I Am Resolved

I know tomorrow is New Year's Eve and I should wait til then to post this, but...I'm forgetful.  I can't help it.  I'm making my New Year's Resolutions.  I was going to the traditional "I'm going to lose fifty hundred pounds" but I know myself well enough to know that is not happening, so why set yourself up for failure?  Embrace the butter!  (After the butter, you will be more softy and embraceable).  Here are mine:

1.  Have/Find some sort of Bible Study for Josh and me.  We go to church and we each have a devotional but that isn't really study, ya know?  We need more.  Something more in depth.

2.  Be more confident.  I find myself saying "if I were really brave I'd...dye my hair, wear red lipstick, tell him what I think, etc."  I'm not talking about doing major things like jumping out/off of tall things or anything crazy, but you only live once so why not wear red lipstick?  Can I get an amen?

3.  Prepare for the week better over the weekend.  I'd like to have my menu written out.  I did that really well when I first got married, but over the summer it got tossed aside.  I think it will make the week smoother and more organized.  Who doesn't love organization?

So what are you resolutions?  Anything really good that I should steal incorporate into my list?

Happy New Year my lovely readers!

Toilet Friends

I had my wisdom teeth out on Monday.  Oh heavens.  It has been Rough with a capital R.  I have zero recollection of be druggy.  The only thing I remember is talking to the surgeon and then waking up in bed.  I'm hoping the surgeon had no part in me being in bed ;)  I did not realize the human body could swell as much as my cheeks swelled.  Seriously, my lips were almost entirely lost in the massiveness of my jowls.  Josh looked at me and said "Oh look!  This is what you'd look like if you were fat!"  He did Not win brownie points for that!  In payment he got a 24 hour virus.  We laid in the bathroom floor and were both pretty sure we were going to die.  It was unpleasant.  My cheeks are still big.  I'm still recovering.  Oh well.

So what I really wanted to talk about today was not my teeth cause that is about all I've talked about this week, let's talk about friends.  I have a very dear friend who offered to make us soup and come help and to clean my toilets.  Isn't that really the mark of a true friend?  Think through your list of Facebook friends.  Who are you toilet friends?  Those friends who you know so well that you will get all up in their business and it doesn't bother you or them at all.  You have friends you make casseroles for or pick up dry cleaning for and then you have friends that taste things after you said "eww...taste this, does this taste funny?"  Two totally different tiers of friends, not that you don't love the first, but you don't share those intimate details of your life with just anyone.

This is totally my friend and I.  We all have them.  Go write to your friend and tell them how blessed you are to have them in your life!

Hmm, somehow this post isn't the direction I had planned.  Sad face.  Let's blame it on me being sick.

P.S.  I wrote a blog post a couple days ago and it was a poem Dad wrote for Josh.  For some reason it wouldn't link but you Need to go read it, too too funny!

A Poem for Josh...

So my Dad and my aunt started giving each other gag gifts a few years ago.  Over the years they have exchanged pig ears, deer dung, light up bras, and an electric nose picker.  This year, because he is still "new" to the family, Josh was the recipient of the gag gift.  My Dad has many talents and even writing is among them.  Here is the poem he wrote to Josh.

Here's a little diddy bout Josh and Sierra
Cruising about in hurricane weather.

Travel and romance on the high seas
Tell me now children what did you see?

How blue's the water out on the deep?
Where did you walk, how did you sleep?

Tell me abou the moonlight, the sunsets,
the seas, the islands, the romance, did
you smell the salty breeze?
How crystal is the water, how shining
is the sand?  Did you swim in new
oceans, did you walk upon new land?


Regale me son, whatever did you see?


What's that...a terry cloth menagerie?
A tsunami of towel origami
A hog, then a dog, then a fabric folded frog


What, wait...is this unfolding in the sand?
Shush keep you eye on the folding man.
Will it have wings to fly?
Cottonelle featers and terry cloth eyes.


Sie, hold the romance, save up the smooch
Is that a monkey or a pooch?
Hold on babe save the pucker
I'm thinking that's a yellow billed sapsucker.


A fowl or a fish, a flower or a dish
see the bend and the twists
take notes, now wath this
the to's and the fros...and elephant who knows


Have trunk will travel,
as the towel turns
busy us a book
so the folding we can learn.


Well now my son you've gained your wish,
Read this book quick and fold me a fish.

And then Josh got a towel origami book.

Seriously though, my Dad wrote this in AN HOUR!  Props to him! 

If you missed it in an earlier post about my honeymoon or you didn't seen the facebook album, Josh and I Loved the towel folding stuff.  Josh was too manly and cool to do the demonstration in the ship lobby but he was all about folding the animal when we got back to the room.

Josh said it was the nicest poem any man had ever written him lol!

I hope you had a Merry Christmas!

Look At the Fruits of My Labor

Well, nothing about this really counts as fruit.  There is literally half a tub of butter in all this.  My arteries starting waving a white flag at like 3:00.  It all tastes pretty good, some of it doesn't look so hot, but that is small potatoes compared to taste.  There is party mix, chocolate fudge, chocolate dipped pretzels, Oreo balls, a cheese plate, and cranberry and white chocolate cookies.  I also made crab dip but I took it down to Mom's house.  I am cooked out!  The really funny thing is that this is only Part of the stuff that I am serving on Sunday to my in-laws.  That in and of itself isn't that funny, but what makes it chuckle worthy is how little the six total people that are coming eat.  Yeah, it got a little out of hand.  I am also having chips and dip, pizza rolls, meatballs, and chocolate chip cookies that I haven't fixed yet.  And punch.  And Tums.  Lots of Tums.

That's what I did this afternoon!  How was your day?

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like..Spring?

We're Soapboxin' today!  You ready? 

I went to Food City yesterday and I was looking for chocolate oranges (no luck, where do you get them?).  There I was wondering the aisles when what should assail my eyes?  Valentine's Day Debbie Cakes.  VALENTINE'S DAY.  Pause while I check the calendar...yep, sure enough, it is still Decemeber.  Something like six weeks between now and the dreaded V-Day (my hatred of Valentine's is another whole post, it's a fun one).  It isn't Christmas yet!  I mean come on!  Could they not have left the Christmas Debbie Cakes for a few more days, til, you know, the holiday was Over!!?!  Now don't get me wrong I love me some heart shaped cakes, they taste better, but I think that is a mental thing.  Still!  Craziness all around.

And it was all around.  This afternoon I went to Hobby Lobby and what did I see?  SPRING decorations.  When I went to Hobby Lobby before there were aisles and aisles of Christmas decorations.  It was a Christmasaplooza in there.  Tinsels were coming out of body cavities that tinsel should never come out of...and don't even talk about those pointy little ornaments.  Today, everything was 50% off (which I loved, I plan to go back and rack up) but they were setting out tulip decorations and things that said SPRING in large pastel colors.  Today is the winter solstice.  It isn't spring.  In any definition it is not spring.  I know they want to get a jump on things, but geez louise they have a little time!

Blatant and excessive consumerism is already overrunning the holiday but now it is even restocking shelves with fresh junk seasonal decorations before the season has even passed.  Siiiigh.  I was appalled and had to share.  Now I have.  I know your day is better for it :)

Much Moreness

Do you remember this family?  This whole season is supposed to be about celebrating Jesus's birthday and yet He seems very absent from the celebration.  I've mentioned this to a couple of people.  Some say that it is because it is the first time I am doing my own thing for Christmas and so buying presents and planning a menu and decorating and trying to catch up work have obscured the reason for the season.  I'm sure that's partly true, but does it seem to be even More this year?  More non-stop music about what Santa should bring them, More hectic and spastic people at the grocery stores, More presents, just More.  Honestly, I don't feel like I've really stopped and celebrated The Birth yet.  Yeah, I've been to church every Sunday this month, but I'm used to have a more pervasive sense of wonder at the virgin birth and more focus on why it is I have a four day weekend...I mean why we set out cookies...I mean, do you see the Moreness I refer to?

Let's take a moment.  Mute the tv.  Turn down the radio.  Just sit and think about why we have Christmas.  Think about the peace that the angels spoke of and the glory.  Just rest in the beauty of the season and forget that you need to thaw the ham on Thursday and that you need a gift for Aunt Suzie and all that.

Ah.  Feel better?  I kind of do.  I hope you enjoy this season.  Don't let it get too hectic.  Remember, not even the shepherds brought a covered dish, and they knelt at the feet of God.

Filth All Around

I cannot get in a cooking/cleaning routine.  I hear what you are saying “geez Sierra, you’ve been married nearly a year how are you possibly not in a routine by now, you lazy slug?”.  I’m just not, here is why:

Feb.-still all googly eyed over being married and trying to remember where I live since I lived in three places in three consecutive months

Mar. & Apr.-Josh was working weird schedules.  Sometimes he would be home at 5ish, sometimes not til 10ish, sometimes at 3ish.

May & Jun.- Josh started working 12 hour swing shifts (fun times).  That was nearly impossible to schedule dinner around.

Jul & Aug-I took a class and wasn’t getting home til almost 10 some nights but I’d be home at 3 other days.  And we got a relator and started looking at houses in earnest.

Aug. & Sept.-Josh moved to a regular schedule but we looked at houses almost every evening and I had physical therapy three times a week.

Oct.-We moved, got settled in, went on a honeymoon.

So now here we are and I still don't have a routine.  Here's the thing with cooking.  Josh wants to eat pretty much as soon as we walk in the door.  I have Maybe 45 minutes to get supper on or he's going to have soup.  That includes prep time, so 45 mins total.  I come home at lunch sometimes and get stuff ready but a lot times that is just dog gone hard!  I know he's hungry, but I don't want him to subsist on soup.  I do use the crockpot and that most definitely helps but I can pretty much only do it with a liquid (ie, soup) because without a lot of liquid the crockpot and I disagree on what is "done" versus what is "burnt to a charred crisp".  Maybe cooking ahead would be the thing to do?  Does anyone do that?  Like make up all the meals we want to have for the week on Saturday and then just slide them in the oven?

Then there is the cleaning.  Saturday is the cleaning day, but I just don't feel like it is quite enough.  Basically I feel like we are wallowing in the filth of our day to day lives the rest of the week, though I hope it isn't quite that bad.  Last night I dropped my sock down the vent and when I went to retrieve it, I noticed how gross and fuzzy/linty everything felt.  Then I had a coronary because I touched a dead squirrel.  Except it wasn't a squirrel, it was my sock; that's when I remembered why I was in the duct work up to my shoulder blades.  Saturday cleaning is great for the weekly stuff, but I need time to wash the walls, and vacuum the vents, and organize the pantry, and, and, and.  You see what I'm saying?

I don't really know what the answer is.  When I come home I am so tired.  By the time I get supper on and the mess put away, I just want to sit down and rest.  And it isn't that Josh doesn't help, he does the dishes and takes out the trash.  I have found out that if I leave on my shoes then I am more motivated to continue cleaning.  So this whole post had a point (are you surprised?).  What are your cleaning strategies?  Especially you women (or men) who work.  What motivates you to keep trucking after hours at the office?  Honestly, right now I am considering a chore chart because apparently I am five years old old.  I think maybe the visual aspect of having what needs to be done right on the wall or fridge would be helpful.  If you are a lurker, this is the time to jump right into discussion.  I need to hear options and personal stories so I kind find something that will work.  Please and thank you for the help!

Sunday Blahs

I'm feeling a little blah tonight.  Nothing is really wrong, I just feel eh.  Tomorrow is Monday and Mondays are loathed by the entire world populace.  I'm peckish but there is nothing in the house to eat.  Well, there is but I stand in front of the pantry and think how I wish I had starving Chinese children to feed and a McDonald's cheeseburger for me.  My book is kind of slow.  It's bogged down in the middle (yeah, middle being page 500).  I need to vacuum but it's all the way upstairs and let's face it, I have no desire to vacuum.  I need to write a couple of emails.  Sigh.  I think I'm melancholy.  Let's enjoy some pictures of what I'd rather be doing.  It may brighten the mood.

IHOP Breakfast Sampler.  Yes, I am a pig, let us speak of it no more.

A bath in a big claw foot tub.

A Rodgers and Hammerstein movie marathon

I hope your Monday is wonderful!

Bragging On Josh/ Bedroom Renovation Part Deux

I have seriously THE best husband in the entire world.  He is so good to me.  I have no idea what I did to deserve him, nothing that I can think of (now singing Something Good from the Sound of Music).  Anyway, this is why my husband is the best.

As you know we have been working on the bedroom.  Well Josh painted it.  We spent a lot of time picking out colors, laying on the bed holding color swatches to the wall, debating how dark the colors would get when dried, talking about lighting.  Apparently, all this time spent thinking and working meant nothing because the paint was so so bad.

If you know me, you know I talk a lot (heck if you read this blog you know that!).  I mean, there is a very long video of me as a two year talking on my pretend phone on the toilet.  I had a long conversation along the lines of "I left you a wunnerful message on your answering machine.  It was just Wunnerful!" and this went on for a long time, like twenty minutes.  I've had a lot to say my whole life.  When I saw this paint I was completely speechless.  I was on the phone with Mom and she was saying stuff like "describe it" and "it can't be that bad" and all I could say were "There are no words.  It's just so Blue."

My dear Reader, this wall was so blue that it smacked you in the face with a paint brush while screaming BLUE!!!!  I have never seen anything that that was intensely blue, especially in such quantities.  You know the electric blue that you seen on some electronic displays?  It was like, en masse.  I went in the kitchen, sat down in the floor and started to cry.  Josh came and found me and was shocked to see I was crying, after all it is just paint.  I wailed "You worked So hard to make our room look THAT bad!"  What I love about him is that he knew I really meant that as a compliment on his work.  Then he got me calmed down and took me to Chik-fil-a and we got new paint.  The bedroom is now redone completely.  Before there was a very little-boy-nursery blue and the above stated BLUE!!!!  Now there is a very pale blue, very calming, if it were in special font it would be blue and a navy color, which needs no font because you can imagine it.  

My husband is so great because he has worked so incredibly hard to get that room painted, not once, but twice now.  He wasn't mad that I was in a small puddle of tears, he just fixed it.  He even got me restaurant food despite the fact we are financially dieting.  He said not one word of complaint when I took a migraine pill (I had been at the dentist which always gives me a blistering headache) and went to sleep.  He's the best.  I love him :)

Here are some pictures.  The pictures are kind of blah because the colors look a little different than they do in real life.  The bed will be here tomorrow (Finally!) so that will be great.  It's coming together.

 Yes, I know the shot isn't dead on, I wanted to show the paint contrast.

Welcome!

There was a baggie hanging on our door handle.  I kept accidentally forgetting it and so it hung there a couple days.  This morning I finally remembered and thought someone might break in because it really looked like we were on vacation so I got it off the door handle.  It was a welcome to this town bag.  Now, mind you, I lived seriously fifteen minutes from where I do now, but it was a nice gesture.  This bag was Packed with all sorts of adds and info for new people.

That ALL came out of the bag, it isn't just random clutter on counter!  Save a tree people!  There were three letters from government officials (two mayors and our state representative), several gift cards (thank you very much, we will be using them!), and FOUR adds for gynecologists.  Let that sink in for a second.  FOUR!  I mean what says welcome to the area more than a healthy pap smear?  Can you think of anything, cause I can't...oh wait...pretty much anything.  I mean that is Really getting to know your neighbors.  Yep, so that was my afternoon, gift card to Applebees and several well qualified ob/gyns to consider.  Hope your day was great!

A Tribute to Harry Morgan

Harry Morgan, the man who played Colonel Potter on M*A*S*H, died today at 96.  If I haven't mentioned it before, I Love M*A*S*H!  I spent two years watching M*A*S*H pretty much every evening with Bekah.  We didn't just watch, we analyzed, we picked apart characters, we tried to place ourselves in their shoes, we sympathsized, we drank martinis, we laughed, we cried.  You see what I'm saying?  I preferred Potter to Blake.  He had more of the commanding presence.  I loved to watch him with Radar.  He was a good actor and he will be missed.  Here is a a farewell to him (I might have cried a little when I watched).

A Geek Moment

 Have you seen these beautiful works of art?  Honest to goodness, I really do think they are super cool.

The first one, if you don't recognize them, is a T4 bacteriophage and the second one is E. coli.  They are made by this guy named Luke Jerram.  I don't know how or why he decided to make huge glass sculptures of microbes, but I think that pretty much makes him awesome.  I don't "get" art.  I don't mean to be barbaric or anything, but it just doesn't appeal to the brain hemisphere I predominately use.  If art were more like this, though, I would go to galleries!  I think I like these glass ones even better than these guys.

There is an entire line of these little ones.  They are plush microbes.  This one is mono (the kissing disease, get it?  With the big flirty eyelashes?).  I know a girl who had an entire collection of these.  They are cute and who doesn't want to cuddle up to a little ebola? 

That's the geeky moment for today.  Whether you like your microbes glass and four feet long or plush and just the right size for your bed, I hope you appreciate the microscopic world around us!

Productivity and Decorations

Today was oh so productive!  It was wonderful.  Josh and I tagged teamed different aspects of the house and, quite frankly, kicked house butt. 

Things that were done:

-More Christmas decorations were washed and put up.  People say "shop your house" but I like to shop other people's houses so the decorations were courtesy of Mom and my aunt.  A bonus about that is that some of them get to be returned so storage isn't an issue.
-Many loads of laundry were done.
-The house was picked up
-Nutella Cheesecake Pumpkin muffins were made.  They are glorious!  Chocolate-y, pumpkin-y goodness.  Even Josh, who doesn't like pumpkin, said they were good and had one.  Recipe is here.
-Went to the library and took back books.  I have decided I no longer like "frilly" books.  I got one that sounded interesting and included a Jane Austen-esque plot but it did Jane Austen no credit and I found myself rolling my eyes prodigiously.  As a dear friend says, Life is too short to read bad books.
-Josh worked on the heat pump.  That work continues as when we came in the air conditioning was running.  It was COLD.
-There is one coat of paint on the walls.  It looks a little like a little boy nursery but I am trying to move past that.
-A birthday present for Mom was bought.
-Mexican food was consumed.

Here are some pics of the decorations.  Our house is still "plain" compared to some that I've seen decorated but since I don't like too much out cause it gets cluttery I am pretty pleased.

This is my dream home.  Those are my three (disporptionate) children hauling in the tree out front.  Inside, everything is decorated beautifully and the whole house is filled with family and good food.  The house looks like the cover of Southern Home Living.  Despite the fact I am cooking up a storm, every hair is in place and I'm wearing my pearls.  My fourth child is upstairs reading, cause she's like her mommy.  There is a shaggy dog that is underfoot but well beloved.  I have a rich fantasy life about that house.

 
I want to fill him with many cookies!

Cute!  Please excuse my mess, we're still constructing so the table is still occupied.

A Hill to Die On

Do you ever get things or situations that you find your self being stubborn about to a degree completely inappropriate to the magnitude of the event?  I do.

At work we put our trash in five gallon buckets to be burned.  I order the buckets.  Before Thanksgiving I ordered twenty-five of these buckets.  Somehow this request got lost in the infinite space that it is the internet (or intranet in this case).  Okay, no big deal.  I come back on Monday and I Really need these buckets so I order them a second time.  I request them that day.  They are on the premises and usually they get things really quick.  Do you see where this is going?  Of course you do.

Buckets STILL aren't here.  Now I am totally stubborn about it.  Now there are some buckets down on the dock that I could use in the interim, nope, no siree Bob.  I want My buckets.  The ones that I ordered.  No bending.  Now, because we actually need the buckets, I walked all the way to basement (bypassing the buckets on the dock) and got two that we keep in another place.  So now, I'm really just working around the system, but I'm not hauling up all these buckets that weren't what I ordered!

Yep, it's official.  I'm crazy.  I can't help it.  It's just life.  Done ranting.

P.S.  The Santa Clause is on abcFamily right now and it is one of my favorite Christmas movies ever.  Go watch!