Oh my, oh my!

This is me starting to sound like an old person - what happened to my summer? it's over ALREADY & I'm not ready for that!!! Time just seems to go faster & faster...

Tomorrow when I flip my calendar page it will look like this:

See that word written across the top? Yep, it really does say SEPTEMBER. *GASP! CHOKE! SPUTTER!*

Yes, I am in disbelief at how fast this summer has gone by. We've been busy getting married & all. *grin* I am a true hot weather lover. I don't love the humidity (who wants frizzy hair??). But I love hot sunshine. Feeling warm in my skin. Working up a good sweat - I'm convinced it's healthy! Being outside, wearing tank tops & flip flops. Ahhh...all good things in my book.

But I'm feeling a little blue as this August wraps up. I totally have missed the Ride-Your-Bike-To-Work season. The nights are too cold & the mornings are too dark. I'll guess I'll have to double enjoy it next year. *sigh*

I also could probably count on two hands the times I actually got sweaty this summer. This is due to several factors.

#1 I'm cold blooded like a scaly reptile. It's awful always being so cold (I type this while my space heater blows it's warm breath on my feet. Crazy, isn't it?)

#2 We have had the mildest summer I can remember. I don't remember more than 2 or 3 days where the high was in the nineties. Ridiculous.

#3 I haven't been able to get out & around to run/walk/ride my bike. It's just been too hectic. It's been a little more difficult (not really the right word, but it will have to do) to adjust my time management since we've gotten married. When I get home & Mike is there I don't really like to leave again. He's not a runner & his work is really physical so he isn't motivated to go walk or bike or whatever most days. Therefore I have had a hard time trying to figure out when it is best for me to get this thing moving. And believe me, I need to get this thing moving!

So, here's to fall. yay. wahoo. yippee skippee.

At least I'm trying to be happy about it! *little grin*

As I force myself to mediate on things like Fall Festivals, hot dog roasts, all things yummy & pumpkin flavored I'm going to ask you - what do you most look forward to as the season changes to autumn?

Staycation Accomplishments!

I always seem to plan more tasks than I actually have time for (a habit of mine that Mike just shakes his head at). My staycation was a classic example of my tendency to over plan, but I still feel like it was a raging success! I was determined to get up every day & see Mike off to work & then dive in! That image above is a tiny picture of my two page To Do List. You can see several things marked off with blue & then several other things circled in red. The circled items are the ones I didn't get to ~ YET.

Here's the Blue - what I got done!

*Finished the wedding Thank you notes

*Put remaining wedding gifts away ~ 'a place for everything & everything in it's place' takes on new meaning when you have two people with lots of stuff living in a tiny house ;-)

*Updated my driver's license (did you know that in Indiana you are no longer allowed to SMILE in your d.l. pic? I was aghast ~ & my pic shows it! lOl)

*Got my hair cut & colored. It is so nice to have layers again. We had let it kind of grow like crazy so that it was long enough to updo for the wedding. Now it's nice & layered again (although still a bit longer than I want; all of a sudden Mike likes it longer!)

*Water the magnolia tree (times two)

*Exercise every day ~ I ran, walked, biked & it was great!

*Refill the shampoo/conditioner/body wash dispenser

*Clean the storage cabinet in the basement

*Reorganize bathroom closet & move extra supplies to storage cabinet in the basement

*Reorganize the china cabinet & built-in hutch

*Store trifle set

*Go through cookbooks

*Go through bookshelves

*Go through desk drawers

*Organize & store gift wrap supplies (if anyone needs any wedding themed gift bags JUST LET ME KNOW!) :-)

*Replace broken light cover in bathroom

*Put scuff pads on dining chair feet

*Budget/make deposit/pay bills

*Tidy/reorganize night stand

*Store down mattress (if anyone needs one of these, I would be willing to gift it to them; it kept me warm all last winter but Mike doesn't want to use it - something to do with the fact that he is ALWAYS HOT!)

*Make grocery list

*Grocery shop at Kmart (double coupons), Walmart, & Kroger (in MaryAnn speak that phrase actually means "Wear yourself out trying to hurry & get all the deals!)

*Clean the coffee pot

*Find lost sunglasses (yay!)

*Move alarm clock to my side of the bed

*Clean all ceiling fans

*Dust bedroom, living room, dining room, & kitchen

*Shine up & disinfect the bathroom

*Mop kitchen & bathroom floors

*Sweep bedroom, living room, & dining room floors

*Load all donations & recyclable in the car & drop off at Goodwill (this was a hilarious sight to see! my entire car was full - I looked like someone who was trying to live out of their car!)

Wheeee!

that's a little exclamation my g-ma always lets rip whenever she gets a big task done *grin*

she's so sweet & fun!

So, I hope you will rejoice with me about all that got accomplished (if you are still reading!). I know this is seriously boring to anyone else but me; however, I feel compelled to record my accomplishments because I find it so encouraging!

Now on to the red circles...I hang my head in shame (heehee!)

*Find receipts for my health care spending account. It would seem that the HCS people have no problem with me swiping my card to buy vitamins & contact solution. It's quite another story to use it to pay my doctor or dentist. Figure that one out. It vexes me so bad that I've put this little project off for a couple of months. I finally decided that I would like to use the rest of MY money that they are holding. ~UPDATE: I mailed this off yesterday so now it's a BLUE!

*Write the essay. I still want to get this one done. The deadline is sometime in the first week of September so there is still a chance I can enter the contest. I'm hoping this weekend I'll have some quiet time to put some thoughts on paper.

*Cross stitch. I'm really ashamed about this one. I started a lovely Christmas gift for my Aunt Ruth & Uncle Allan last year. I have it 8/10 of the way done & it's still not finished. *blush* R&A - I haven't forgotten! Please forgive! I promise it will be done before this December so that you can use it in your Christmas decorating! Love you both!

*Vacuum out car.

*Wash car - I'm glad this one isn't done yet. Sometime this week some sort of bird colony has moved into our trees & I'm sure you can imagine what this has done to my car; I won't elaborate. It still has to be done though, the poor thing is covered in tree sap & you know what!

*Get kitchen table from church. This is the table we used for our wedding cake. We cannot seem to remember to bring it home with us! It's getting embarrassing b/c it had to be moved out of the fellowship hall Wednesday night so they could set up for a dinner this next Sunday. Oops!

*Go through my file cabinet.

*Replace light bulb in our shower.

*Clean the register covers in the kitchen & bathroom

*Upload pics from the wedding ~ so sorry! I am so not computer savvy & there are several hundred pics. I need to go through them & create a couple of files that can be easily uploaded that have the most important pics. Someday soon, I promise!

That is my complete report. I hope no one is disappointed in my productivity! I have created a (much smaller) list for this weekend, too. What are you all doing to get things done or just have fun? I'm determined to try to savor as much outdoor time as I can as autumn sneaks in on us! Great weekend wishes to you all!

Staycation!

Only about seven working hours to go & then I am on STAYCATION for the rest of the week! I never dreamed there would come a time in my life when I would plan to take time off just to STAY HOME but that time has come. In the past, paid time off was carefully hoarded in order to take some fabulous trips - Hawaii, Utah, Austria, South Carolina (those were a few of my favorite vacation places). These days, my desires, finances, & paid time off revolved around a little something more than myself & spending time with friends ~ namely my husband & our house. There is a lot of work to be done, people!

Being the psycho that I am, since there is work to be done there are goals to be set & lists to be made! I have several appointments to keep during these days off ~ a meeting with DeAnn tomorrow afternoon to get my hair dealt with (the gray & the length - ugh!), prayer meeting/choir practice tomorrow night, & running with Beth. All other moments in the next three days are mine to work with. And work I will!

MY GOALS

*Run/workout every day

*Finish all wedding thank you notes.

*Get my new driver's license (new name, new address ~ I've been putting this off for a while)

*Finish putting away/organizing all of our wedding gifts. It may seem like we are taking a super long time to accomplish this task. It is taking a long time. But our justification is that we have put things away. Now we are in the process of reevaluating. Is that really the best place for this item? Should it go here with this other thing instead? That kind of thing. Also, I intend to do some more weeding out. We will not be having another yard sale, so...

*Make a huge run to Goodwill. Dump off recyclables & donations.

*Detail my car ~ man oh man oh man, does it need it!

*Double coupon shop at Kmart!

*Clean the house from front to back from top to bottom. Dare I say it needs it? Yes, yes it does!

*Write my essay for the contest I posted about earlier. If I get it done, if it feels like it might be any good, & if you want me to (comment if you do!) I'll post it here.

*If I get the chance (& the computer access) I would like to upload all of the wedding pics to facebook & link them here. I'm not sure how that gets done, but I want to try it. Plus I would like to post some before/after shots of our house ~ once I get it all clean & tidied up, of course!

My greatest desire is to whack off as much as I can from this list so that Mike & I can enjoy a true 'do nothing' kind of weekend. I cannot remember the last time we slept in, just watched a movie, or slummed around on a day off. WE. NEED. IT. *grin*

So I suppose I'm probably signing off for the week. I'll let you know what all I get done! Anybody else out there tackling any big projects? Or are you just keeping your heads above water? :-)

The Best Laid Plans...

You know how that saying goes. Friday afternoon/evening did NOT go according to plan. I was supposed to get off work at 3pm. I had to work over until 5:15 (I'm not going to complain about 2 1/4 hours of overtime, though!). I left town at 7:15 rather than 5:30. I had some major attitude struggles b/c of chores I wasn't getting done before I left, but by the time I hit the road Mike had coaxed me into a good mood. I was SUPER sad about leaving him at home; we both were, actually.

I got on the interstate, set the cruise, & set my mind to make the whole trip without stopping. I had plenty of gas, a 20 oz. Diet Mountain Dew, and my ipod. There would be no reason to stop.

Or so I THOUGHT. The Lord had other plans. His plan went into effect almost exactly two hours into my trip.

Yep. I had a blow out. Something that I have always been terrified of. I was going about 72 mph with my cruise set & I was humming along. I had just talked myself out of making a quick stop just to walk around a little. I passed an exit; I didn't note which one. Almost as soon as I drove under the overpass I felt a sensation like I was driving over a rumble strip. I peered down at the interstate & did not see a rumble strip. Commence pounding heartbeat. I tapped the brake gently & began to slow down to pull over. I was so focused on slowing down gradually that I probably drove a quarter of a mile to stop. All I could think of was not to make any sudden moves - no brake slamming! no wheel jerking! no freaking out!

My rear passenger side tire was flat as a pancake & yeah, pretty shredded. What to do? I was two hours from home & a good hour away from my brother's house. In situations like these I kinda really hate being such a girl. I called my brother & he was on the rescue detail immediately. I love that he is so helpful like that. He got on the road within minutes, told me what to do (seat belt on, parking brake on, sit on the passenger side). I really get anxious on the side of the interstate. I mean, no one wants to get clobbered by a semi or something stupid like that. I called Mike & he immediately started kicking himself for sending me on my own. He kept me company while I waited. Thank God for cell phones!

Andy & Dad got there, got the tire changed, & then Andy drove my car the rest of the way. Between the experience & the Mountain Dew I was a little rattled. Saturday morning I had a hot date with Tire Discounters to get four new tires. When I bought my car Andy cautioned me that Toyota didn't put very high quality tires on their new cars & that I would be lucky to put 30,000 miles on them. I knew they were getting bad; I had even checked the wear bars & they were still looking fairly decent. The problem was dry rot in the side walls. I don't know how to check for that issue! I had just crossed the 59,000 mile mark so I guess I really can't complain. It just was not an expense I wanted to face right now - nothing like a $400 surprise bill!

I do have to say that I thank the Lord for keeping me so safe & well cared for. My brother is a very good rescuer & he was not the least bit irritated that he was out until 12:30 in the morning taking care of his baby sister.

I was very, very, very happy to get home on Sunday, though! How was your weekend? Did you have any surprises?

Headed Out!

This will be me in just a few short hours! Sadly, I will not be in a convertible; no one wants to deal with the hair hardship that the wind would cause anyway! This evening I am headed out to my brother's house in KY for our little family vacation. The last couple of years we have all spent time at Holiday World & camped out at Lake Rudolph. This year we decided to go for something a little more economical & different. We chose Andy & Valerie's place b/c they love to have company in their big house, there are lots of fun & inexpensive things to do around there, & it's not too far away. Ta da! They are a winner!

Mom, Dad, Beth, Caleb & Maddie are already there. I couldn't get out of work these last two days b/c my boss is at a national meeting. If he's not here, I gotta be. Boo! Plus Mike can't go with me so I am adjusting my departure/return times so that we spend the least amount of time apart. I know, I know...I'm cheesy & pathetic but I love the guy & I'm gonna miss him!

All I have to do is endure a little more work time (please Lord, let it fly by!), run a couple of errands, finish a couple of chores, pack, eat dinner with my man (zucchini lasagna - yum!), & then hit the road by 5:30 or 6.

My intention is to pack my digital camera, after checking to be sure the batteries are fresh & that there truly is a memory card in it. Then I intend to actually take some pics with said camera. Then hopefully I can have a much more interesting post about the weekend!

I hope you all have a great weekend - enjoy the summer weather, be outside & have fun!

A Few More Goals...

You know that old saying that you gotta shoot for something or you'll be sure to hit nothing? That's why I make goals! Otherwise, yep, I'd be doing a whole lot of nothing!

*Wash dishes more often. I know this sounds gross, but Mike & I don't get to eat at home very often. So our dirty dish collection mainly consists of plastic-ware that we use to take our lunches/dinners. Plus, if I'm not washing dishes that day I make sure they are all rinsed. But having them piled high & counter top full is overwhelming. Gotta tackle them daily when I'm not two-jobbing it.
*Do some laundry through the week. Laundry is a chore that doesn't vex me at all. I appreciate the exercise I get toting it to the basement & back. I enjoy sorting, folding, putting away. Maybe it's b/c I'm drugged by the April Fresh Scent, who knows? But I tend to save all the laundry for Saturday b/c it feels like I need several hours at home to finish a load or two. But that makes for a lotta work on Saturday. Gotta step it up during the week.
*Speaking of stepping it up during the week...I would like to make up some kind of house cleaning schedule that would assign certain tasks to be done during the week. Lately I've saved it all for Saturday (thank God we have a small house!) but as a result, our Saturdays are hardly relaxing. Also, if there is a special occasion on a Saturday the cleaning doesn't get completely done.
*Begin keeping the Sabbath more faithfully. This one is actually a big deal to Mike. I have always been faithful in church attendance, morning & night, but I usually use the afternoon to catch up, do chores, get ready for the week, etc. I used to laughingly say to Mike that my ox was in a ditch. His reply was that my ox was ALWAYS in a ditch. He would prefer that we not shop that day as well. He isn't die hard about it, he just wants us to be conscious of it. I think he's right & I want to begin to conform to that way of thinking myself.

I feel like there's lots of work to do, but we'll just say it's a work in progress!

~Little update - Beth & I went running yesterday & I'm going again today after work. It totally helped combat my fatigue & achey-ness. yay!

It's That Time Again!

I have got to shake off the lazy-girl-vacation-mode! Time to get back to disciplined & organized! Time to simplify & prioritize! Time to morph into Super Woman by being Super Efficient!

I can dream, right? *grin*

Anyway, I have been reflecting the last couple of days on how I have been feeling vaguely off. You know what I mean? I just feel achy, fatigued, guilty for things that aren't getting done or things that I'm eating that I shouldn't or things that I should be eating but I'm not...get the idea?

So ~ time to do my goal-setting, mind-readjusting, attitude-fixing blog post! If you feel like you have read this before it's because you probably have! I'm seriously freaky about having goals & lists; I can't help myself.

1. Continue getting to bed at an earlier time (gotta start off on a positive note - this is one thing I've been better at post 07/11)

2. Implement a regular exercise/running routine. Beth & I have already determined to get together to break a sweat at least once a week. In fact, we are walking this afternoon. Now I need to be faithful with my gettin' up & goin' at least five days a week.

3. Start taking my vitamins.

4. Begin weekly meal planning. This really needs to be done so that I can avoid 'snack meals'. My dad says I am a progressive eater (& he is so right!) b/c when there isn't a meal prepared I graze from item to item in the pantry & in the fridge. A little bit of this & a little bit of that doesn't seem bad until you add them all together. Then it equals a whole lot of NOT GOOD!

5. Reevaluate existing To Do Project Lists for the house. Pick a starting point, grab Mike's hand, jump in!

6. Start reading again. Even if it's just five minutes a day. I have some seriously good material sitting around the house just waiting for me to grab it & dive in.

7. Continue researching greener ways to clean & live. Continue recycling at home & as much as possible at work.

8. Create a perpetual birthday calendar for friends & family therefore avoiding guilt that occurs when they remember my b-day & I haven't the faintest clue when theirs is. *blush*

Oh, I think that's enough for today! Anybody out there have any goals to suggest or goals that they are reaching for?

Should I? Or should I Not?

A magazine I was reading recently had information about an essay contest they were sponsoring. Immediately I got kind of excited. I love to write; I love words. I could be considered a very verbal person (heehee!). That means I really like to talk. And writing is just talking in another form. At least to me it is.

The theme for the essay is to describe the moment when you first felt like a grown-up. This topic is extremely fascinating to me, just having become a wife. In my early 30's, no less. So I should feel like a grown up. But I'm telling you, I still feel like that moment of true grown-up-ness has eluded me! Perhaps I am incurably immature or co-dependent upon my family. I'm sure I would be interesting to psycho-analyze, but then who wouldn't be?

Anyway, I have begun to ponder when that moment may have occurred for me. Maybe I just don't pay attention & it has been happening for a good long time. Yesterday & today when I have had my head in the hood drawing up doses I've pondered moments of potential grown-up-ness.

*leaving to go to college out of state (but this one doesn't really count b/c I was a certifiable mess of mushy tears & throat lumps)

*interviewing for jobs/composing a resume

*moving out on my own

*most recently, getting married *sigh* what a wonderful thing!

*when my parents consult me about things rather than me seeking their counsel - this one shows up most in the arena of medication, it makes me kinda nervous b/c I am not a pharmacist; I really just know enough about drugs to be dangerous

*making huge purchases all on my own - new car, house

*traveling in another country all by myself

That's as far as I've gotten in my pondering & I'm not sure that there is something enough in that list to write a really good essay. Plus it scares me to death to submit something for someone else to critique.

Therefore, I await your opinions. Should I write the essay & enter the contest? Or should I not write the essay & enter the contest?

Happy Birthday To Me!

Yep, today is my birthday - 32 years old! Funny thing is, my birthdays don't freak me out anymore. It's my parent's birthdays that freak me out. I don't like the age they are getting to be...

I have had a super good day (even though it's a two job day; you are allowed to feel sorry for me - lol). I was greeted at work with donuts (oh my!) & then pizza for lunch. It makes me laugh that the guys like to feed me so much on my birthday. They are hilarious.

I've had tons of birthday greetings on facebook. I'm so glad it send notifications to my email. I am such a facebook faker. I can't even remember the last time I signed in...

And the best b-day present - Carmen brought me the picture disc today! I have over 500 wedding pics to go through. We looked at most of them already. I love, love, love them! I can't wait to share them with you guys (well, some of them; probably won't post 500 on here 'cause I don't think blogger would like it much!).

We celebrated our birthdays with Mike's family the Sunday a week ago & with my family yesterday. We have been very well fed, folks. In fact, so well fed that I may just abstain from eating until my next birthday! heehee!

I hope you all are having as great of a Monday as I am!