Random Thoughts for your Holiday Enjoyment

So I went out to run a few errands today and saw some random things so I thought I should share them with you. Believe it or not I took notes so I wouldn't forget. So here is what I got for you:

• Why is it impossible to sleep in when you are on vacation, but any day I have to work I can't roll my butt out of bed early enough?
• Thinks it is nice that I was out today (two days before Christmas) shopping and only wearing a sweatshirt and was not cold. Makes me happy to not have wear a bulky coat when going in and out of stores.
• I was driving through the Wal-Mart parking lot and saw a guy that was collecting all the carts that was approximately 55 years old wearing a bright pink scarf on his head with an even brighter pink cowgirl hat. There may have been fur and rhinestones on the hat as well.
• Why is it that when your feet are cold if you just change your socks they get warmer. Were the socks cold? Maybe no one else does this.
• Why would you ever buy a jar of pickled watermelon rind?
• Not sure if your grocery store has pre-made cheese balls, but my Hy-Vee does. Typically I like to buy one every once in awhile for a party. Well I recently was a the store and saw they have made the cheese balls, but put food coloring in them and made them into the shape of Santa, a tree and the best was the wreath. The wreath was decorated with candy corn (I assume left over from Halloween).
• In the frozen food section I saw and tube of frozen creamed corn. Like you know how you buy frozen sausage. Just found that a little odd.
• So I have been making banana bread as I mentioned in my previous post. I have been defrosting the bananas in my microwave. Well today I warmed up left over pizza and it tasted like bananas. Not sure if that was from the microwave or the fact that the bananas have been in the freezer and the smell made it to the refrigerator and into the pizza box.

That's all I have for now. I hope you have a Merry Christmas!!

Much Anticipated Break

I have been looking forward to this week for at least a month if not longer. I have the week off from work and have no true plans prior to Christmas. I mean I have things I'm going to do, but they are fun and cause I want to do them. I have finished my Christmas shopping so I don't have to go shopping, but I have been going to a few stores here and there and just looking. If I find something I think I need I pick it up or I just leave. I have baked one loaf of banana bread and have a couple more to bake. Thanks to the fact that I'm notorious for buying bananas and not eating all of them before they get too ripe. My freezer is full of bananas. I'm going to spend time with friends just relaxing and enjoying each other's company.

I may be crazy but I will be helping two of my great friends, Sara and Kyle, by watching their girls on Wednesday Night. They have an 18 month old girls and twin girls that are just over 2 months. No fear I won't be there alone I will have back up. It is Sara's bday and a Christmas present for them to get out alone with no kids.

So the first half of my week is relaxing and doing my own thing when I want and how I want. The second half will be celebrating Christmas with the family. I will spend most of the weekend in Liberty. We will go to church on Christmas Eve service at my parents church in Liberty. I may go to service at my church prior to heading Liberty. Christmas day is going to low key for us. That morning we will have Christmas with my parents, Amy and me. Then we will head to my Aunts for the day with her family. Sara, Eric, Troy and McKenna will not come to Liberty until the evening of Christmas. So I think we will do Christmas with them on Saturday. Then Sunday we have a bday party for Troy in Liberty. Then back to work on Monday.

Since I got my claims under control before I left for vacation I'm hoping that after the holidays I won't have to work as long of hours. This could be a dream on my part, but things were starting to settle down for everyone before I left. So there is seeming to be a light at the end of our long tunnel.

On New Year's Day mom and I are going to drive to STL for the weekend to see everyone there for the weekend and celebrate Troy's bday again with his friends. Should be a fun trip.

Then I'm looking forward to the first week of February when I will get on a big boat again with my friend Leslie and go on a cruise. I'm pretty excited about this trip and the warmth that will come with the trip.

I hope you and your families have a Merry and Blessed Christmas.

Happy Thanksgiving and Random Thoughts

So every year this time I like to take a moment to reflect on what I'm thankful for from the past year. I think every year looks about the same, so this year I may give you some random thoughts also.

• So it may be crazy to say, but I'm thankful for my job. Even though I'm working 12 hour days I really am enjoying the people I'm working with and what I'm doing at this time in my life. Through this time I have learned a lot for myself. I have learned that stressing over the small stuff is not worth the stress. I have also learned that perfection is impossible and I can only do my best and that is going to have to be good enough. I heard myself apologizing today that I couldn't work more than 12 hours a day. Then I realized that was maybe the craziest thing I have ever said.
• I am always thankful for my family. This year I'm thankful for our addition McKenna Elaine and our growing Troy. They are both so much fun. Wish we lived closer together, but we cherish our time together since we don't see each other as often as we would like.
• I have some of the greatest friends a girl could ask for. I am really thankful that Tiffany and Ryan have moved back to KS. It has been great to be in close proximity. Really praying for a soon and easy arrival of the addition of baby Classen.
• I'm thankful for a roof over my head, but I may go crazy tonight if my neighbors bass doesn't stop pumping before I decide to go to bed. I may have to communicate through stomping on the floor again tonight. So random thought about my neighbors for the past month or so I have heard a baby crying in the middle of the night coming from their place. So here is the weird part of this story, I have never once seen a baby come in or out of the house. The girl that lives there has not been pregnant and neither of the cars have a car seat. The crying is not like the baby is not okay just a normal baby cry. I just think it is weird. I mean there is always someone home when I hear the baby so I guess no big deal. Just weird.
• I'm thankful for my desire and excitement to have healthier life. I never thought I would say this but I actual am enjoying exercising.
• So this blog has been taking me a really long time to write. I'm just not really focused. (random thought for you there).

Well that is all my brain can take at this moment. More later. I have 4 days off work so hopefully in a couple of days I will be able to have a complete thought.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Great Weekend

I had one of the best weekends I have had in quite sometime (I guess since KG weekend). I left work on Friday before the sun set. I can not tell you the last time I did that. I headed straight to Lawrence to hang with Tiffany. It was so good to spend time just relaxing, eating good food, watching a good movie and being with a great friend.

Saturday I went with the PEO ladies to the WWI Museum in KC at the Liberty Memorial. I know I have lived in KC my entire life, but I don't think I have ever actually been up to the Liberty Memorial. There is a lot to see in the museum pretty good history lesson. I then came home and started cleaning. When I say cleaning I mean true top to bottom cleaning of my house. I took 2 large trash bags from my upstairs alone. I scrubbed the bathtub. Organized my room and a little of the loft. Then I started on the living room. More trash was purged in the living room and cleaning. Then I crashed for the night.

Sunday I went to church and worship was great. I love my church and church family. I am so blessed to have them. Then back home to tackle the kitchen. I left the kitchen for a day to itself as I knew I had a ton of purging to complete there. I am embarrassed to admit that I have 3 trash bags of old, expired food that I'm throwing away. I reorganized my cupboards, including my tupperware. I had a lot of old mail that needed to be shredded. Did a little clean up in the laundry area. Then swept and mopped the kitchen floor.

It feels so great to be starting the week fresh and clean. Not sure how I let the place get in such disarray, but to have it back to a fresh start is so relieving. I really needed to do this as I'm trying to get so much of life back in order. I have heard more than one person say that your house is a reflection of your life. Well, my life was feeling really scattered and my house got that way too.

Looking forward to a week that I may not have to work a lot of OT as I have training for 3 days. I'm having some girlfriends over on Friday night for a little party. If you are in the area and want to come feel free. I am having a Tastefully Simple Consultant here, they sell food stuff. Yummy stuff. There will be beverages and food samples.

Have a great week.

What happens when you work too much?

These past few weeks I have been working over 50 hours a week including Saturdays. So here I am at 9:40 pm on Friday night really excited to just be home tomorrow. I really need to clean house, get caught up on my DVR and just take some me time. So instead of random thoughts I thought I would post about what happens when you work too much. So here goes nothing...

• You don't update your blog for over a month.
• You fall to the bottom of Tiff's Blog Roll.
• You have to decide what you really want to watch on the DVR cause all your shows stack up and you have to delete something before you have time to watch the shows.
• I have found myself staying up later than normal cause it takes time for me to wind down after I get home.
• Chloe is about to find a new mom. I don't spend time cuddling with her and cleaning the litter box is not a top priority.
• I forgot to eat dinner last night cause I was so focused on cooking chili for work today that I forgot to eat.
• I have to call someone on my drive home. Even though it is a short drive home I need something to keep me focused so I don't fall asleep on the way home.
• I have realized how important it is to get ready in the morning as fast a possible so I can lay in bed longer.
• The OT pay will be nice, but not sure what to do with it since I'm working so much.
• My patience is much thinner at work. So I sit at my desk with my Ipod in one ear and my phone headset on the other ear. I do this even when I'm not on the phone to block out all the sound around me.

Well I had a lot more things I was going to say, but I don't remember them. I'm exhausted and think I'm going to sleep.

So now that I'm awake and refreshed thought I would add more to my blog.

• I have not been in touch with friends and family like I normally am since I'm so out of it.
• I owe some of my good friends emails I will try and get to that today.
• I miss my normal schedule for the weekends of grocery shopping, relaxing and spending time with friends.
• I have not been able to focus on commitments I have made away from work such as some project at church.

Now I guess I should mention what is good about working so much:

• OT pay right before Christmas.
• Developing relationships with friends at work. I used to spend 8 hours a day with them but now it is more like 10 or 11.
• I haven't had as much lazy time at home to just sit on my rump and eat.
• I have been able to focus on my new lifestyle change and been successful at making a healthier life for myself.

Well, I now have my whole Saturday ahead of me. So we will see what happens.

Random Thoughts

Well time for some random thoughts. I haven't even been thinking of any to put on here so this could be the most random list I have ever posted. Read at your own risk.

• I love reading others blogs, but feel my life is so boring I have nothing to blog about. Hence the reason I don't update often.
• I hate it when I start laundry and then forget it is in the washer until I go and start another load. Then I have to rewash the load that is in the washer as I don't know how long it has been in there and it smells like mildew.
• Sometimes during the day when I'm sitting at my desk at work someone will walk by and the entire floor will vibrate underneath me. I get the same feeling I get when I'm sitting in my car on a bridge. I don't have a lot of major fears in life, but thinking the floor is going to collapse around me is one. I wonder if they will let me move my desk to the first floor?
• I ate a caramel apple today for the first time in years. I mean I have bought that caramel dip at the grocery store, but this was a real caramel apple. It was a party gift from the wedding I went to this weekend and it was on a stick with nuts. So yummy.
• I went to pull my trash can back up the drive way last week and somehow the rod holding the wheels was at a 90 degree angle. I am at a loss as to how this happened. I'm also wondering how do you get the trash guys to actually take the trash can? Do I have to put a sign on it like I do at work that says "Trash/Basura?"
• I got to "met" Richard Blais from Top Chef last week. Don't be jealous.
• So Halloween is not my fave holiday and this year I have a charity event that night. They tell me it is a Masquerade Ball. Does that mean I wear a nice dress with a little mask or a true costume. Really the person hosting it is my very good friend so I will ask her before the event.
• So I had this wedding to go to this weekend and I actually decided what to wear based on the shoes I wanted to wear. The wedding was at 1 and the reception at 6 so I knew they had to be comfortable.
• I'm loving that I have had my windows open so long that I don't remember how long it has been. I was even chilly when I went outside for lunch today.
• It makes me happy when you call a call center and actually get ahold of someone that is helpful and does what you need them to do and owns everything that you may have problems with.

That's all I got for now. Hope you enjoyed.

Reflecting

I know you all have been checking daily and sitting on the edges of your seats waiting for a blog post from me. Well, this may not be what you were looking for or expected from me. It will be kinda like a random thoughts, but a little different. I haven't been driving as much for work, so not as many random thoughts. Those of you close to me may want to grab you Kleenex if you are of the crying type (Sara that was for you)

As most of you know my grandpa died on August 15. You may also know this was my birthday also. So both of my grandfathers have passed away on my bday. I know have no living grandparents. Today I went with my dad to Chillicothe today for my grandpa's memorial service at The Baptist Home. As I was riding I began to think about what I could blog about and decided it would be a great place to reflect on the little things I remember and miss about my grandparents. If I were really up on things I would post pics also, but sorry that requires me to scan them in and then upload them.

Grandaddy

• I loved that 90% of the time I knew exactly where to find him right when I walked in their house. Sitting on the "porch" in the gorgeous green recliner. Then it was even better when the green recliner moved to the basement in our house. I would go and watch TV in the basement just so I could sit in that chair.
• Bread, butter and brown sugar sandwiches
• He would always ask at dinner "What did you learn today?" He didn't care how minor it was he just thought we needed to learn something everyday.
• Speaking of dinner he would never allow us to eat in our swimsuits. Some of are you are wondering why this would be an issue, well they had a pool in the back yard.
• Grandaddy cookies - enough said

Nannie

• Reese's Peanut Butter Cup cookies
• She sent care packages of cookies to me at college for the first 2 months before she passed away. Later we found a book that she kept a list of what she sent so she didn't send the same thing each time. Well except for the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup cookies cause she knew I loved those.
• Whenever we would go to the mall with her she would take us to eat at In A Tub. For those of you that don't know In A Tub it is fast food mexican that is so greasy it is good. It was so good and bad for you at the same time.
• I went with her and some of her friends to Arizona when I was in high school. Some great memories came from that trip. We stayed in a very nice hotel with a stocked fridge. She told me to eat or drink anything from there. Little did I know at that age how much that stuff cost.
• The snack closet......enough said

Grandma

• Grandma always wore these great sweatshirts that only a sweet little grandma can get away with. They had all those great sayings about how wonderful being a grandma was. So cute. Some even had collars on them that I'm pretty sure she sewed on them
• She made the best ham sandwiches. She would cut the ham into little cubes and then put butter on the bread. They made you happy when you ate them.
• She was the queen of jello. She would make any flavor you may want. But the best was her layered jello. She would do whatever colors went with the holiday we were celebrating. Such as red, white and green for Christmas.
• Her lemonade was so yummy. Not sure how she did it, but I think it was the frozen concentrate and she didn't add enough water. It was so rich.
• Sourdough Bread....enough said

Grandpa

• He made me a storage box for all my architecture supplies for the time I was in studio. It made me proud to use it. My dad now has it in his basement, at least he did.
• If you ever needed a rubber band you just needed to go to him. He had hundreds of them stored on his gear shift and blinker in the truck.
• One quote I will always remember him saying, and I know this sounds horrible, but if you knew his sense of humor you would understand. He would always say "I'm deteriorating on schedule"
• He was one of the funniest people I knew and had a very dry sense of humor. I probably inherited this from him
• Oberkrom ears....enough said

So maybe this was more of a blog for me, but I hope you enjoy.