25 Random Things About Me...the expanded version

I'm taking the lead from my little sister who did this on her blog...here is the "expanded" version of the Facebook version.

1. I love to paint. I have been drawing as long as I can remember...and started to paint in high school. It's soothing to me.

2. I'm somewhat fashion conscious. I love clothes- and am really frugal so I like to find "deals" anywhere from the thrift store to the mall.

3. I have had many adventures in my life that if I told you, you might not believe me. From skipping school and running around the strip & getting of the rooftops of hotel/casinos in Las Vegas (in grade school)....to riding in the tourbus with Fishbone from KC to Omaha...and going to a party with 311 in Omaha...just to name a few.

4. I love sunbaithing but gave it up when I turned 30. I'm scared of skin cancer..and want to prevent wrinkles!!

5. I am extremely sensitive...if someone says something that hurts my feelings, I'll dwell on it all day. I can't help it.

6. I love decorating my home...in fact, I used to want to go into interior design. Once again, my frugal ways come into play- so it's a work in progress!

7. I have a very particular style. I'm picky about how I dress and the way I want things to look around me (that I have control over).

8. I love my kids in a very deep, connected way. I love being a mother....I really enjoy being around my kids...I've never been one of those "stressed out" mothers who just wants to get away from her kids. They are everything.

9. I am a natural leader and make most major decisions in my life on my own. I've been that way since I was about 15-16.

10. I have met Trent Reznor. I was 17..at a concert in Topeka. That was also the night that 3 parts of my cornea flaked off...VERY painful...the next morning I went to the Dr. and ended up wearing an eye patch for 3 days. So when I met Trent Reznor I had a big fat swollen eye!

11. I don't eat dairy. I quit 2 years ago after a Dr. advised me to....now, I don't even crave it. I do have to take Calcium suppliments.

12. Shawshank Redemption is one of my favorite movies. I love it when it comes on tv on the weekends.

13. I took my sister to see LL Cool J in concert about 10 years ago....it was awesome. We saw him at the Beaumont Club in Westport. We had a GREAT view...it really was a childhood dream come true.

14. I've been to Alaska. I went with a dim wit ex boyfriend....but he's not even part of my memory of the trip. It is so beautiful....

15. I love to cook. I always have. One day I want to take a cooking course or two.

16. Quitting smoking 1 year ago after smoking for 16 years the best thing I've ever done for myself. It was really hard....and it's still hard, but I don't want to take anymore years off of my life by doing something I can control.

17. I like serious movies the best. I like to "think" when I watch movies.

18. I'm a neat freak about my office...I clean off my desk every day before I leave work. I've always been that way since the first time I had my own office. I guess I like to come in to work with a clean desk and a clean slate each day.

19. I miss having long hair and am growing it back. I just don't feel like myself with shorter hair.

20. I've learned to like onions....but not raw. I cook with them every week!

21. I love shoes and have about 30 pairs of high heels. Total I probably have about 50 pairs of shoes including boots, flip flops and misc. Here's the deal though...I did not pay more than $20 for most of them!

22. I'm extremely frugal. I love to bargin shop- and I can make a little money STRETCH.....you'd never know that most of my wordrobe comes from a thrift store!

23. My kids help me cook almost every night....I want them to know how to cook when they are adults! It's a life skill that I think is very important. I tell my son that chicks dig it when a man can cook!

24. I broke my back when I was 13 and have 2 12" titanium rods in my back. My lifestyle changed considerably to accomodate it but I'm used to it ...it's been 18 years.

25. I like watching football. Especially the Chiefs. I don't have a favorite player....but it's fun to cheer for the home town team.

**BONUS FACTS**

26. I use a Franklin Planner at work...I have for about 8 years. It keeps me organized. Like they say...it takes 21 days to make a habit...and this is one of mine. (I wish more people would use them)

27. I LOVE to see live music...here are a few artists I've seen in concert.. Nine Inch Nails (2), Dave Matthews Band (5), Tool (7), 311 (4), Pearl Jam, LL Cool J, Beasite Boys, John Mayer (4), Ben Folds (2), Ozzy Ozbourne, Fishbone, NKOTB (haha), Natasha Beddingfield, Lady GaGa, Maroon 5, Cyprus Hill, Snoop Dogg, Flaming Lips, Butthole Surfers, The Cure, Goo Goo Dolls, Counting Crows, G Love and Special Sauce.....ok that's all I can think of right now.

28. I'm freaking BLIND...I wear contacts or glasses and could not leave my house if for some reason I didn't have either.

My First Haircut

I cut my sons hair yesterday. Since I spend $15-$20 everytime I get it cut I decided to go buy some clippers and give it a try...why not? I've seen it done ten thousand times....I can do it...lot's of mothers do. The clippers I bought had an instructional DVD too. I'm quite proud of my first haircut...it looks pretty good! 1 small "oops" over an ear but nothing that's too noticable.

Doing well...

I am having a successful "no coke" week so far. It's been tough. I think my husband is trying to sabotage me....no seriously, he "cheated" yesterday- and so he was trying to get me on the cheating bandwagon! He kept bringing it up in front of me...how great it would be to have a coke...he might go get one etc... I held strong (no thanks to him). You'd think we were talking about cigarettes here! If I can quit smoking then I can definately go a week w/o coke.

NO COKE

I am hopelessly addicted to Coke....Coca Cola that is. Trust me if it were the other kind I would't be struggling with my weight! Anyway, there is not many things that feels and tastes better in my mouth. I crave Coke...everyday. I drink 1 Coke a day during the week and sometimes more than one on weekend days. I even keep Coke Zero at my office because it's the 0 calorie kind. That gives me an excuse to have a regular Coke at night....because I didn't have any calories with the one I had earlier in the day. It's sickening.

No Coke this week. In fact, I'm going to try really hard to drink nothing but water and coffee (in the morning).

Help hold me accountable!

NIN

Yep...I know.

The Great TV Find

This morning my husband got a notion to clean our bedroom. Not just pick up dirty socks or clean off his dresser...he decided to move the bed, move everything out of the "womb" (I'll explain that in a minute) vacuum and even use the carpet cleaner on the carpet (which he's never done btw).

*Womb explanation*

Our bedroom is a finished attic made up of two rooms. It's really cool actually. The main room has a hardwood floor, and it has our dressers, a kennel, my dressing table and 2 open closets. The smaller room- which is actually a walk in closet that never got finished is what we call the "womb" ...because it's small and cosy. Instead of the bedroom, it's the bedwomb...ok corny I know. Anyway, it's big enough for our king sized bed, and tv and tv stand...Sophie's homemade dog bed and 2 bed side tables.

Ok, back to the story. In the course of him moving out the furniture...he pulled out the cable cord from the back of the 19" tv. Not just the cord but the whole piece that attaches to the cord came out of the tv. So my husband is beside himself because he has this nasty habit of watching tv every night before he goes to sleep (I hate it). Never in my life until I married him have I had a tv in my bedroom and frankly, I could do without it. But he can't. So he informs me that he's been saving his "allowance" and wants to go replace the tv asap. Our bill account is not being touched for anything but necessities these days because we are saving every extra penny. I'll tell you why in a few weeks :) He knew, that I didn't care enough to authorize using the bill account, so he had to pay for a new tv with his own money. Well being the cheap bastards we are....(and I love him for this btw)...he wants to get a 19" $120 special. Not Plasma, not LCD Flat bla bla bla. If/When we make that transition....it'll go in the living room anyway.

Our first stop was Best Buy. There were only 3 "old style" tv's being sold there and the sales lady informed us that they are going all flat soon and that's all they have left. Really? Are we that behind the times?? We decided to go to Wal-Mart next because I'm always seeing commercials about their electronics dept. Wal-Mart had 4 choices on "old style" tv's and TONS of flats. Nothing really exciting though so we decide to go to Nebraska Furniture Mart. Let me just say what a waste of gas that was. They had ZERO. I was really feeling like a dork by that time...so we left there and I said "honey, why don't we go home and you look on craigslist?" . He did and guess what he found? A 32" SONY for $100. Yep, this tv is freaking huge. We decided to put it in the living room....and take our old living room tv which is 27" and put it in our bedroom.

I'm pretty happy with the outcome of our day, although we could have saved some gas.

I'm so tired

My left hip has been hurting lately. I think it's because I've been working out almost every day for a month....nothing major but stepping, jogging etc... Anyway, yesterday it was constant pain all day...into the night. When I went to bed at about 11 I decided to take an 800mg Lortab..which is a GOOD pain killer. I rested in bed for about 20 min. slowly drifting off into a comfortable sleep...my hip still hurt but the medicine took the edge off.

I woke up at 2am feeling very "high"...(which wasn't that bad!) and loopy...got up and got a drink, was a chatterbox with Jeff for about 1/2 an hour...and even took the dogs out to pee. My hip DID NOT hurt at all!! The downside is....narcotic drugs have a terrible side effect with me..they make me ITCH terribly. I'm talking all over..head to toe junkie itching. So- I spent from 2:30am to about 4am lying in bed obsessively scratching all over my body and getting NO sleep.

I am really really tired today- I'm no good on minimal sleep.

Don't Drink The Water

This song is about the European slaughter of Native Americans, as the colonization of North America caused the near-extinction of the Native American population.

It's an older song, but still one of my favorite DMB songs....and I just felt like posting it.

Spread My Wings

HA...and this one

Two Occasions

This song brings back a lot of memories- Penny, you know what I mean. We were just kids listening to this song.

Hand Cramps!!!

Yesterday I spent 7 hours painting a "mural" on the wall of my best friends nursery. She is having a little boy in April. Here are some pictures of me in action.

And the final product:

Sad....

.....damn, no call from the Oprah show. Well, here's hoping I get through on January 21st!

Could it be?

A LOT of people I know are not fans of Oprah Winfrey...so if you are one of them just go ahead and skip this post for today.

For everyone else...I have butterflies!! It's always been a dream of mine to attend a taping of an Oprah Winfrey Show. I have been a fan of hers since I was a kid. No- I don't think she's perfect.....I wouldn't drink the "purple kool-aid" if she asked me to....but...I do subscribe to "O" Magazine...my dog Sophie is named after her cocker spaniel Sophie that recently died and I've been watching her show since I was a kid.

Anyway, I have this vision of flying to Chicago (by myself or not), staying in a hotel close to HARPO studio....and getting to go to a taping of the show...and I *might* get that chance. I was just on the website checking the seating availability (which by the way there are NEVER any available seats) and to my amazement there were "last minute seating" available for Jan. 28, 29 and 30th. So- I had to send a request..which is basically filling out a form with contact information and hitting send. These tickets are in so high demand that I'm almost positive I won't be getting a call...but hey- you never know! You better believe I'd drain my (personal) savings to hop a flight to Chicago for a chance to go.

Loving my dogs....

Sophie & Sumo 1-11-09

....is work sometimes! OK, of course it's not actually "work" to love my dogs...but let's just say they always keep me on my feet! (so to speak)

Yesterday I came home from work and didn't change into comfy clothes like I normally do. I went to pick up the kids at 3 and when I we got home....our normal routine commenced which is taking out the dogs to pee. I always have one of the kids take out Sumo- although he's the biggest and strongest, he's the calmest and less likely to do something crazy outside (like jump the fence and run away). So I get Sophie...don't even think to put on her prong collar (power steering we like to call it) and head outside. Keep in mind I'm still in my work clothes which is: cute top/dress, leggings and black wedge boots that come up to my knees. Sophie gets fixated on something and begins pulling me ...hard. This is nothing new to me as she is a master at this game- but I usually win. Not this time. Whatever it was she was fixated on she REALLY wanted it because she pulled harder than ever....and well I've got zero leverage or balance due to my dumb ass wearing wedge boots. So...I use all my might to get her under control but ...it's too late....she's got the upper hand. I make a decision- I can't let her leash go because she WILL jump the fence and I'm definitely in no position (or outfit) to go chasing after her....so ....I sacrifice myself and allow her to pull me to the ground. So I hit the ground and she promptly tramples me.

Now, she has no idea that a) she's hurt me b) she's still hurting me by pawing me in the face or c) I'm mad as hell. Chris and Lizzy were both shocked at the scene and rushed over saying "Mom are you ok?" I was ok....my hands were scraped, my face hurt a tiny bit (from the trampling) and my arms were a bit red (not sure if that was the trampling or the fall) ....oh and my boots - RUINED....but other than a bruised mood..I was fine. I only suffered with a sore neck and back for a while last night; I think I'm fine today...but I did learn a lesson: Sophie= prong collar & sensible shoes!!!!!!!

Gran Torino

Go see this movie.....it's very good.

Go me...Go me...Uh hu...Uh hu...

140lbs.!!!

I know...I rock!

Magic formula:

1) I've been staying in at work and eating Weight Watchers meals for lunch.

2) I've been working out at least 30 min. a day.

3) I have not been eating at night MOST nights.

Looks like it's working...yeah!

I DID IT!

1 Year ago today I quit smoking

I'm a NON-SMOKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wii Fit!

My girls' grandmother Alice bought us a Wii for a family gift this Christmas. I've been wanting a Wii Fit also- so we bought one wrapped it and added it to the family gift to be opened on Christmas day.

I just want to take a minute to rave about the Wii Fit. Some of the activities are very simple and some are more difficult, but all are fun and all target spacific areas of fitness. There are 4 categories: Balance Games, Aerobics, Stregnth Training and Yoga. Since Christmas day I have done a minimum of 30 mintues and all 4 categories every day. Now I'm not saying that I will continue to do the Wii Fit every day for the rest of my life...but I'm on quite a streak and do not plan to stop anytime soon.

My favorite activities are: Step, Boxing, Yoga and the Stregnth Training activities. If you have a Wii already, for the price of 2 games you can buy the Wii Fit....I'd say it's definately worth the investment.

My kids have really enjoyed playing Wii and Wii Fit also. It's different than just sitting around playing video games. You are up being active- playing tennis or bowling...even golf is fun. We have been playing a lot of games of bowling with the kids- its' really fun! (And better than sitting down stairing at the tv)

Call me a geek all day...I don't care. I'm hooked on Wii Fit.