Ways to spend my days

According to my title I can rhyme. Cute, I know.

I had a lot of 'things', for lack of a better word, on my mind today.

Activites, if you will.

Ways I like to spend my time.

"Things" that happened the last couple days.
What I think about certain holidays, ahem...today.
You know, that kind of stuff.
Let me enlighten you.

1) American Idol...I was getting bored with this season and almost decided to stop watching...until last night. I don't know if everyone decided to take exciting pills instead of boring pills but there were actually some good performances for a change.

Lee DeWyze was my favotire of the night. Actually my favorite since the beginning really. He is the only one I look forward to every week. And he blew me away last night. I think I got goose bumps and I have developed a little bit of a TV crush (shhh don't tell Chad. But really TV crushes are ok, just ask my sister. She has a TV cruch on Damon from Vampire Diares. So I don't feel guilty.)

I also really like Crystal Bowersox. She has talent. You can't deny it. Last night wasn't her best, but was still good.

And finally Andrew Garcia had good performance. It was about time. I love that he take a popular song and transforms it into something that you can totally get into.

Casey James and Michael Lynche also pleasantly surprised me. I have never been on their bandwagon before last night.

The others, eh.

Tim Urban annoys the crap out of me and I hope he goes home.

I want to like Didi but she is getting worse.

Katie Stevens tries to hard and and I don't think she will last much longer.

Oh and Aaron Kelly. He is pinch your cheeks cute. And last night's performance wasn't great but I think he does have a good voice and his innocence is refreshing. I would want him to win just for that reason.

Oh and can't forget Siobhan Magnus. I really like her, maybe because she is so weird. Very entertaining. But she really does rely on the screaming and she was off last night.

So there you go. I'm sure you really don't care about what I think about American Idol.

I really just wanted to predict who would win (Lee or Crystal) and then say I told you so when they do!!

2) My reading list- I am ALWAYS on the lookout for the "next book" in my life. I started compiling this list of books to read and I figured I would post it in hopes that you might be able to give me a go or a no go on the books so I don't waste my time on anything that isn't worth reading.

I have been very into fiction/fantasy lately and I actually just started the Harry Potter series over agin. I have only read the books once. So far I have gotten 2 chapters into the first book. ha I love the last 3 books but I am slightly neurotic about starting a series in the middle. So I will read the slightly less interesting first book to appease myself.

So here is my long reading list (help me narrow it or prioritize it if you can)(Oh and some books on here I have already read):

• Graceling by Kristin Cashore
• Fire by Kristin Cashore
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral by Kris Radish
• The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
• The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
• Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
• The Five People you Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
• The Confessions of a Shapaholic series
• The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks
• The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks
• The Lord of the Rings Series by JRR Tolkien
• Harry Potter by JK Rowling
• The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (that is quite a name!)
• Dead Men's Hearts by Aaron Elkins
• Murder int eh Queen's Armes by Aaron Elkins
• Make No Bones by Aaron Elkins
• The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
• Timeline by Michael Crichton
• The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
• Lost in a Good Book by Japer Fforde
• The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
• The Lonely Herts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg
• The Undaunted: The Miracle of the hole-in-the-rock Pioneers by Gerald Lund
• Leverage Point by Gerald Lund
• Freedom Factor by Gerald Lund
• The Alliance by Gerald Lund
• Seven Miracles That Saved America: Why They Matter and Why We Should Have Hope by Christ Stewart
• The God of War by Chris Stewart
• The Fourth War by Chris Stewart
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
• Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitsgerald
• 1984 by George Orwell
• The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• Call of the Wild by Jack London
• Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
• Lord of the flies by William Golding
• Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

This list is ever changing becaues, well, my book mood is every changing! So I gladly accept any suggestions.

3) Car Crashes: This is no April fools joke. I swear. In the midst of this post (yesterday), Chad called me to tell me he had just been rear ended on Sylvan. The woman who hit him was going about 45 and just didn't see traffic slowing. Good news: We drive a lifted Jeep Wrangler so the only visible damage to our vehicle is some scratche on the bumper. However, the bumper is basically steel which is attached to directly to the chassis. So if the chassis is damaged or bent then we could have a big problem on our hands. So Chad is taking it to get looked at today.Chad is having some back and neck issues. What with the whiplash and all. He was hit pretty hard. So we took him into the chiropractor right away. So he is being taken care of but is still really sore today.

4) I NEVER thought I wuld almost admit to not hating a lady Ga Ga song. I am still in no way saying I like her song Telephone, I am just saying it is catchy and not completely gross. Still, I don't like her. I just thought that I would admit that I can see why she is so popular. I still think her music is gross and vulgar but her latest song doesn't quite get an my nerves as much. (Can you tell I am really avoiding saying I like her still? Cause I am).

5) Oh and I have decided I REALLY don't like April Fool's. I think that people go way overboard and it just get's to the point where enough is enough. I think that it is fun when the jokes are harmless. But when I hear people saying they told their parents they were kidnapped or they told their boss they were quiting, etc. it's just too much. So let's try this instead... from now on April 1st will be honest day. Don't you think that would be healthier for our country?

Ok I am done. I am not getting off of my soap box.

So to recap...I like American Idol & Reading.

I DON'T like car crashes and April Fool's day.

I still don't like Lady GaGa even though her new song is catchy.

Got it?

Hope so.

Not so young anymore

My little sister turned 11 on Friday.

It's weird...that she's 11.

I was old enough to remember her being born.

I was old enough to watch her walk around in diapers and even change a few of those diapers.

She really changed a lot in the 3 years Chad and I lived in Utah.

So I really didn't see her mature from kid to almost teenager.

So her being 11 is a little surreal for me.

So she has a few friends over on Friday for a sleepover.

It was hilarious listening to what 11 year old girls talk about.
I kept trying to remember if that's how I acted when I was 11...probably.

Ariana is a tad obssessed with Cats right now. So all of her presents involved cats somehow.

All of her friends drew her cat pictures as a part of their presents, which I thought was very cute.

I bought her a sparkly cat T-shirt and an art set because she loves to draw cats.

And my parents took her to get her ears pierced for her birthday present!
And what's a birthday party without a cake?I made the cake and it was my first time decorating a cake really. I don't know how I have lived 21 years and have never decorated a cake.

You know the saying less is more?

Well I think I should have taken that advice. I went a little decorating crazy and it looked a little funny. But at least it tasted good. (I give you permission to laugh at my funny looking cake. Believe me, I did!)

So happy Birthday to my wondrful little sister. You are getting so mature and beautiful. However, you are still silly and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Digging in the Dirt

So I naivly expected to finish our garden project in one day, the day we started, which was Saturday.

I was wrong.

Turns out it's A LOT of work.

And a lot of time, money and sweat is involved in creating a garden.

So we started Saturday, did a little more Monday night and FINALLY finished last night!

Our boxes turned out really good. Then we just had to fill them with dirt. We used a mix of existing dirt from my mom's back yard, manure we bought and potting soil we bought.

I managed to snap a few pictures of the strawberries (below) which I planted on Saturday.

And the Watermelon mounds.

Here is a close up of the finished boxes. I am just so excited with how they turned out.

And doesn't that dirt look so pretty?

Yeah...I get excited about fresh dirt. There really is something wonderful about planting.

Getting your fingers in the dirt and feeling it between your toes.

I'm pretty sure I found another lifelong hobby.

Again, we had a few helpers. Tracy was very helpful in filling the boxes. He probably did most of that himself. Thanks!

Also Ariana and Oliver helped...well maybe they didn't really help us. But Ariana helped keep Oliver entertained and Oliver helped keep Ariana entertained.

Oliver also helped dig the dirt. Except he mostly just dug a big hole. Then we would refill it and he would dig it again. He also would jump up in the boxed once and a while and try to dig there.

Then someone would scoop him up and return him to digging his big hole.

We also bought a few pre-made smaller planter boxed to put some flowers in. I really wanted to plant some flowers and keep them on our balcony. We bough Gerber Daisey's (my favorite!), Snap Dragons and Pansy's. And we purchased 3 different colored cactuses for fun.

All in all, this gardenign experience was really good. I wasn't able to take pictures of the boxes all planted because we literally worked until dark. But I will snap a few later this week and post them.

And don't worry I will be posting about my garden A LOT this summer. So much you will probably be sick of it. I just can't help it, I'm so excited.

So here's to a great summer full of delicious fruits and veggies!

Bee Stings and Boxes

This weekend was definitely eventful. The bee sting part of the weekend is a guess to be honest...let me explain.

Friday night I noticed Oliver's nose was swelling on both sides. It was weird to say the least. We figured he was reacting to some kind of bug bite. It really wasn't very bad as you can tell by the picture below, so we weren't too worried. Ok, that's a lie. I was really worried. He is like my child. And wouldn't you be worried if your childs nose was swelling?

I guess I should saw we weren't worried enough to take him to the 24 hour emergency vet. Yes, they have those. Dogs have emergencies too right?

So we gave hime some children's benedryl and let him sleep at the foot of the bed.

This was a treat for Oliver. He NEVER gets to sleep with us. We tried that when we first got him and he pooped on our bed. That was the first and last time we let him sleep with us...until now. He also likes to move around a lot in the night and sometimes wander to the top of our bed and lick our faces.

But we decided it was a good idea so that we could keep an eye on him.

So Chad and both checked on him periodically throught the night and we didn't think it was getting any worse. Boy were we wrong because this is what we woke up to:

He couldn't even see his face was so swollen. I felt soooo bad. The poor thing just layed there. Although he must not have been too miserable because he still managed to bark at everything that we passed.

So we rushed to our vet that opened at 8 and they said they see a lot of dachshunds with alergic reactions to bee stings and bug bites. So they gave him a stronger antehistemine and also a steriod shot to help with the swelling.

The swelling was almost gone within a couple hours. And he was back to his normal hyper barking self. So that was Friday. All I can say is that the pictures still make me feel like a bad pet owner, but at least we will know what to do next time. Hopefully there isn't a next time.

Onto Saturday...

Saturday we started our garden project. I have been planning out my garden for the last few months. Deciding what to plant, how much, where to plant and what to plant in.
Since we live in an apartment my mom graciously offered up her back yard to us. But there still was only one little section that we could actually plant in.

So I enlisted my wonderful husband to build me two planter boxes. Because that one little section of dirt was just not going to be enough for the big plans I had for the garden.

So we bought some wood and set out to build the boxes. And when I say we, I mean Chad. He won't really let me help. I want to, but he wants it done just right so I let him do it his way.

Because we spent most of the day shopping for material, this is as far as we got on the boxes.

While Chad worked on the boxes, I started planting with what space we already had.

And actually I have to give credit to my mom and stepdad because they helped me a lot. Tracy helped me mix the dirt with compost and get the soil ready to plant.

And my mom taught me how to plant the strawberries and watermelons, which is what went in the section above. You have to create hills to plant the strawberries in and troughs on either side of every hill. The troughs are where you water. Strawberry plants don't get watered directly, but rather their roots spread out to the troughs and get the water from there.

The watermelons were similar. But for these we created circular mounds instead of rows.

My little sister Ariana helped as well. She and I both planted the strawberries together.

Tonight we will be finishing the boxes, filling them with dirt and planting the rest of our some plants and seeds. We bought some plants such as tomatoes, peppers and swiss chard. The seeds I bought and will plant tonight include: onions, carrots, spinach and some others I can't seem to remember right now.

So stay tuned for tomorrow's blog about the rest of our garden!

Mixed feelings on healthcare

The title of this post explains itself...and please before you comment, read my whole post. I know the healthcare bill is somewhat of a hot topic right now and is creating much debate. I know this because it is creating debate in my head. To be completely honest, I am not much into politics. I know I should be more aware of what is going on in my goverment, but sometimes it's hard to keep up. Things are changing so much. And I feel like I can't talk about it to those who really know what's going on because I will get their opinion, not the whole story. So I don't. I go on not knowing very much about what's happening and why everyone hates Obama so much.

It is my opinion that someone will always hate our president for one reason or another. I certainly don't "hate" our president, but I am also not a democrat, so I don't believe in a lot of what he's doing. I believe in "small government." I don't think the government should have a hand in EVERYTHING we do. I certainly don't think they should be the ones to FORCE everyone to have healthcare.

With that said, I still have mixed feelings on the healthcare reform. I DON'T like the fact that I am paying for someone else's health insurance in ANY way (this is my understanding of what will happen- if I am wrong please let me know). I DON'T like being fined $695 if I don't have health insurance. I certainly don't like feeling like I am trapped in a corner.

However, I do like the fact that starting in 2014, when most of this will start, insurance companies cannot deny based on pre-existing conditions.

Let me explain.

My husband technically has a pre-exisitng condition.

You wouldn't know by looking at him.

He's not sick.

He can work.

He can drive.

Thanks to 3 little pills a day filled with carbatrol.

Chad started having seizures when he was very young. It took his paretns and many doctors a while to figure out how to control them with medication.

So since Chad was very young he has taken his medication. He only ever has a seizure when he DOESN'T take his medication. He has had ONE seizure in the time we have been married. He, with his doctor's council decided to slowly go off his medication and see if he really needed it any longer. He was on much lower doses than he was used to and on top of that forgot to take his medicine at night. The result was a seizure in the early morning.

It was a tramatic experience for a newly wed wife. But we dealt with it.

So these pretty much non-existant seizures equal a pre-existing condition in the minds of the isurance gurus.

When we were first married we had health insurance. First through Home Depot and then through an engineering firm Chad worked for. Then, over a year ago, in January of 2009, Chad was "laid" off. He wasn't able to find another job for a month and when he did find a job it wasn't "full time" and thus had no medical insurance. I also was only working part time due to my school schedule.

So we made due.

We had to pay $150 every month for Chad's medicine, plus we had no health insurance. And we haven't had any since...certainly not for lack of trying.

Chad tried to find a job with health insurance and so have I, but we all know good jobs are few and far between. And good jobs WITH insurance are even harder to come by.

So we have lived without health insurance for over a year now.

When I realized we would have to get it personally, on our own, I looked into it, applied and we were...DENIED. Because of a pre-existing condition.

I've had many people ask me why I don't get it just for me. Well, good question. We can't afford it. We pay $150 dollard for Chad's medicine and if the health insurace we're paying for doesn't cover it, then we can't afford it.

So, it turns out, we couldn't get health insurance even if we wanted to.

So we have lived without it. It's hard and scary at times, but what can we do?

So let me again say that although I don't agree with the healthcare bill being passed, a voice in the back of my head says, is it such a bad thing that the insurance agencies will have to be a little more honest and offer health insurance to everyone?

What if we could get health insurance privately right now?

We would still pay for Chad's medicine if you think about it. We would just be paying it to the insurance company. But we would have peace of mind. We would feel safer.

So while none of this really matters right now because the bill won't change anything until 2014 and we will have insurance by then ( we will!), it still makes you think in the present.

I think the healthcare reform is a mistake. I think we need to be more self sufficient and take care of ourselves for a change, but that doesn't mean that we don't need help from the government sometimes.

So instead of making health insurance mandatory, why don't they reform the health insurance companies themselves? Make them more honest (right now!) with out forcing America to get something they either don't want, can't afford or just can't get.

Health insurance shouldn't be something forced upon us... but rather something easily accessible to those who need and want it.

Corn beef, cabbage and hunger games

Can you tell what's on my mind this wonderful hump day? (FYI: hump day=wednesday. Get your minds out of the gutter people) So...back to the post.
FOOD!
Food is on my mind today. Not because I have been extra hungry or because I am cooking or even eating more...just because I have been thinking about food in general.

Here is what I think:

1) Corn beef & cabbage is disgusting. (looks gross too) I could probably stop there but I won't. It's St. Patty's day...and I am sure you would know this unless you live under a rock (to be completely honest, I wasn't aware it was today until yesterday). So in the spirit of the holiday, (a holiday which by the way really has nothing to do with our country or culture, but for some reason we celebrate it anyways??) our manager Shari decides she wants to order us corn beef and cabbage from a local restaurant. I had never had it before so I said, 'what the heck? I'll try it!'

Wish I hadn't.

It was gross.

Really gross.

I would rather eat Chinese food...or dog food. And if you know me I hold those two food groups to the same standard, so that's saying something. (The only Chinese food I like is from Paper Moon here in Modesto. The cream chesse wontons are to die for.)

I will never understand in my entire life why anyone in their right mind...even in your wrong mind...would voluntarily...or even unvoluntarily...eat corn beef and cabbage.

To make it worse, they also included a serving of horse radish to finish the ensamble.

YUM!
So the only way I ended up celebrating St. Patty's day was to accidentally wear green. I really didn't mean to I just did.

So good news is even though i had to force down a few bites of the corn beef and cabbage no one could pinch me.

What it comes down to is that I think holiday's like this are useless.

If it has nothing to do with my country and it doesn't give me a day off, I don't consider it a holiday. Sue me.

Back to food...

2) The Hunger Games. I have heard this name a lot over the past few months. Many people have said how much they love it and the title itself is enough to intrigue me. It's been a month or so since I had my last fix of a really can't-put-it-down-good-book, so it was time for another. So today I decided to look into this series called the Hunger Games.

I went online and perused Amazon and ebay. I found a rather lengthy portion of the book online to read, so I decided to see if there was something to this series after all. I read the first 70 pages and I'm hooked.

I made a Target run last night and picked up the first two books in the series. I am about 200 pages into the first one and it's amazing.

I would say that from what I have read so far, by far one of the best books I have ever read.

It would be hard to go into detail about the books, so i just suggest you go out and get a copy yourself. I promise you will be happy you did.

3) Frozen Yogurt...

When it comes to frozen yogurt my heart has always belonged to the Yogurt Mill. I worked there and it was really the best job...I met so many wonderful people and I made a lot of good friends there.

It was a laid back atmosphere and was always fun.

This is just an example of the fun times: There was a closet where we kept all of our purses, etc during our shifts. Well everyone's favorite lead (manager) Kyle would get in the closet when he knew someone was going to show up for a shift. That person would wander back to the closet to drop off their belongings and Kyle would jump out and scare them. I think a few people would get so scared they came close to peeing their pants. Meanwhile everyone else would be laughing their heads off.

Ok...so maybe we goofed off a lot and gave out a lot of free yogurt...ok maybe we were really bad employees, but the owners were kinda jerks so they deserved it.

But really it was great.

Plus, the yogurt is to die for.

I have been hooked since I worked there.

Another readson I love that place is because it is the first place I met Chad. A mutual friend of ours (who I happened to be dating at the time haha) came by to see me and brought Chad. We didn't meet up again for another year but that was the first time I met him.

So...this brings me to say...that I cheated on the yogurt mill. I recently visited LA Cultures (another frozen yogurt store) with two other couples. They wanted to go and who was I to refuse?

So even though it was hard, I did it. And it wasn't so bad...maybe even good. But that doesn't matter because I will always be in love with the Mill.

Elizabeth, Kelly and I @ LA Cultures. (I should probably burn this picture so there is no evidence of the affair. Hopefully the Mill won't read this post.)

In all seriousness though LA Cultures is really good...so you can try it if you would like. But also try the Yogurt Mill if you haven't. The cheescake flavor is to die for. And it's 99% fat free. Bonus!

Febuary in review

I know febuary is the shortest month of the year...but it seems to go by much faster than all of the other months. I have had the best intentions of blogging about many things that happened in Febuary. Mostly I have wanted to record more journal type blogs. What we have been doing, who we have seen, that kind of thing. Even with my good intentions though, I have fallen flat. I haven't blogged about any of those things and I am not sure why...just haven't. But now I am. More than two weeks into March...that's a lot of procrastinating...I have finally gotten around to it. And what's to thank for the end of the procrastination strike? A deeply rooted cough in my chest and weakness from being sick. So thank you cold, virus, whatever you are. Because finally I will blog about Febuary 2010.
(Update: I started this blog while I was sick a week ago and am not just finishing it...so I procrastinated on top of procrastinating...that's bad, even for me!)

It started out as a great month. My older sis Nichole who lives in Utah with her hubby and daughter got to bring Brielle out for a visit! Chase, my brother-in-law, took a trip to Haiti for a few weeks. He is a firefighter/EMT so he was asked to go and offer his services there.

So Nichole decided to bring Brielle out for a visit becuase she has never seen Modesto. We spent most of our time just visiting with each other, but it was so nice to see both of them! It has been weird the last 6 months not being able to drive to my sister's house whenever I want...so this made the seperation a little more bearable.

Fun with my dad's work hat...it's amazing what can entertain kids. It's also amazing how many pictures you want to take of them.

My precious niece...she knows what she wants and when she wants it...I would like to think she takes after me in that respect. Let's face it: I was a little brat when I was little, I won't deny it. My niece is definitely not a brat, just strong willed. But it makes her more endearing. This little sequence reminded me a little of Oliver and his early obsesion with water bottles.

The siblings:
Meet Brielle: aka miss Sassy! I laughed pretty hard at this picture...it almost looks like she is going to slap my dad.

We took a weekend trip to the cabin on the 19th-21st of Febuary.

Oliver LOVES to explore at the cabin. He does suprisingly well walking around in the snow but still prefers to lounge on the warm deck.

We spent our weekend snowmobiling, eating, visitng and lounging by the fire...this is the usual cabin routine. And we wouldn't want it any other way.





This was taken at a Birthday dinner for Bobby. We dined at BJ's for the first time and it definitely makes the "good" restaurant list and the "visit again" restaurant list.

New additions to our humble abode:

Meet Nigel the Niger- Happily swimming away in our tank for well over a month now. It was a little touch and go for a while, meaning we weren't sure if he was going to live, but he has made a full recovery and happily eats his shrimp every day.

Meet sleek/lovely/suave Green Side Table- I used to use a wimpy book light to read with at night and a filing cabinet for a side table. Needless to say this is a much needed improvment. I have TJ Maxx to thank.

Meet Dell Desktop Computer- We snagged this guy for the low price of $350. Our Dell Laptop took a turn for the worse and unfortunately didn't make it, so we had to buy a new one. I would like to say thank you to my laptop for the 4 years of priceless companionship you offered me through many papers and assignments. You served me well.

So that was Febuary...all in all a GREAT month. And of course the great ones always go by too fast, but that's life.