch making some kick butt home made chicken noodle soup. Are you kidding me!!! It was the best soup I've had in a long time...outside of gumbo soup:)

So for the rest of the day I'm stuck on the couch, coughing and hacking with every breath. Lets hope I get better soon!

Sickness sucks!!!!

It won't be so back except I know I have a full day of work tomorrow, which includes a packed day full waking up early, presentations and a client calls.

If it's anything like today I will miss lunch because the cafeteria closes at 1:30 and because I had a 2:00pm meeting and there was no where to grab some healthy food. Which just compounded the fact I didn't feel good.

My goal was to get out of work early but no such luck because I had emails to resolve a presentation to fix. I didn't get home until about 6pm tonight. I did manage to stop at CVS to pick up medication and some Sierra Mist.

Came home, fixed some soup and layed down on the couch and have been there ever since. I would take off tomorrow but I can't. I'm hoping the medication will get me through tomorrow and Saturday because I will be darned if I miss the Halloween party me and Mitch were invited to.

Which reminds me I still need and outfit....I guess I could always go as a skier:)

The Day after the Wine Party

The wine party ended around midnight. Everyone had a lot of wine, a lot of food and great conversation. I think there was about 10 bottle of wine. The Wine party started around 7:00 which food was ready for people to grab. Then we started sampling the wine around 8:00. We did go through the wine pretty fast, which was good because people still needed to be sober enough to drive home.

After we were all had plenty of wine we pulled out the game Apples to Apples. And if you have had any experience with this game it can lead to some interesting conversations:) Which it did!! But what goes on at Jenni's stays at Jenni's!

Anyway everyone left around midnight and Mitch and I stayed up a little longer to put some things up and left the rest for Sunday morning. Talk about tired!

So this morning I started to get on my computer and look up a few thing and after a few minutes the most unbelievable thing occurred.

Tess was curled up next to me and was still!!!!!

I keep my camera next to my computer so I grabbed it and snapped a quick shot of this surprising moment.

I only got one shot of her sleeping because the click of the camera woke her up.

So this is proof the a viszla can calm down even if it is just for 15 minutes:)

Dogs...I just don't get them

Let me explain why I don't understand dogs

Because this dog (Tess, a Vizsla, Hungarian pointer, 2 years)

Also known as Mitch's princess:)

Taught this dog (Chaunzie, a black lab mix, 10-12 years)

To do this!!!!

Yeah, and this is after I have spent hours cleaning my house for the party this weekend.

And I thought someone said you can't teach old dogs new tricks. My sweet, loving gentle Chaunzie destroyed her favorite toy. Tore the heart right out of the toy. Which she has never, ever done before. In fact she never showed any interest in stuffed toys until Tess came along.

Now, even though Mitch doesn't want to admit it, Tess is teaching my precious baby girl bad bad habits. But really how can you get mad at either of these faces?

DONE!!!!

It's done!!!! The patio is completed.

Better pictures will come a little later...this was a quick and dirty picture so you can get an idea of what it looks like.

7:30pm on Sunday and the patio is finally done. However with every great project there are always those follow up items that still need to be completed. Such as the dirt still needs to be filled in around the black edging AND the step to the garage and house need to be completed as well. Plus I need to clean up the area between the house and the patio....which means Jenni has ALOT of work left before this coming weekend.

So through all the pain (yes, my arms, back, leggs and other muscles are killing me), money spent and hours begging for volunteers to help now I have a great outdoor living space I can enjoy. Well once I get the little detail finished.

Whooo we are almost done!!!!

Now we really did make progress today. So here are some pics of what we have completed today.

So tomorrow it will take us about 4-6 hours to finish the rest and then I will have a fantastic patio!!!!

OK off to the store and Chinese food:)

Week 475 of Patio project

Really it's not week 475 but it feels like it. My patio will be will be done this weekend!!!!! I can only say that because Mitch said it would be:)

So what is left to do

Rent the compactor
Compact down the gravel and fill in any spots that need to be filled in and compact again
Lay the edging
Add the sand and level (this shouldn't take anytime)
Then comes the task of laying the brick. All 1500 of the bad boys!
Then compact those down and add sand between the brick and compact one more time.

OK, now that I have written this all out I'm wondering if we will be able to actually get this done by the end of the weekend. So it's a little after 9am Saturday and we haven't started yet. We will probably be ready by 10 to run and get the compactor for the rental store.

Of course I've had a lot of special guests who have appeared and helped out:) Mitch has been here most of the way. Then there was Vince, Bob, Mom, Beth and Chris. But wait I'm not done. Who is this weeks special guest? It's Dad and Eva.

OK, off to actually get this started....AKA getting equipment and product out.

Will have pictures tonight of how far we actually got.

Why o Why

Why does it always take longer and more money to do a project than you anticipate? I'm just wondering?


I really thought I would be at least close to finishing my project this weekend. But No!!! I feel like I'm back to square 2 (only because square one was digging out the ground!)

So yesterday, more gravel delivered and Mitch is on his way over today to view the damages I did and is going to help me straighten everything out. Maybe I can get the sand in tomorrow....I can only dream that this will be completed by my Wine Party and bookclub.

Once the gravel is in and the edging is in place it should be smooth sailing from there.

A girl can dream can't she!?

Patio - Start Over

Soooo, I took some time to really measure and get a good look at what I did this past weekend and unfortunately I'm going to have to get MORE gravel.....ugh.....rolling eyes.

I'm about 1.5 inch off from where I need to be and I have peaks and valleys that are as much as 2 inch in difference. Doesn't make for a nice flat patio.

So, more gravel to be delivered and I have to rent that darn compactor again. I'm thinking it would have been better to call someone in to do this n the first place. There is something to say about hiring someone with experience!!!!

Oh, well back to the drawing board and trying to find more money to fund my project. Hey, but if the government and run this way than I can to.....LOL.

More Progress!!!

Today was exhausting!!! I'm so glad that I had the help of Mom, Bob, Vince and Ed to help. I wouldn't have gotten the gravel down with out them.

We started around 11am and got done around 4pm. Working almost straight through except for a little break to pick up the plate compactor.

The plate compactor was a dilema for me.

I didn't have a way to get the compactor home so my first idea was to go to Home Depot, which their rental center is about 30 minutes away. I was going to rent a truck and the compactor. Well when I called them up the truck was rented and they didn't know when it would be back. So I had to change my plan.

Lowes has a rental center in the store so I called them up, because they were much closer however they didn't rent cars. So I looked around trying to come up with how to pick up the compactor.

Then I saw Ed's truck. Let me try to explain Ed a little bit. He is an 83 year old man who lost his wife about 4 years ago to cancer. I think at times he get bored because when he sees me working on my house he comes over to talk and eventually figures out how to help me. He's got a huge heart and has old school and doesn't think a girl should do a "boy" job. So I took a chance and walked over to ask him if I could borrow his truck and with out flinching he reaching in his pocket and hands me the key.

I WAS SHOCKED! I couldn't believe he did that. So I was able to pick up the compactor and bring it back. And before I returned his truck I filled it up for him. When I came back, he came over to check out my patio and I told him "thank you for letting me borrow your truck and I went ahead and filled it up"

It almost seemed like he had tears in his eyes and said I shouldn't have done that and I could borrow his truck anytime. A little later on he came and got his truck to do a beer run and when he came back he gave me some money. I told him I wasn't going to take it so he simply told me if I didn't take it then he wouldn't let me borrow the truck to take the compactor back. He he is a stubborn old man. So I had no choice but to take the money.But I still feel like I was able to say thank you because the amount he gave me only half covered what I put in his truck. SO is was a win win:)

Anyway I started out with 7 cubic yards of gravel and by the time all that was in and packed down I realized I had to order an additional 2 cubic yards...I could almost use some more but I'm going to make due.

As I am sitting here typing I'm in some pain. Every joint in my body aches. I'm going to take some advil before I head to bed. My plan was to work on this tomorrow but I don't think I can handle any more manual work.

So new plans. Mitch is going to pick up the edging I need for my patio, I think on Monday, and he wants to show me how finish my project properly. I want it to look good and I know he won't let me do it wrong.

OK enough chatting and to the pictures!

BEFORE

CURRENT

Patio update

I have to say the patio is a bigger job than I expected.

Saturday and Sunday- The ground has been dug out and Vince did a great job digging. You should see the piles of dirt that are stacked behind my garage. Now I have to figure out what I'm going to do with all the dirt.

Monday - Mitch came over and rewired part of my garage so that I could get rid of the wire that was running underground.

Here is a picture of the the inside of my garage. When I discovered the wire I followed it into the garage and then removed part of the dri wall to figure out where it went. Now I have a new project: to fix my wall in the garage. But that will be after I finish the patio.

Tuesday - Mitch came over again and broke up my concrete step:)

Wednesday - I had the gravel delivered. I tryed to dig out the wire from the ground but ran into some problems so I decided to wait on that one. Then I began digging out the dirt that was under the step. Once that was done, I started to move the gravel. I'm learning that moving gravel is much harder than it seems.

Here is what I got done . Doesn't look like much but when you get home from work around 6pm and start moving gravel you don't have much energy left. And I was starving by the time I got done.

Thursday - So today, I got nothing done. I didn't get home until about 7pm and it was raining (which really wouldn't have stopped me) but it was cold to. So on my way home I called my mom and she said she would come over Saturday and help and then I called my brother, who has yet to call me back.

I think I'm going to hire my next door neighbor to help out on Saturday as well.

What I have left to get:

1) compactor

2)sand

3)edging

So my plan is to come home a little earlier than normal tomorrow for the ATT guy to finish installing my TV, Internet and Phone. During that time I'm going to make a call to get the edging up north, then calling Home Depot to get the compactor and finding a company that can deliver sand on Saturday. Plus I need to get a few more brick for a decorative finish.

Do i think I can get this done this weekend? Nope. Moving 7 tons of gravel and then 2 tons of sand and knowing how much I moved yesterday....no, I'm not getting it done this weekend. But it will be done by the end of next weekend!

Patio project....breaking ground

Today was the first day of the patio project. My next door neighbor has volunteered to dig out the patio for me and today as I waited for the uverse people to come I roped off my area for my patio, leveling it and everything.

So here is the start of the project, before anything was done. Pretty bland looking.

Here is the patio being strung off and a line spray painted to indicate where my patio is suppose to end.

Then the inevitable happened. Regardless of how much you plan for things you can never plan enough. As Vince was digging he hit an underground wire. Luckily everyone is alright. He went ahead and dug up the wire to see where it went to.

It is odd that I have one underground wire and one overhead wire. So I tore out part of my dry wall in the garage to see where the wire was going. Vince and I couldn't figure it out. It's like it went up the wall and disappeared.

So I called Mitch to find out what to do. First I had to figure out what the wire was for. So he told me to check out the breaker box, turn on all my lights in the garage and figure out which ones go out. I did and figured out that they were my exterior lights and garage door openers.

So when the ex had the garage rewired and a breaker box put out there he only halve ass ed it. So typical!!! Half the garage is wired from over head wires and the other is underground. UGH!!! What do I do.

Here are the options. Some are better than others.

1) I could just leave the wire where it is and place is in the layer of sand when I build the patio

2) I could leave it where it is at and protect the wire with something and place it in the layer of sand.

or

3) the right thing to do is pull the wire and reroute it to the breaker box in the garage....ugh!!!

After consulting with Mitch he has convinced me to pull the wire. I just cringe, this sucks. Now there is going to be a delay in putting my patio in. Mitch is going to come down when he can and rewire it for me.

To try to stay on track I am going to have Vince continue digging the hole and have the gravel delivered. Spread as much of the gravel as I can and then wait for Mitch to come down and move the damn wire.

Once the wire is moved. I will rent a truck, rent the compactor and if all goes well will have it completed by the end of next weekend. (once again my timelines are never right ...so I should assume another 2 week....LOL)

So I've been thrown a curve ball with this one. Oh and did I mention I didn't get uverse installed either. That is a story for another day. Good news is they should be here tomorrow to install. Only good thing about today is I got half a day off of work and for some reason I'm not stressed about any of this and it's a real nice feeling.

So we will see how tomorrow goes with the digging and I need to contact a gravel company and see how much and when they can deliver the gravel. I would like it deliver on Sunday but Monday will be good enough:)

Well, off to get some laundry done because tomorrow agenda is packed. Starting with uverse installation, drive to Mitch to let Tess out, then to the fundraise at the airport, then hopefully break from the fundraiser to TamiJo's, then back to the fundraiser for dinner and back to Mitch's house. Crazy stuff!

Lots of small projects

I'm totally killing my self this past week and going strong into the next couple. What are the plans you may ask? Welllllll, I am having U-verse installed. I cleaned out my garage this past weekend and I'm installing a patio the next several weeks.

I know, I know...you all are wanting before and after pictures of my garage. So to satisfy your needs here is the before picture.

And here is the after shot. And yes I did this all by myself. I even installed two new shelving units to help organize.
You would have thought I was having a garage sale. I placed papers with titles such as Yard Stuff, Fun stuff , trash ect. in my driveway and began taking everything out of the garage and placing it next to a sign. Then I figured out where I wanted everything and grouped things together. The whole process, including driving to the store and purchasing the shelve and putting them together took me about 7 hours!

And now I have a somewhat organized garage.....so not completely, its still in the works but it is a heck of a lot better than it was.

For my patio I'm breaking ground this weekend. And don't worry I will have before and after photos for you to see and admire all my work

Till then:)

4 Days without

4 days without Internet, TV and phone. It sucked something bad.

I came home on Wednesday and discovered that I didn't have any internet which sucked because I was going to pay my bills. When I went to switch on my TV I didn't have any cable and then I reluctantly checked my phone and it was dead.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME

So I called comcast and the soonest they could get out is Monday. Let me think, OH YEAH...that won't work. I was trying to stay calm with the lady but started to get irritated as she continued talk. Then she said something about her computer not working and calling her supervisor and that she would call me back on my cell. She never called back!

So Thursday I called at 6 am in the morning and the guy said the soonest he could get anyone out is Friday from 10-12. I told him go ahead and schedule it but there won't be anyone home because I work a full time job.

Then I call back during my lunch hour because I wanted to discuss the increase in my bill and if there was any way that they could lower it. The answer was nope and she said I was getting a really good rate (ummmm 136 is a good rate? and this was for bare minimum cable). OK at that point I decided I'm switching companies.

She then proceeds to tell me that I have a service call for today. I told her, no I have it scheduled for tomorrow and she said no it was scheduled for today because if I don't have telephone access then they consider that an emergency and they mark it as high urgent.

I told her that noone called me to tell me they switched it and that there will be noone at my house because I was at work and couldn't take off. She asked if she should cancel the service call for tomorrow..I told her don't because if they can't check it today then i need to keep it for tomorrow. She said ok and we ended the call.

So Friday morning come and goes and then it was 12:45 and no call. SOOOOOO after I call att and switched over to uverse...I called comcast yet again. I got another person. He looked at my recorded and let me know that the service all was cancelled for today because they tryed to go out to my house yesterday. So I told him the whole story and he said the earliest he could get someone out is Monday.

I loose my cool at this point!!! I tell him that is unacceptable, this is ridiculous and it needs to be resolved today. He said patiently "so you want to escalate this?" I answer him with a loud "yes, I need this resolved today, this has gone on for to long" He put me on hold for about 5 minutes and all the sudden my cell rings.

It was comcast and they want to schedule a service call for tomorrow (Saturday) and what time would work for me. I said the earliest you have available. So as of 10:15 this morning I had my cable, internet and phone restored!!! Yeah!!!

The guy said it looked like someone messed with the cables out back. The only thing Mitch and I can figure is that when I called a company to come out and mark where the utilities were buried (I'm working on getting a patio installed)which happens to be the same day my service was interrupted and we both think that maybe that company was messing with the wires to figure out where they were from and messed them up some how.

But all is good and I have full service again and I'm back to my normal routine:) Through this whole experience I realize how depended I have become on technology. I felt isolated from the world because I wasn't plug in.

South Dakota Adventures Part 4

Mitch surprised me with horseback riding. He didn't tell me until I got there that we would do horseback riding on Monday before I have to fly out. I was so excited. I LOVE LOVE LOVE horses and riding.


So he did all the foot work. He stopped off at this trail riding place before he even pitched his tent and got all the information and scheduled at time once I got in to South Dakota. He had to make sure we had enough time before my flight. It was great!

Here we are on the horses getting ready to head out. The tour guides were great. One of them snapped this picture for us. My horses name was Kitty and Mitch's horses name was Louis.



My horse liked to walk slow so I had to keep pressing her forward and Louis had a rather long gait and would end up right behind Kitty. The guide kept telling me to get her to speed up and I would, then she would slow down again. About a quarter the way through the ride she started to understand that she needed to walk faster and that I wasn't going to leave her alone so she finally kept the pace.





It was so pretty out there. It was in the morning so it was a little chilly when we started. We did 1 1/2 hours ride. And let me tell you, my ass was so sore for several days after. And it didn't help that I hopped on a plane right after and was sitting for 2 hrs on one flight and then 1 hour and the other. I could tell it's been years since I actually got on horse.

Doesn't Mitch look good on a horse? I think he does, a natural.

I on the other hand look a little out of place. Although I love horses I'm not sure I look the best on them. It might be the baseball cap that is throwing the picture off.

OK, Thanks to a little photoshopping I added a nice little cowboy hat on me...I think it makes a big different:) Now I look better on a horse...LOL

Now that I had my fun with pictures back to my adventure. Here is Mitch's view of me riding. Not much to look at but I wanted to add it.

So the only thing that I didn't like about the ride is my saddle was extremely squeaky. So much so that the guide made a comment about it. It was hard to hear anything someone said because the saddle kept squeaking so loudly.

The hard thing is after I got done with the ride it brought back my want for a horse. I've always had a dream of owning a horse and a few years ago I kinda resigned to the idea that the best I would get is an occasional ride on a trail but never actually own a horse. So I had, in my own way, squashed my dream and left if behind. But after this ride it brought back all those forgotten wants and dreams of owning a horse.

To be honest I get lost in a dream world every time I get on a horse. It's like I'm the only one in my little world..just me and the horse. It's peaceful. The sound's of the horses hoof clicking against rocks and gravel and dirk. The smell, yes even the smell is something that I enjoy. The feel of the leather saddle and the sound it makes when you saddle up. The pure beauty and power of these animals. It's awesome and now I want one again.

Now that I've decided and felt my need for a horse I am slowing working on the financial end to make my dream come true. It might take several years and some sacrifices but I'm willing to do that to have a horse or two.

After the riding we headed back to camp. I finished packing up my stuff and we headed to the airport. Ugh, I didn't want to leave. I like it out there. I like the sounds and peace and the bright night sky. The smell of the camp fire, the fly fishing and site seeing. I like it all.

But it was time to head home and start the normal grind of everyday life.

Oh, and if you are at all wondering about my sleeping bag...Mitch took care of it for me:)

That is the end of my South Dakota Adventures.

South Dakota Adventures Part 3

Sunday was a little slower pace. We traveled down to Devil's Tower. I think the drive was about 2 or 2 1/2 hours. I don't really remember. Going there seems much longer than coming back.

Devils Tower is the first declared National Monument. Declared on Sept 24, 1906 by Theodore Roosevelt. It is a natural rock formation created either by monolithic igneous intrusion or volcanic neck. This is a very popular place to ride to during sturgis. If you want to read more go to wikipedia and look it up:)

Anyway, Mitch packed a little lunch for us. So we had a picnic while at Devils' Tower. We watched at several climbs came down the rock from their climb. You can't see the climber in this picture however there are on there:) I tryed to get them but it didn't work however this is a good picture of the rock.

So here if the funny for this day. Me being silly is sometimes unexpected. It only happens once in a while when I feel the silliness upon me.

So we were driving down to Devil's Tower and Mitch was explaining how the bikers come down to Devil's Tower during Sturgis. I kinda questioned why they would want to. Traveling to Devil's Tower is rather boring for a long stretch. It's flat, brown and filled with hay piles. There is nothing pretty to look at.

Mitch tryed to explain that it was the feel of the wind, the freedom of the bike. It didn't have much to do with the scene just the fact of riding. Then he looked at me and asked "can't you imagine the wind on your face". I sat there for a moment, rolled down my window and stuck my head out.

The wind ripped throw my hair. I had to squint my eyes to protect them from the wind. My cheeks just about flapped in the wind. When I came back in the truck I looked at Mitch and said"nope, don't get it" and started to laugh. It took me a while to get all the knots out of my hair. He started to laugh as well.

Anyway we headed back to camp. Making a stop at the local grocery store and picking up some steak. Yummy! Steak! Who doesn't love steak over a camp fire. So we get back to the camp site and Mitch starts the fire and once it's nice and hot he begins to cook. We had steak potato's and corn. My tummy was filled and for the night we stayed by the fire and just talked. Then off to bed.

This time I switch sleeping bags with Mitch and slept like a baby. I now know I have to purchase a better sleeping bag. Don't want to get cold next year!

Then Monday.......

South Dakota Adventure Part 2

So now it's Saturday and we wake up early in the morning (6:30am to be exact). If froze my bottom off that night because the temps dropped down in the 40's. It just killed me.

Mitch was the first to rise and he started the fire right away so he could begin cooking breakfast. Love camp fire food. It's so good! Anyway while I was waiting for the food to be prepare I promptly put on my jacket and tried to get warm.

I forgot to tell you that on Friday night Mitch gave me a surprise....a small coffee pot. I know that you all are thinking why is the coffee pot such a surprise. Because it was a single serving size. Just the right size to make my hot cocoa every morning / evening. So while the fire was burning high he throw a pot of water on the fire for me so I could have hot cocoa and warm up!

It was the best!!!

Anyway, we got our showers after breakfast and headed up the the stream to try out fly fishing. Now Mitch has been fly fishing for years. This was going to be my first time and when I got out there it was rather obvious that it was my first time.

So Mitch hooked up the fishing gear and I slid into my waders and boots. We headed down to the water and Mitch proceeded to give me some instruction on how to fly fish. So he showed me and then I attempted to duplicate what he was talking about. It was really not a pretty site but then I started to get a hang of it. So Mitch headed up stream a little bit and stayed were I was to practice my casting. Luckily I didn't get anything because I wouldn't have known what to do.

After about an hour and a half we called it quits for lunch. Where we met one of Mitch's friends at this little place ( I can't remember the name but they serve the best bison burgers). We were there for about 2 hours before we headed out to a different stream to fish some more.

This was a much tighter space. We stood on the edge of the bank and Mitch started to cast. He caught his line a couple of times in the weeds and I just looked and him and told him there was no way I would be able to cast from the bank. I would get my line caught every time.

So we headed up stream a little bit and actually got in the water. So he casted out a few times and was able to catch a couple of fish. He had the camera so I wasn't able to get any pictures of them. They are much smaller than I imagined.

So then he told me it was my turn. So I got out my pole and started to cast. I think at one point he got behind me to help me cast because I was doing it all wrong. 10 and 2 he kept telling me and my arms wanted to go 8 and 3. The line would get tangled which Mitch ended up working on my pole more times than I would want to admit. I sure he was getting irritated with it. I know I was!

So he kept telling me "try to get the fly over there" and then he would point. Of course getting my line "over there" was not as easy as it sounds. I would cast and cast and cast and it always seemed to fall about 10 ft the other direction.

Then I started to get the hang of it a little bit and started to get my line over where he was pointing. Each time I got it in the general area he would tell me I was doing good.

It was a repeated casting the failed to get me any fish. I was a little disappointed knowing it was getting late and I might leave without a fish. I was good with it. So I casted out a few more times and as I watched the line come my way down the stream I pulled back to cast again and up flung a fish.

OMG! I CAUGHT A FISH. I look over to Mitch and scream "I CAUGHT A FISH". I about jumped right out of my waders I was so excited. I could swear there was a little laugh in his voice when he told me I needed to bring the fish in. In all my excitement I forgot what I was suppose to do. My hand didn't seem to want to grab the reel and bring the fish in. Then I gained some control and brought her in.

It was huge! The biggest fish I've ever caught. Something around the size of two feet long and pretty. Mitch picked it up and took it off the hook for me. Then he handed me the fish and grabbed his camera and took a few shots of the fish and me.

Now why do I remember the fish being much bigger than this....LOL. Did I mention this shirt looks really crappy on me...I look so deformed in this picture...oh well!

Anyway, after I caught that fish, Mitch casted a few more times and then we headed out. I was chilled because I left my coat in the truck and the water temps where like ice water.

Back to the camp site for dinner, conversation and then off to bed. This time I dressed in wool socks and added a sweat shirt to keep in the heat....didn't work. I still got cold in the middle of the night. Before we turned off the lights Mitch asked if I wanted to exchange sleeping bags. I told him no because with my wool sock and sweat shirt I should be alright. I should have exchanges sleeping bags with him that night.

So on Sunday........