Anyone?

So. At what age would you say guys actually grow up and become something other than selfish, immature eight-year-old boys? Just wondering if there's some magic age I can look forward to and see a transformation.

1/25/09

Please keep Andrew and his mom in your thoughts and prayers today. Andrew's grandpa passed away last night. He had been fighting cancer for the second time, but just couldn't win the battle this time. I hope that Andrew can find comfort in knowing that his grandpa is no longer sick, and I hope his mom can understand that she is not to blame.

Party Time!

The parental units are out of town visiting my brother in Omaha. So Maddie, Bailey and I decided to party it up. We brought out the Keystone Light, cranked up the stereo and partied hard. Man that was a good time.

Bailey and Maddie playing "Ring around the Keystone"

Bailey trying to look innocent

BFF Dude!!

I love you man!

So I need to get out more. What's your point?

*no actual alcohol was consumed during the "party"

A Bucket List of Sorts

I got this survey from Ciara and Enya's mom's blog, a blog chronicling the lives of twin micropreemies in Germany.

The rules are that you are to bold/change the color on each of the below that apply to you, then tag 4 more people and let me know when you’ve posted!


1. Started your own blog (if you can call this a Blog)
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (high school band counts right?)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain (not professionally or anything)
9. Held a praying mantis (I can't be certain, but I wasn't always terrified of bugs)
10. Sang a solo
12. Visited Paris (twice)
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning (who hasn't?)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables (Dude. I really did. Tomatoes, corn, carrots, onions and cucumbers. Once.)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France (There were sooo many people in that room!)
20. Slept in an overnight train (on the way to Italy)
21. Had a pillow fight (yeah...NAKED!)
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (Gasp! Of course not!)
24. Built a snow fort (me and my brother did this a lot when we were younger)
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (once you get past the fish smell, Venice is quite lovely)
29. Seen a total eclipse (I think we did at school once)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset (I've seen the sunrise, but I sure as hell wasn't happy about it)
31. Hit a home run (Hells yeah!)
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person (the Canadian side is sooo much cooler than the U.S. side. Go figure)
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community (Does TV count?)
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person (That thing looks about ready to fall any day now)
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David (And he is magnificent!)
41. Sung karaoke (Only when drunk and by force)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt (Yep, he's faithful alright)
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person (Pretty amazing actually)
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (twice)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain (what a glorious feeling, I'm happy again. Hmm...I think that's "singing in the rain". Oh well)
53. Played in the mud (routinely as a child)
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (Dude. Girl Scout Camp was the bomb-diggity)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason (Thanks Andrew)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp (Dachau in Germany)
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (Yeah...like ALL of them)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London (numerous times--never gets old)
77. Broken a bone (only fingers; we won't discuss the broken finger from last New Year's Eve)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle (Quite frightening, but cool)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican (It would be hard to see the Sistine Chapel in person without visiting the Vatican don't you think?)
82. Bought a brand new car (a Grand Am GT and a Mazda RX8)
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper (several times I think for softball and cheerleading. Oh! And one time Jodi and I were in the newspaper for Jump Rope for Heart or whatever it was called)
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chicken pox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Gary Busey is my ex-great uncle, Jake Busey is my second cousin or first cousin once removed or second removed once cousin, first cousin seconded, or whatever)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person (Boy howdy)
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day (many times--I can be quite single-minded when given the chance)

And no, I don't know what happened to numbers 11, 54, 64 and 65. Maybe they started a band together and went on tour.

I'm not tagging anyone in particular. I just couldn't think of anything to blog about today so I thought it would be fun to do another random survey.

Change Has Arrived

Photos courtesy of abcnews.com

KCMO Yo

View of the Plaza from our room

View of our balcony

Floor to ceiling windows

The Intercontinental is the hotel on the right

Walking back from the Cheesecake Factory (hence the double chin)

Me and my goofball

Merely an illusion (we wouldn't bring an Xbox to the hotel; that would be ludicrous)

Kansas City was a nice getaway. We spent tons of time on the internet prior to going, searching for things to do while we were there, like plays, concerts, etc. We wore ourselves out just thinking about it and ended up not doing anything! We're so pathetic (and predictable). We did go eat at the Cheesecake Factory and Jersey Boyz though, so all is right with the world. We stayed at the Intercontinental on the Plaza. It was nice, but expensive. We contemplated purchasing a bottle of liquor from room service, but the $90.00 price tag for a bottle of Bailey's Irish Creme was just slightly over-priced. Maybe $85.00 and they would have had a sale. Ahem. Seriously. How do they get away with charging that???!!!

So maybe next time we'll actually do something. Just getting us out of the house for a couple of days was a big step!

What happened to my funny and witty posts?

Boyfriend and I are going to Kansas City on Friday! I'm excited because we will get to eat at my favorite place: Jersey Boyz. I don't know what it is about that place, but I LOVE it. It's just a sub-sandwich restaurant, but man, it's good. I'm not sure what else we will do (besides eat), but I think we will have a good time. It's been a long time since we've done anything besides hang out at home; we're already like an old married couple. I'm going to try to remember to take pictures so I can blog about it (although I'm sure we won't do anything too exciting). I just hope it's not too cold.

My aunt is recovering from her surgery and should go home tomorrow. I don't know when she will go back to get reconstructive surgery, and I'm not sure why they don't do it all at once. I need to research it some more. She didn't have to have any lymph nodes taken out so that's good news. I'm so thankful her doctor caught the lump early. The doctor said if they wouldn't have found it until next year's exam, it would have been a much different prognosis. Really shows how important it is to get those dreadful exams every year.

I'm doing pretty good on my "diet"; I put it in quotation marks since I haven't really committed myself to it yet. I've been eating better (and a lot less!) and have been taking Bailey for walks after work every night. We missed tonight's walk though; it was just too cold! Of course, the "diet" is off while I'm in Kansas City--there's too much I want to eat: Jersey Boyz, Jose Peppers, Cheesecake Factory, Sheridan's Frozen Custard (the bomb-diggity of all frozen custards), just to name a few.

My March for Babies fund-raising has gotten off to a pretty good start. I'm at $125.00 right now. Thanks to those who've already donated! It's such a good cause. I can't imagine a world without Olivia in it, and the research done by the March of Dimes had a big part in her survival. That and her sheer determination!

Here's some random old family pictures for your viewing pleasure:

My cousin Stacy, my grandma and me

Me, my brother Josh and my cousin Stephanie

My cousin Wendy and my cousin Stacy

Me and my grandpa

An interesting story: I don't know why I remember this, but I always eat donuts by eating around the center of the hole. Why you ask? I remember my grandpa telling me that the hole is the best part of the donut so you should save it for last! He probably doesn't remember that, but I do and to this day I leave the hole of the donut for last. Of course if you notice in the picture, my grandpa isn't taking his own advice!!

The only cousin not pictured is Bryan. He's the youngest and wasn't even born at the time these pictures were taken, and I couldn't find a picture of him as a baby on our computer. He was a cute little guy though.

Okay, well here's my absolutely boring, totally random post. I've enjoyed our time together. Until next time, Mariska Hargitay and goodnight.

I Hate Cancer

Did you know that 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer by the time they are 80 years old? In 2008, an estimated 182,460 new cases of breast cancer were diagnosed in the U.S. Good news though: deaths from breast cancer have been declining since 2001, and there are over 2.5 million breast cancer survivors living in the U.S.

My aunt was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and goes in for a double mastectomy tomorrow in Fort Worth, Texas. Her doctor caught the malignant tumor very early, and the hope is that surgery will remove the cancer, plus prevent any recurrence. I have no doubt that my aunt will come through this with her normal wit and charm. I just want her to know that I am thinking about her and hope her surgery goes as planned. And, once she gets her implants when she goes back in for reconstructive surgery, we can compare!

Also, keep in your thoughts/prayers/positive waves a fellow blogger who's mother was just diagnosed with cancer for the second time.

Gwyneth's Pink and Brown Birthday Extravaganza

I wore pink and brown today in honor of Gwyneth Lawrenson's 1st birthday. She is a micropreemie born at 24 weeks last year. I've been following her dad Nate's blog since January 2008 so I was excited to help them celebrate. Hundreds celebrated on Facebook.

Poor Bailey looks so tired because, not only did she get to go to the park today with my dad, but I also took her for a long walk after I got home from work. She's out cold asleep right now. She was perfect for the pink and brown though! Maddie wanted to join in too though so she put on a pink bandanna.

Day 2 of my "diet": granola bar for breakfast, apple for snack, salad for lunch, soup for dinner. 30 minute walk with Bails. Some day I might actually start using my treadmill or exercise DVDs again, but taking the dog for a walk is the most I can muster right now.

Stupid back fat

My 2009 Resolution: Get my abs back. Okay, maybe not even that. I'd settle for just not being fat anymore. Oh how I miss the days when I only thought I was fat. The days before cellulite and back fat. Ew, gross!

Day 1: Cereal for breakfast, soup and an apple for lunch, bagel sandwich for dinner (okay, okay! I had two bagel sandwiches for dinner-it was good!) and a small(-ish) handful of peanut M&Ms. Took the dog for a brisk walk (there's no other way to take Bailey on a walk) for about 20 minutes.

Hey, not bad for my first day in about 365 days of laziness and eating crap all day long. Maybe tomorrow I'll do a crunch or something. Maybe eat a vegetable or two. Crazier things have happened.

My Favorite (Evil) Pastime

So as I've mentioned before, Boyfriend has got me addicted to my XBox 360. My new favorite game is Saints Row 2. And, I am NOT ashamed! Man, this game rocks. You get to do all the bad things you ever thought about doing, but didn't because you knew it was morally repugnant and so, so, SO wrong! I'm talking: beat the crap out of people, crash cars, use drugs, rob ATM machines, vandalize newspaper stands, buy weapons, fly (and crash) helicopters, beat the crap out of people (yes, I know I mentioned that already, but it's so fun!), etc. You even get to be the head of your own gang, the Saints. AND, their gang color is purple, which is my favorite color! Rock on! You can totally customize your own character even down to the way he (she!) walks. I pimped out my favorite car, which is pictured above with my homegirl, who has an obligatory gang tattoo on her stomach, which the low-rise jeans show off nicely.


Ahh...violence never was so fun!

Happy 2009, Yo