Currently || Sometimes || Never

Currently…

…I'm trying to convince my husband to take the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class with me. 

…My to-do lists are miles long.

…I'm super excited to go to my first blog conference in April, Go Blog Social. My friend Kala is going too!

…I want it to warm up for good and officially end winter. 

…I feel like I'm keeping lots of secrets.

…The start of garage sale season is coming soon and I can't wait. 

Sometimes…

…I wonder if I'm the only person on the road that knows how to drive.

…I take 2 hour long naps right before I go to bed.

…Cold weather makes me a really mean and awful person.

…I eat popcorn for dinner.

...I get concerned with the amount of tv I watch and social media I consume.

 

Never…

…do I ever want to become a vegetarian.

...will I ever turn down cotton candy.

...will I not scream if I see a mouse.

...have I had the desire to run a marathon.

(P.S. Keep checking back and maybe I'll tell you some of my secrets.)

Spring in Kansas

I feel like Spring has officially sprung here in good old Kansas. The temps are no longer in the frigid range and my flowers have begun to pop up and bloom.

I like to think that I have jumped head first into Spring cleaning of my house but let's be completely honest I haven't. A few things have managed to get removed from my closet and some wallpaper has been destroyed but other than that I have nothing but a list of to-dos to show for my efforts.

The most likely culprit of my lack of cleaning has been my garden. I managed to convince my dear husband to do the heavy lifting for me and till up the garden after I raked out as many dead weeds as possible.

Probably because I picked up all this fertilizer for "his" yard...

Surprisingly it didn't take too much to convince him to build me a couple raised beds for my strawberries either. I managed to get those painted and then we got them settled in the ground. We threw some regular soil into the bottom part of the beds and then I bought a couple bags of good top soil from Home Depot. Last night I finally got my strawberries transplanted just in time for the rain showers today.

Still have lots to plant.

Let's take a moment now to appreciate some of Spring's beauty…

The new table and chairs I snagged at IKEA for my back deck…

Dinner on the grill...

Browsing the local greenhouses…

And the start of baseball season… Go Royals!

Things I'm currently loving...

Anything and everything gold!

The beautiful flowers my husband sent me for no reason on Tuesday.

The Maroon 5 song Sugar. It's so good!!

Gas prices. I can't even believe they are so low. Hopefully I'm not jinxing it.

(Okay, so maybe I used some fuel points on this one.)

Peeling wallpaper. Oh wait…I HATE that. 

Giant greasy hamburgers. Not sure why but almost everyday I want to eat a hamburger. (Don't worry I don't. Sadly.)

My husbands butt in these jeans…

American Sniper, the movie. It was really good and super intense. Makes you appreciate our freedom and what soldiers do for our country. You know it was good when the theatre is dead silent as the credits roll until people start clapping. Check it out. 

The lovely free printable Meal Planner I made for all you lovely readers :) You can find a downloadable file of it on my Blog BFF Kala's page My Breezy Room!

Have a lovely weekend!!

World Series - Royals vs. Giants (Part 2)

Okay, so let's see if I can wrap this up...

After we sold our tickets to Game 1 we were feeling a little bummed until we watched them lose, so we were okay with missing out on the game.

Game 2 was on a Wednesday and my brother, Mike, and is girlfriend, Taryn, rode with us and we all tailgated together. I obviously made some signs, it was the World Series, DUH, that the tailgating crowd seemed to really enjoy. Especially the Giants fans next to us. We even got interviewed by a news station, and even thought they didn't use our interview, we still made the footage though with my sweet signs.

Chevy had an area set up in the parking lot where you could go and take photos in a bunch of fun spots and then we got to play the worlds largest cornhole game. Let's just say, I sucked at it. Big time. At a certain point it was time to go into the game.

Our seats were actually decent and the people around us were a lot of fun. Turns out the people a few rows behind us didn't love us though because, heaven forbid, we stand and cheer with the other sections. That's right, we literally got yelled at to sit down. Pretty sure the people behind us didn't like it much when we turned around and told them to stand up because they are at "THE WORLD SERIES" and "buy better seats next time". Maybe that sounds rude but the majority of the people in the stadium were standing even if everyone in our section wasn't and they were literally yelling at me to sit down before I had a chance to sit down. At that point we pretty much said screw you and stood most of the rest of the game. Security even tried to tell us to sit and we argued with her until everyone around us stood up and she moved on. Pretty ridiculous really. We weren't blocking kids or anything it was just grumpy old people. We ignored them and had a great time.

Game 6
Seth's best friend, Chris, was in town from Colorado so he joined us in our tailgating extravaganza. We also met up with a few of my cousins in the parking lot. Since Game 6 was a possible clinch game for San Francisco the mood in the parking lot wasn't quite as boisterous but still lots of fun. I made some more sign's...some that were maybe a little inappropriate but the guys insisted.

We headed with the crowds into the stadium until we got stopped. My ticket worked great. Seth handed the lady his ticket and it beeped and wouldn't scan. I said, woah, woah, woah, we bought these tickets from your sales guy in the ticket office, scan it again. She did and it still didn't go and told us he needed to go to customer service. Chris jumped in and gave Seth his ticket and said he would take our ticket and get things figured out. So Chris went to customer service outside and Seth and I went to customer service inside where I threw a little fit and spouted off my speech..."We bought these tickets from so and so in your ticket office and our friend is stuck on the outside of the gate and we are being told our ticket was illegally sold on Stubhub and our friend in from Colorado and you need to let him in now!" I have no idea what happened but they let Chris in so we all raced to our seats but we missed the ceremonial first pitch and the National Anthem. Oh, and there was someone in my seat. NBD. Since we had just finished tailgating I obviously had a little liquid courage that made me ask mister in-my-seat if he had bought his ticket off Stubhub. He said yes and so I felt I had to tell him that someone stole our ticket barcode somehow and sold it illegally on Stubhub. I then went on to tell him I knew he didn't do it and sorry we were so crowded together. He apologized and offered to move to the empty seat the next row down. I insisted he was fine and that I was sure there would probably be someone coming for that empty seat anyway. At this point the people a few rows behind us thought it would be a good idea to yell at us again so I just yelled back that I didn't have a seat because mine was sold illegally!! I tried to sit on Seth's lap and decided the best option was to call Stubhub directly. Poor lady that answered the phone. Convo went something like this...

Stubhub Lady: Hello, Stubhub how can I help you?
Me: Ummm...I'm at the WORLD SERIES right now and someone is in my seat because someone sold it ILLEGALLY on YOUR site!
SH Lady: Ummmmm....someone sold your ticket on Stubhub?
Me: Yes, and it wasn't me! I DID NOT sell my ticket and now people are yelling at me because I'm standing at the World Series.
SH Lady: Ummmmmm....can you please hold while I get a manager?
Me: Sure, no problem.
SH Lady: Ma'm
Me: Yes
SH Lady: Do you have  your ticket?
Me: Yes, it's in my pocket because I didn't sell it.
SH Lady: If you have the ticket it's your seat and you might need to get someone there to help you.
Me: That's fine, thanks for your help. Looks like he left so I'm sitting here anyway. Thanks for your help!

And he was gone, never to be seen the rest of the game. Can't help but wonder since he left so easily if he was the real thief! If so, well played sir. Looks like you got to see the World Series, even if it was only standing room.

Once all of that happened, Seth decided he needed to go get a beer. While he was gone mean security lady came to take away my inappropriate sign. She was a lovely lady. Not really. I gave it up pretty freely because I just wanted to watch the dang game. Seth got back, we watched, we cheered, we stood. And then bitchy people yelled at us AGAIN!! I know at this point you are probably thinking we must have been obnoxious or rude or something but I assure you we weren't at all. I wasn't drunk or even a little drunk and was just getting annoyed. We were just standing and cheering with the majority of the stadium even if it wasn't the majority of our section. Anyway, Seth went out to get another beer with Chris. He was gone quite awhile and then Chris came to get me because they wanted to see Seth's ticket before letting him back in our section. I was basically thinking...are you kidding me?!!! I went to the little tunnel that led to our seats and flashed the tickets to the cops and security that were standing there. The cops asked Seth to sit if most people were sitting and he basically told them the same thing we told the people behind us. "They need to stand or buy better seats". The cops were actually super nice and just wanted him to say "sure" because the bitchy security lady was standing there. While we were all there talking a group of people from the row behind us walked by and started yelling to the cops, "he is not doing anything wrong, people are bitching and yelling at him for nothing". I assured the cops that he/we would be good and thanks.

After all of those shenanigans it was far enough into a 10-0 game that everyone was standing and cheering most of the time so people couldn't yell at us for doing it anymore. Victory!!!

Game 7
After the Game and excitement the night before we were pretty tired but still ready to go and cheer for our Royals for one more game. Chris decided he couldn't leave to drive back to Colorado when the Royals could possibly win the World Series so he bought a ticket on the drive home after Game 6 and went back with us the next day. It was basically more of the same in the parking lot, fun basically.

This time we made it smoothly into the game with no tickets being stolen and sold without our knowledge. And, not a single person yelled at us to sit down during the ENTIRE game!! I think the grumpy people were gone which was pretty awesome. We cheered our boys in blue on until the bitter end when we were hoping for a rally after Alex Gordon's triple. I'm sure people will debate for years whether the coach should have sent him home (I vote yes) or not, but it is what it is. A sad sad loss. After the last out was made you could have heard a pin drop in the silence that became the stadium.

I'm not afraid to admit that I cried. It was such an amazing season and post season and will be an October that I will remember for the rest of my life. The way the city came together to support the team was truly incredible. Everywhere you looked there were signs, flags, and blue. Walking through the grocery store, through the mall or even looking at the people in the cars next to you, everyone was wearing blue. It honestly seemed like 9/10 people were thrilled with Our Royals! I have never seen so many people come together to support something before with no anger or animosity like you see with political parties and such. We hope to someday be able to describe these games and the time in our life to our children and grand-children and I don't think it will even be possible. It was an unbelievable time and experience even for those of us that were there to witness it with our own eyes.

And that's my story of the 2014 World Series. I still can't believe it's over but I also can't wait until next season!


I have a million photos but I think I might make a new post that contains all of those so you can relive it with me....watch for it! I'm sure you will want to see my inappropriate sign and tailgate shenannies :)

Let's Go ROYALS!

WORLD SERIES 2014 - Royals vs. Giants (Part 1)

Okay, can you all suffer through one more little (or not so little) post about the Kansas City Royals? If not, come back later and I will have moved on to something that may interest you a little more. No promises though.

Well, I had good intentions of this being my last Royals post but doesn't look like it's going to be that way. Sorry, not sorry. Even if you could care less about the Royals (How dare you?!) you might enjoy this post...

Anyway, let's talk World Series! Kansas City Royals vs. San Francisco Giants.

Seth has grown up with baseball in his blood and it has definitely always been my favorite sport,(What girl doesn't love baseball pants?) so we did what every other rational Royals fan did... We bought a 21 game season ticket package for the 2015 season so we were able to buy World Series tickets at face value. Let me tell you, World Series ticket's not at face value are beyond expensive. And because we are super crazy we did all of this before we even knew if the Royals would be in the World Series.

In the interest of full disclosure and because I want to remember later in life what the heck we did with our money I want to remember that these dollars were well spent. I mean, it's been 29 years since the Royals were last in the Post Season and then the World Series, MY WHOLE LIFE! We basically paid $2000 total for 2 tickets to the 21 games next year which includes opening day. We went to opening day this year and it basically cost about $200 total for just that one game (nosebleed section) so I feel like we are already doing pretty good. The $2000 was a deposit that will actually get us good seats (as opposed to nosebleed) for the 2015 season and I'm pretty pumped about knowing we will get to go to so many games.

Once the Royals actually won the Pennant and we knew we were going to the World Series we got the option to buy our Series tickets, so we bought all we could, 2 tickets to each of the 4 possible games ($1320 total). Even though we hated to do it we sold our tickets to Game 1 in order to make back a little money and we knew we would still get to for sure go to Game 2.

I listed the tickets on Stubhub, Craigslist, and also our local Facebook swap page. Let's just say that our post on the FB swap page was beyond out of control ridiculous/hilarious before the admin pulled it off. I was pretty devastated because I didn't get to screenshot any of it which I so wanted to share with all of you!!

Here's a quick summary of what happened...

(I should first mention that at this point all tickets that were sold at face value were gone so if you wanted a ticket you were buying it from someone else and not the actual Royals organization.)

I posted a photo of the tickets (barcodes, price, and all other important info blocked out because I'm not an idiot) and a short post that said something like, "2 tickets to game 1 of the World Series, message for more info." A woman messaged immediately and we gave her a ballpark of what we were hoping to get which was less than Stubhub for seats in the same section, row, blah blah blah. She proceeded to tell us we were crazy and then commented on the public post telling other people that we were essentially bad people because we were asking more than face value and others could get cheaper tickets elsewhere. I commented back saying yes you could get cheaper tickets elsewhere but you would have standing room only or seats that were not nearly as good as ours. A bunch of people jumped in then, some to our defense, some questioning the legality of selling tickets over face value etc. Seth and I were sitting at home on a Saturday night like losers (but not really because we had World Series tickets and these sour Sally's didn't) just enjoying the entertainment. I told people that I talked to a cop (which I actually did) telling them it wasn't illegal to sell over face value in Kansas and proceeded to post this photo...

Someone please tell me where I can find a good one of Taylor Swift!

...oops. I may have also told people that if they could buy tickets for face value somewhere they better buy them and then they better call the pope because they just witnessed a miracle. Sometimes I just crack myself up. By the time I got out of church the next day Seth and I had completely stepped out of the conversation and were just watching it turn from a post about WS tickets into an argument on proper grammar and spelling, "Merica', racism, and the "hooker with the blue eyeshadow" (not me). WHAT?!!! It wasn't long after all of this that the admin deleted our post and asked us to repost it and she threatened everyone else that they would be kicked out of the group if they tried to ruin sales of others. In the end I ended up selling the tickets for $500 a piece to the ticket broker in the mall because I was sick of dealing with it. Considering face value was $165 a piece we felt pretty good about what we did get for them.

Well, that little side story took a little lot longer than expected so I guess I will summarize the actual games in another post. Please don't hate me but you have to admit that selling tickets was rather entertaining, right?!!

Kansas City Royals Wild Card Game - WIN!!!

WOW!!

Let me just start this post by apologizing for the extremely excessive amount of exclamation points and bolded words. Okay, now that you've been warned...It's 2 days later and I'm still on a high from the Royals vs. Athletics Wild Card game. Seth and I bought tickets the day they went on sale and thank goodness we didn't miss it. It's possible that I will never again in my life see a game that is more exciting, thrilling and a roller coaster ride of emotions that equals this one.

For those of you that have been living under a rock, the Kansas City Royals haven't played in the Post Season since 1985 (when the won the World Series), 29 years ago. I just turned 28 so if you do that complicated math it equals: My Whole Life.

I'm sure there are some of you that are already bored with this post, and to you I say, I don't care. I realize it's difficult to put into words the craziness and emotions that were filling Kauffman Stadium and the sea of blue the fans were wearing on Tuesday night but it was literally a once in a lifetime experience.

Imagine 40,502 people all on their feet, cheering at the top of their lungs, waving their rally towels in the air, chanting "Let's go Royals, let's go" and watching "THEIR TEAM" come from behind not once but twice to win the game in the 12th inning! UNBELIEVABLE!!! These kinds of things don't happen everyday people.

We are heading back to Kauffman on Sunday to watch them play  game 3 of the ALDS. Let's all cross our fingers and pray for a win!

Here's a little sampling of the day through photos and a short video. Enjoy!

 

I have extra PTO to use up so I took the whole day off work and got in the spirit by baking a pie. Nothing says AMERICA like an Apple Pie and baseball!

 

We got to the stadium to tailgate at 2:15 even though the parking lot wasn't supposed to open until 3:00. Lucky for us they let us in as soon as we got there and we had front row parking with the rest of the other diehards. Plus we didn't have to pay the $15 for parking!  I sorta felt like Clark Griswold pulling into the parking lot at Wally World but it filled up quickly.

 

Selfie in the sunshine. Enjoying some adult bevies. We met some new friends and shared some food and joined a random fellow for a champagne toast during the tailgating. I love the Post Season!

 

On our way into the game after our beverages and tailgating. Good times, good times.

 

 

 

National Anthem and then a flyover with fireworks. We do things right in KC!

 

 

One acceptable photo after approximately 82 photos of Seth making crazy faces. No exaggeration, there were A LOT.

 

 

Loving the view.

 

 

And the crowd goes wild!!

 

They win!! 40,502 people that all looked exactly like this!! Unbelievable. Incredible. Amazing. There is literally not a word that describes this moment.

 

 

 

 

Enjoyed a little cookie cake at work today and we all wore our Royals gear.

 

 

Well, I hope I will have an awesome update on the Royals come Monday morning. We bought standing room only tickets for the game Sunday. Staying up late to finish watching their game vs. Anaheim tonight and hoping for a victory. Let's go Royals!

 

 

 P.S. If anybody has any extra tickets they want to get rid of feel free to let me know! Seriously, I would rather have a seat!

 

P.S.S. You can follow my Instagram here for live coverage on Sunday. Just saying...

Seth turns 30!!

Last Friday Seth turns the big 3-0! How did that even happen? I could swear it was a week ago when I met a skinny little 16 year old with the bluest eyes I had ever seen. Fourteen years later and his eyes haven't lost the sparkle. He's still the hardworking, kind, generous smart ass that I fell in love with so many years ago. 

To celebrate I had a few little surprised planned, but nothing too major cause he's not the kinda guy who likes a lot of attention. Since he was out of town Monday and Tuesday night I was able to make him a "broquet" and then have my brother deliver it to his office on Friday.

 

 

I think it turned out pretty cute and I plan to post instructions on how to do it soon!

Friday my office closed an hour early and made it home in time to decorate, bake a fresh pan of brownies as well as "make a cake" since he doesn't like traditional cake. Pretty sure he would pick this cake any day.

 

Since our lovely Kansas City Royals are doing amazing I bought him a Hunt for Blue October shirt. I may or may not have bought myself one as well. Oops.

 

Anyway, when he made it home from work we loaded up into the car and drove back to the city to watch the Sporting KC game which was his first Professional Soccer Game. Despite not being overly excited about watching soccer I think he actually enjoyed it. Pretty sure the Coors Lights may have contributed a little bit...

Conveniently enough, Hollywood Casino is located right next to Sporting KC, so after the game we went straight over to watch our beloved Royals make it the post season for the first time in 29 years! I wasn't even alive last time they made it to the postseason.

To celebrate the Royals win Seth spent the next 4 hours in the poker room where the other players bought him beers and eventually took his money. YOLO. I managed to lose $15 in about 20 minutes and decided I had enough so I walked around the casino and then managed to find a café that was still open and selling salads. Sometimes my lame-ness amazes me.

By 2 o'clock I managed to get Seth to leave the casino to head on home to our bed and a lovely little thing called sleep. After such a late night, and because we aren't in college anymore, we literally didn't leave the couch all day Saturday. It was kinda awesome and kinda pathetic all rolled into one. We did manage to catch up on the episodes of Dateline and 48 Hours that we missed that night before so I would say the day wasn't a complete waste.

Sunday we had church and then went to get Seth a couple new pairs of jeans and a coat he wanted for his birthday. Surprisingly we made it home in time to get a few things done around the house and then get ready to start the week all over again.

Happy Monday Everyone!!
 

Royals Game, Canning and Closet Cleaning

I've been contemplating a new post for a while now. A lot. Sorta just seems like life keeps getting in the way, ya know?

I've been texting Kala over at My Breezy Room and she helped give me the little nudge I might have needed to try and jump back into this thing. (Don't hold your breath, just in case). So... since the husband is out of town, and not trying to sleep, I decided to lay in bed, watch a little Office Space (have you seen my red stapler?) and clickety clack out a new post.

I'll try to start small with a few weekend happenings and maybe I will eventually catch up some of the bigger things over the past few months. (Again, quit holding your breath.)

Last Friday, Seth and I hit up the Royals game to try to cheer our beloved team on to the post season. ESPN showed up and unfortunately our team didn't. After Detroit knocked in about 3 or so runs in the first inning we realized things weren't going to go to well. The Royals ended up losing 10-1 in an embarrassing showing. I'm still not giving up on them though because we have already bought tickets to the post-season and I would much rather go to the games instead of getting our money back. Memories over money people. I can't help but have a soft spot for Baseball ever since that summer I met Seth so many years ago...

#damnitfeelsgoodtobeagangster

Saturday, I dropped my car off for an oil change and they informed me that my tire tread was "below the legal limit". Awesome. I can't wait to spend $600 buying one of the most boring things in the entire world.

I also managed to do some canning and made 13 quarts of apple pie filling. Pie anyone? It looks so yummy and I can't wait to make one hopefully this next weekend. I still have a huge basket of apples that I need to work and I'm hoping to make cinnamon apples using red hots like my Grandma used to do.

After church on Sunday, Seth worked outside and I took a little nap. Oops. I did manage to start the process of cleaning my closet out which is going pretty well so far. the amount of clothes I have is beyond ridiculous, but I am actually getting rid of stuff so I may need to go shopping again soon. As you can tell by the photo my closet was out of control. That empty space was completely full of clothes but they were all laying on the bed when I took this photo. Luckily they all didn't make it back in.

Well, I think that's enough for now. Thinking my next post might be about my trip to the new IKEA that just opened less than 5 miles from my office. I'm in LOVE!

That one time I was almost murdered

Okay, maybe the title is a bit dramatic but I bet you're curious. Let's just say the experience taught me a little something about myself. Turns out, I'm the girl that runs up the stairs instead of out the door when there is a serial killer in her house. With that said…on with the story.

A week ago Seth had to go out of town for a week, which I hate but it's occasionally a necessary evil (since his paychecks are mildly beneficial in making the mortgage payment). Anywho…Not 20 minutes after he leaves a black truck stops in front of my house. Not in my driveway but out on the gravel. Weird (creepy) right? 

I look out the window and see Gunnar sitting in the ditch just looking at the truck with his head cocked to the side wondering the same thing I was. Why isn't this truck moving? Thinking that maybe my crazy dog was chasing the truck and the driver stopped because they didn't want to hit him I figured I should call him. I yell for him a few times and being the obedient (hence the sarcasm) dog that he is he darts off in the opposite direction. (Quite the guard dog we have, be jealous.)

After my dog scampers off, a guy gets out of the truck and starts walking slowly toward my house. Thinking it was more than a little odd I just stood there stuck in place wondering what the eff he was doing, especially since there were at least two others in the vehicle. As he gets closer he yells to me, "you wouldn't happen to have a jack, would you?" I'm married to a man with every tool under the sun and for some reason felt like this stranger probably knew it so I felt obligated to say, "yes, I think so, hang on."

I went back inside to put on tennis shoes, in case I needed to make a run for it, because that's how my mind works. I tried to call Seth and of course he didn't answer. My brain is yelling at me "You're getting ready to be murdered and he can't answer his damn phone." 

I head back outside and creepy guy is now standing up closer to my house smoking a cigarette and creeping me out just a little more. When I walk out he asks if there's any chance I also have a 4-way tire iron. Since I'm a terrible liar I say yes and go back in to the garage and bring it back out to hand to the guy. (Great, I just handed a murderer the weapon he is going to use to bash my head in.)

Stranger Danger follows me down to my husbands (secluded) shop where I make sure to keep out of arms reach of him. I walk inside and immediately start to head to the other side of the building farther away from the creepster and closer to another door should I need to dart out it. Luckily, the guy spots the jack right inside the door we entered and tells me as much. I turn around sheepishly and see it as he picks it up to carry to his truck. 

I follow him out the door and he heads straight out to the truck where the two other guys jump out to help him change the tire. On our way across the yard I mention to him to just leave the jack in the driveway when he's done and thanks for not bashing my head in and leaving me in a hot metal building while the blood drains from my skull. Okay, I didn't say the last part but I'm pretty sure he knew I was thinking it. 

Anyway, I went back inside and locked my doors and turned on my alarm system and thanked God for another day on Earth. 

Maybe I'm a bit dramatic, or maybe I just watch too much Dateline, but I hope no one else ever stops to borrow a jack while Seth is gone or I will be like Kevin McAllister hiding under the bed. 

Have a great 4th of July weekend and don't forget to celebrate the people that make our freedom possible!

I'm a big fat liar.

Obviously, when I said "I'm back" I lied. Not sure why it's so hard to find the time to write now but it is. Maybe I'm afraid of boring you because I like my job and what's going on in my life (for the most part) so it might be a little dull to read. Or maybe it's because I really am busy and I really don't have the time. Maybe I forgot how to be entertaining. Yeah, right.

Guess I'll give all of you a short list of what's happened in my life in the last several months.

• I lost my job due to a layoff and was unemployed over the holidays. Not fun.
• I found a new job through Linked In and have currently been here for about 3 1/2 months. 
• I love my new job and my boss and the people I work with and the whole shebang. It's fantastic.
• My dog was chasing was chasing something and somehow managed to dislocate his front elbow (Is that what it's called on a dog??). He recovered just fine.
• My dog felt the need to chase a car and got hit (at 9:30pm), we took him to the Animal Hospital at K-State (at 2am) after visiting another clinic and they kept him overnight. He has since recovered.
• I got my garden planted.
• I have tried and successfully added a few new homemade recipes (that Seth also enjoys) to the rotation. 
• Seth built me some awesome shelves in my craft closet that are yet to be filled because I'm pathetic. 
• I made some new friends at my new job that are pretty great.
• I have finally been working out again and trying to eat healthy which is way easier said than done. 
• I joined Weight Watchers to help my drop a few extra winter lbs and to make myself focus on making better food decisions. Let's say overall it's gone well but this week I sort of fell off the wagon and it backed up and ran over me again.
• I have seen a million different movies over the past months and would be happy to give you a review if you are interested. 
• I got my hair done with ombre highlights which was the first time I have ever had color added so that was fun and I love it. 

I suppose all that stuff catches you up to date on what's happened in my world in the last few months. Boring, right? Maybe I will just write a few boring posts to try and get back into the swing of things. Or maybe I will suck again and not write for months. Feel free to send me suggestions, or leave comments, about what you think I should write about so maybe you will want to read it :)

Unemployment

Where to start... I was jobless through all of November, December, and January. Being laid off is depressing I will tell you. 

At first it's kind of nice, like a vacation, then you realize it's not a vacation (at all) since you can't spend money, because you don't know how long the vacation will last. And you still have bills.  

Thankfully Seth and I had saved for a rainy day and luckily we didn't really have to touch it. I got the chance to feel what it was like applying for unemployment weekly. I hated being asked what I did during those months and having to tell people I was unemployed (laid off) and I would always feel the need to give people lots of extra details so they didn't just think I was lazy.

Unemployment helped Seth and I to focus on our spending and learn a little lesson in needs versus wants, which I think we all need reminding of every now and then;) Let's face it, we all have way more wants than needs and I think we both learned to appreciate things a little more.  

We definitely stepped out of our boxes a little bit and challenged ourselves to try new things. I pretty much quit grocery shopping except for the produce and milk and such and tried new recipes with products we already had or used up things we had avoided for way too long.  

The house was kept super clean and dinner was often made and ready when Seth got home from work. Since I was home all day it was easy to find time for these things in between applying for jobs.  

Unemployment can be stressful for sure, but I'm glad it happened when it did. As I've said before I think everything happens for a reason and I think the reason for losing my job is that I was looking for a new job at the right time. I found a new job. A job that (so far anyway;) I love. A job that is more me and that appreciates it's employees and who they are and what they do. And I'm happy.

Happy Friday! (It's nice to enjoy Fridays again, weekends don't mean much when everyday is the same)

I'm BAAAACKKK! (I hope)

It's about time to get back into this whole blog thing (I think anyway). I've been gone for way too long and I really miss it. I think life has finally settled down and now maybe I can figure out a new routine for writing. 

I'll try to do some recaps through the next couple posts to get you all (all...more like 3 maybe?) up to speed on what you missed in my ever so fascinating life. Have no fear I'm sarcastic as ever and willing to share:)

I don't want to get too carried away on my first post back so I'll just leave you with this little tid-bit...

My husbands new nickname for me is  pillow princess. Why you ask? Maybe because we have 5 pillows on our bed and I use 4 of them. I personally don't see a problem with it but apparently he does.

Soon to come...

My new job (amazing-sauce)
Adventures in puppy land
Recipes I invented while jobless for months
And much much more!

Christmas Letter 2013

I finally wrote my Christmas Letter today so I thought I would share it here as well. Obviously if you read my blog you probably know just about everything that's in the letter but I thought you might still enjoy it :)

Merry Christmas dear humans! My mom figured out how smart I was so she made me write the letter this year. I was going to refuse until she promised me homemade dog treats, so obviously my tail said yes. Apparently I’m supposed to tell you what’s going on in our world, so here it is.  

The biggest bit of news is my dad (you humans call him Seth) finally moved home in August. Him and my mom went on a second honeymoon cruise to the Caribbean and when they got back he was at home. Thank goodness because Mom and I spent the beginning of the year seeing him only every other weekend when he made the long drive home from Texas. Before he moved home though my mom got to go to down to Texas for a long weekend in April to check out the big job he was building. She tells me it’s pretty awesome and that she’s not quite sure how he figured out how to build the job, but that he must be pretty smart. (Obviously he’s not smart enough to keep his shoes put away so I don’t chew on them though.) Anyway, dad’s in the Topeka office now being a Project Manager. He still travels a couple days a month but most nights he comes home to rub my belly, so I’m glad for the change. My mom must be glad too because she keeps making dinner. She must be wanting to keep him around or something. 

My mom spent most of the year working for the printing company she worked for last year. In November she was laid off though. It kinda came as a surprise, but I must say that I don’t mind, because now she hangs out with me everyday while looking for jobs. She has also kept pretty busy as a part time photographer when she’s not taking pictures of me, instagramming her food, or blogging. In November she got the chance to go to Indianapolis to the the National Catholic Youth Conference as a chaperone, since she volunteers with the high school youth group at church. She said it was awesome and that it was incredible to see so many young people there celebrating their faith.  

Since I’m sure you are all wondering, no she’s not pregnant with humans or puppies or anything else so you can quit asking. My mom and dad know God has a plan for them and until he decides to bless them with children, I’m the one getting the attention around here (as it should be).  

In other news, my dad has pretty much completed the giant shop and has been building workbenches, a house for me, and he even installed the wood stove last weekend. Now it’s nice and cozy. My mom spent the summer gardening and making fresh salsa, canning spaghetti sauce and trying out new recipes. Most of which have been approved by dad, all have been approved by me. They celebrated 2 years of marriage in October and feel blessed to finally live under the same roof.  

Okay, enough about them. I turned 1 in April and my parents didn’t even throw a party for me. To show them I wasn’t happy about it, I ate the neighbors UPS deliveries. Luckily the neighbors seem to like me so they weren’t really mad. I got lost in October when I was hanging out with another neighbor and got locked in their shed. My mom and dad came to search for me though and managed to find me at about 11pm! Thank goodness the neighbors were nice and weren’t too mad about being woken up to rescue me. I continue to live a pretty good life out here in the country. I dig lots of holes trying to catch moles, I bark at birds and the mail lady likes to give me treats. Speaking of treats, it’s about time for me to go get those homemade treats my mom promised. So, see ya later humans. Hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Healthy and Happy New Year!
 

                                                          Gunnar Johnson
(Seth and Julie)

This is actually last years photo because we still haven't taken one.
Story of my life.