It's About Them

I am back from vacation and sorting through over 1200 family pictures!  It might take a couple months little while.  Only about half are actually from this weekend.  The other half are my grandmother's old pictures.  They are treasures!  So, this is not the vacation post, but I'll get to that eventually.

Today is about them.  This Veteran's day I would like to honor my grandfathers, my uncle, my cousin, most of my co-workers, all of my patients, many of my friends and extended family members.  It is my privilege to serve and work beside our nation's heroes everyday.  To all of our military past, present and future, thank you for serving our country.  We owe our freedom, safety and very way of life to you.

Just so you know....

.... I'm not lost!  I've been on vacation and have had a fabulous time!  With limited internet and no cell phone service it has been incredibly peaceful!  I'll be back with tons of pictures soon.  My reader has about 400 of your posts waiting for me, but I've decided not to stress about that.  I promise to get to them when I have time.  Now I have to get back to relaxing.....just so you know!

Ode to Chocolate

It's Thursday and you know what that means.  OK, maybe you don't, but I've mentioned it a few hundred times once or twice. This is typically the worst day of my week. It's like the perfect storm of stress at work!


The good news is that it is Writer's Workshop day over at Mama Kat's.  Her prompts are great and I don't have to think of something on my own to tell you!  Isn't it nice how that all works out?


Anywho, I picked 5.) Write a love letter to the object of your affection.


Dear Chocolate,


Where do I begin?  You are everything I could ask for in a sweet treat (any food at all for that matter).  You are always there for me, no matter my mood.  You cheer me up when I'm sad. You wake me up when I'm sleepy. You calm me down when I want to strangle someone. You comfort me when I'm scared. Chocky (that's my new nickname for you...I hope you like it), you are just the greatest. 


What else is so tasty no matter what form it is in?  Melted, liquid, powder, sexy dark or fun milk chocolate, you remain true.  I'm not nearly as faithful as you. When I stray to pixie stix, tootsie roll pop drops or marshmallows, you are always there to take me back when I see the error of my ways.


How can I repay you?  What can I do to show you how I really feel?  I hope you know that if loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right.  I may stray, but I'll always come back to you.  You see, I need you chocolate.  Thank you for being you.


love,

Movie time

Sunday, Lexy and I went to see Where the Wild Things Are.  I have been so excited to see this movie!  It was one of my favorite books when I was a kid.

I can't say it was my very favorite because nothing beats Raggedy Ann and Andy. (Yes, I'm old, get over it!) This pop-up book from my childhood is held together with tape and love. (Thanks Mom, I'm certain my love of books, reading and writing is a direct result of all the reading we did when I was so young.)

Anyway, I loved the movie!  I still keep cracking up about it and suddenly telling people "I don't have to eat my feet now!"  Let's be honest, I tend to be a worst-case-scenario kind of person, so I totally get that.

When I got home, I wanted to read the book again.  I remember the characters, but I can't remember if the story is the same.  Although I found Raggedy Ann, I could not find Where the Wild Things Are.  Clearly, I need to steal it from my Mom's bookshelf!

My word of caution about the movie...even an almost 11 year old was frightened and distraught about a couple scenes.  I certainly wouldn't take any younger children.  However, if you grew up loving the book like I did, you should definitely see it!

Now, I just need to convince someone to make a Raggedy Ann movie!

Everything You Need to Know

I accidentally took a 2-hour bath tonight.  (I now have A Three Hour Tour repeating on the jukebox in my head, darn that Gilligan!)  It's not my fault...I just can't stop reading when I have less than 100 pages left in a book.  So, now it is really late.  I'm too tired to form paragraphs, so a list is all you get tonight.  This is everything you never wanted to know ever needed to know about me!

15. I hate to clean, cook, etc., but I do like to do laundry and organize.
14. I love to buy shoes...hate to wear them.
13. I take an hour-long bubble bath almost every night.  (Don't hate me, you would too if you had time!)
12. I love to read, which sort of explains why I lead a book club.
11. If you listen closely to my heartbeat, you will hear Boomer Sooner.
10. I don't cry often, but every time one of our nation's heroes tears up because he can hear his sweet wife again through his new hearing aid...I tear up too.  I love my job :)
9. I read the last page of a book before I start it.  I need to know everyone is alive and OK at the end!
8. That beautiful little brown dog in the picture up at the top is my family and the greatest dog ever.  She is the only one who knows everything and she's not talking!
7. I'm a proud big sister for Big Brothers and Big Sisters.  My little sister Lexy is awesome and it is impossible not to adore her!
6. My Grandma is my hero.
5. I'm KK to my nieces and nephew.  They. Are. My. World.
4. I always have and always will fiercely protect my siblings.  Don't mess with them!
3. I love that I have my Dad's eyes.
2. I have been blessed beyond measure to share every one of my birthdays with my Mom.
1. Totally sold out, head over heels Jesus freak.

Here's Your Sign

I would really prefer that God give me huge blinking neon signs.  I mean, it would be easier that way, right?  I'd probably just find a way to get lost and turn the wrong way anyway.  But still, I pray for them.  This whole house thing is driving me crazy a little frustrating.  I am again this weekend trying to decide on yet another house and as usual 3 or 12 other people also want it.

So, today I was nose-to-the-carpet desperately trying to listen and know what decision I am supposed to make.  Carly feels that anyone on the floor is either hurt and needs her help or is there to play with her.  I was not surprised when she got up, but then she walked on past me.  I just kept praying and the next thing I knew I was getting a shower.  She had taken a big drink and then walked over and shook her head over me covering me in cold water.  Nice!

I really don't know what that means, but I'm starting to worry about this pattern.  Yesterday we went to Sea World for Howl-O-Scream and birds jumped on my head and pooped all down my back!  No one else had this problem.  Look at my friend Melissa, she was covered in birds and there was no poop on her.

She loves birds and I prefer to stay as far away from them as possible. (Except owls, we saw a gorgeous owl but they wouldn't let us close to him!)  Anyway, I will not be going in that birdcage again!  I got her back by dragging her into the shark house, which freaks her out.  For it to be really fair, she should have to swim with them, but this is what happened to the last guest who jumped in their tank.

Anyway, I don't know if animals covering me in nastiness every time I pray for direction means anything or not, but feel free to pray for some big signs on my path (preferably the dry kind).

Just in Time

I am finally feeling better, just in time to head out to a Halloween party with my SIL, niece and nephew (my brother had to work, but we had fun for him).  I'm exhausted, so I'll just show you the fun we had eating, trick-or-treating, picking pumpkins, dancing and don't forget the hay ride!

More Disturbing than Scary

So the theme of Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop today is Boo!!  

I chose:  1.) Show your spooky side. 

Since I thought I was moving, I never got any of my fun Halloween decorations out this year.  I mean, UNpacking the Halloween crates is pretty much a step backwards in the moving process.  Today I suddenly got a little sad that I didn't put out a single pumpkin and considered decorating.  But, I'm still sick, so I rolled over and fell back to sleep.

When I woke up I had a little chocolate, which gave me enough energy to dig out a couple of fun disguises.   At least I'm trying to get things back to normal around here.  (Or should I say normal for here?)

So, how did we do? Can you tell which one of us is which?  Um, don't mention this to Carly.  She may never forgive me if she finds out I put this humiliating adorable picture of her on her blog. (I told her I deleted it!)

The Good, The Bad, and The TV

The good news: I went back to the doctor for this and my brain is fine!

The bad news: when I told him I was feeling like this, he said it could be the flu even without the high fever.  Evidently the majority of healthy adults who get the flu just have my mild but annoying symptoms.  He told me to go home and rest today, drink a gallon of water and take vitamin C. I wouldn't complain, but I need to save my leave to go see this baby the minute she decides to make her appearance!

So, today I spent about 12 hours laying on the couch watching TV!  As you can imagine I have absolutely nothing important to blog about.  I do however feel the need to give you my opinion on some things I learned from the magic box today.

• My computer has a much better picture than my big TV.  I find this odd and sad.
• The Today show is on for 12 hours a day!  WHY?  They should show it at night for people like me who have trouble sleeping.  It put me right to sleep.
• It's too soon for SYTYCD to be back and I can't quite get into it yet.  I am very excited about the tap dancers and even grabbed my tap shoes to run around the kitchen.  I scared Carly to death though, so I put them back in the closet and took a nap.
• About Jon+K8: Dear America:  WALK AWAY.  In puppy class we learned the best way to stop a dog from jumping up on you is to turn around and stop paying attention to them.  Trust me it will work on people, too.  Sure they jump up more at first but eventually they give up and behave.
• Drinking a gallon of water leads to 48 trips to the bathroom.  (OK I didn't learn that from the magic box, but I did learn it today.)
• It's been 15 years since I last watched Days of Our Lives and in the 5 minutes I saw today, all the same actors were doing all the same things.  Don't they get bored?  I went back to hulu after 5 minutes of that.
• When you watch TV several days later on the DVR, the weather alerts across the bottom of the screen and news updates on commercials become very confusing.   
• They will give a talk show to anyone.
• When the DVR messes up you have to wait 8 days to watch the episode on online.  I find this incredibly irritating.
• With all the technology we have today, why can't they make the DVR adjust the time of the shows running late from sporting events?

I hope you had a much more productive day than I did!

At Least the Butterflies Will Go Away

Let me start right off by apologizing.  I'm sick, so this may be totally random, make no sense or end abruptly when the cough meds kick in!  Don't worry, its not the piggy flu.  I just, well...my everything hurts and the coughing, oh the coughing!  I have decided it is not the flu because I don't have a fever.  Of course, my thermometer is stuck on 97, so I'm pretty sure it's no longer accurate.

Oh, but that's not what I woke up to tell you.

Several of you chuckled at how cold we were Friday night.  Tonight it is really freezing, FREEZING!  I just walked Carly (who is loving it by the way with her big fur coat).  I was dressed in layers with a coat and I was so cold I made her run.  I got back inside to check the weather thinking all this rain was surely about to freeze and it is now 55 degrees outside.  That's right, 55!

What is the deal?  Something seriously happens to your brain down here! I've only been here 4 years and they've already gotten to me.  All my life until now (except one summer in Houston which does not count) I've lived in normal places with 4 seasons.  I could handle the cold and shovel snow.  I hated it and that's why I moved here, but I could do it.  Now, I don't think I can ever move again!

The good news is that with the cooler weather, I'm hopng we can get rid of the stupid butterflies.  That might seem mean to you, but we have this butterfly season where they invade and you can't even walk to the mailbox without one or 12 slapping you in the face!  I'm really tired of butterflies, can you tell?

OK, back to sleep.  Oh, and don't worry I'm going back to the doctor for results from this fun test in the morning anyway, so if I breathed on you today, I'll be able to tell you its officially not the flu!