Annie Driving

I got to play with Anniston a bunch this weekend. At one point we needed to go to the grocery store and I was carrying her out to the car, but needed to get my purse out of my car. So, I sat her in the seat for a second and she stood up to drive. It was quite cute (of course).

Super Perky Post!

I made it! We made it! (Me and Mama that is) It is September and we are both still alive and my attitude toward life has definitely improved since earlier this week. So here is how it is:

Tuesday was a dark day in what I call "my life". But I got it all out and I feel so much better. I was determined that my life was going to be way better in September so I started making plans on Wednesday. First, I told everyone at work that we were all in a funk and needed to get out of it. So we are having a Labor Day/Get-Out-O-Yo-Funk Party at work. It is great. We have pimento cheese, corn dip, cheese biscuits, cow patties, and sausage biscuits. Really I don't think you can beat it. And we all stood around and chatted and laughed for about 20 minutes this morning. It was great.

Then I decided that I wanted to paint. So I called up Marilyn Bullard and told her I wanted to have a painting party. Mission accomplished. September 30th we are painting a funky witch. If anyone wants to come, let me know. It should be a lot of fun with a lot of good food too.

Mom and I got our toes done last night and they look good...I'm just saying.

And I am meeting my pal Allison tonight for supper and I found out some really exciting news from another pal but I don't know if it is a secret so I can't give specifics...but it is really great news. And then I am having a Matilda Jane party in a couple of weeks. Really September is going to be great...it already is. Thank goodness!

And feel free to notice my new "reminder" in my cube. I made it last week and it just so happens to be in the picture with all the party food.

YEA for better days!!! :-)

Starting Over...

So today is August 30th. In the very recent past, I have been totally bummed out and discouraged because I had awful poison ivy, some kind of physical reaction to the medication, some kind of anxiety-related reaction to the steroids, I touched a snake on my porch, I didn't get picked for the Priase Team at church, I had to take another stupid CPA test that I didn't study enough for, I found out I didn't pass one of the other stupid CPA tests that I didn't study enough for, Annie has to get tubes in her ears, our house is still not sold, the grass and stupid hedges just keep growing (along with the poison), limbs keep falling in the yard, I missed the beach with my friends, I missed the lake with some other friends, and my doctor quit. I AM TIRED OF IT ALL!!!! Really, feel free to stop all this at any time and just fix it. (I am saying this to God because I know He can and there is very little I seem to be able to do about any of it.) So, today I am going to complain and rant and cuss and take out every frustration and anxiety on this poor keyboard. I am going to explain just how BAD it is and then it is going to be over and I am going to start over...but not yet!

So the poison ivy sucks. It is "gone" but I now have dry red patches all over my legs. It is really nice looking. Thankfully they don't itch...but this post is not about thankfulness. It is about whining, pure and simple. So when it comes to poison ivy, I also am now afraid of everything in the yard that doesn't look exactly like a blade of grass. That is pretty bad since I have to keep our 3 acre yard semi-decent looking. I used to pray that God would encourage the snakes and things to run to the edges while I mowed, raked, whatever and then they could come back. Now I just want to be wrapped in saran-wrap on a mower with 22s so I will be way off the ground. I am scared dad-gum-it!

And what the heck is that stupid snake doing on my porch. Go make yourself at home in the back yard and leave me the heck alone. What have I done to deserve this???

Then I am not mad, but my feelings were totally hurt when I didn't make the cut for the praise team. Cut me some slack people. Don't tell me that my voice isn't suited to the style, when you have much older more formal voices already up there. And I dare say, my voice is not "formal". Plus, that was really a big deal to me and I really wanted to be a part of the praise team and ya'll totally messed it up. It was going to be fun and I was going to make new friends and we were going to get a long together really well and sing once a month. Dude, why? Could ya build a girls' self-esteem even a smidge?

I am sick of these stupid CPA tests. Somebody please remind me not to go back to school or do anything else that requires studying and tests for at least 10 years. I am too old for this and Sylvan learning centers suck. They are gross and the people that work there are really annoying when you are already stressed out about taking these ridiculously expensive tests. At the moment, I would really like to chuck it all but who can afford that?

And can somebody please buy our stupid house? Seriously!!!! Maybe a nice homeschooling couple with 5 or 6 children who don't watch tv. There is plenty of room for a garden and a goat and a couple of chickens too.

So now that you know everything is stupid and just how sick and tired I am of all of this....it is time to start over.

My only goal is to write something positive tomorrow.

Maybe September will be better...

Totally bummed out. I thought that my string of "bad luck" etc. would end and that this week would be way better. I was wrong. I think August is just not my month. I'm hoping September will be better. We shall see... :-(

I have leprosy and I touched a snake...

Seriously. Technically, it is not leprosy, but I think it kind of looks like leprosy. My poison has gone bananas and I think I may go insane from the itching. Everyone at work tells me that now days people go to the doctor and get a shot for it instead of riding it out. Since we are now more than a week with it, I am going to the doctor to see if they can help. Plus I am supposed to go to the beach this weekend and there is NO WAY I can wear shorts much less get into a bathing suit and swim in a public pool. People would be screaming and running shortly before management came to ask me to leave and then they drained the pools and lazy river and scrubbed them with clorox. It really is that gross.

Second, and slighlty more traumatic, yet in a different way...I touched a snake Saturday night. My mom and I had bought groceries and we had already taken one load in when I came back out to get a second load. I was going down the steps and grabbed the rail and just so happened to grab the snake at the same time. I thought I was going to die. By the time I quit screaming and we had found a flash light and called Neil Messick to come save us, it was gone.

Basically it was a rough weekend! So this week has got to have some really bright spots in it to make up for all of that!

Today, the goal is to prepare for the weekend!

Today is Thursday, which means that the weekend is within sight. Before it gets here there are a few chores and un-fun things that must be done.

First...mow the front yard. I can do this and as always my prayer will be "Please don't let me see/feel any snakes.". If they will just go and hide until I am done then they are welcome to comeback out...just not while I am out there. :-)

Second, I must collect all of the hair off of the bathroom floor and properly dispose of it. It is amazing the amount of hair that my mom and I lose...and every bit of it winds up on the bathroom floor. So, I am going to scrub all surfaces including the floor.

Third, make a bag of Andy/Lindsay stuff. There are a bunch of presents and other stuff that need to go to Birmingham on Saturday. So I should pack it in a bag now so that I have a day or so to remember what I forgot to put in it.

Fourth, I need to mapquest the antique stores that mom and I are going to visit on our way up there. That will mean maxing out shopping time while minimuming out travel time. (Minimuming is not a word...but is still works)

I think that is enough in the way of self-assignments before Saturday.

I thought I was immune!

So my leg has been itching since last Thursday. I thought it was a mosquito bite but it has spread over the last few days and it itches like all get out. I think I have gotten into some poison. Uhh! I thought I was immune. Joseph and I both have worked in the yard all of our lives and when everyone else got poison, somehow we didn't. Well, apparently my streak/immunity has come to an end. And I would like to apologize to anyone that I failed to give proper sympathy to during similar bouts. I just didn't know how crazy it was driving you. Please forgive me!

Jack (formerly known as Buddy) is here!

I may totally get busted for this, but I need to show my love for Jack! He is the newest addition to the family. Andy, my older brother, and his wife Lindsay welcomed him into the world 2 weeks ago today.

You can also Jack's nursery on Lindsay's cousin's blog. The address is below.

http://nestegg.typepad.com/nest-egg/2010/07/goodnightmoon.html

Dear Self, I am so proud of you! Keep up the good work!

Like many people, I struggle with getting exercise into my daily routine. First, there is the time issue. I really need more hours in the day. Then you consider the fact that I get bored of doing the same thing especially if there is no end or goal in sight. Add in 100 degree weather with 100% humidity and it makes driving home from work seem like a fairly good workout. Sweat was involved!

Like those same people, I also know that for my health and for general life enjoyment I really need to take better care of myself and (unfortunately?) that involves exercise. So this time around I decided to do one of the Couch-2-5K plans. I wasn't sure how long I could stay committed but so far so good! I am now into my 5th week of work and I was really pumped that I ran for 5 minutes straight last night. I am taking the program slower than it is written, but I am ok with that as long as I am progressing. So I am just starting week 4 on the chart. It wants you to run 5 mins, walk 2.5 mins, run 3 mins, walk 1.5 mins, then repeat. I ran the same total number of minutes but I had to spread it out more and run in shorter spurts. The thing is, before I started last night I did not think that I could run for 5 mins. without stopping. But I did and I am really proud of myself!!! So within the next week and a half I hope to have mastered Week 4.

While I was running that LONG 5 minute stretch, I kept thinking it would be funny if there were a group of people around me hollering encouragement and telling me that I could do it. Instead Valerie Lawson and Bob Howell continued to babble on about the local news. A couple of hours later, Xzibit (this really interesting rapper person) provided me with the perfect solution.

Xzibit used to have this show called Pimp My Ride on MTV. He would take a person's pitiful, old, beat up, mess of a car and "pimp it out". He would put all kinds of cool gizmos in it and paint it really wild and add 22s or some other desirable tire. Oddly enough I came across a re-run of a Pimp My Ride episode and he made the girl a box with encouraging statements and all she had to do was hit a button in her car and this voice would come through the speakers and say things like, "You sure do look beautiful today" or "With your positive attitude, success is sure to find you". Those may not be the exact self-affirming statements they used, but you get the idea. So anyway, I really need a self-affirming, cheer-me-on box. And I really think everyone I know could use one.

So, for now, I will self-affirm myself this way...Dear self, I am so proud of you! Keep up the good work and Week 4 will be as easy as Week 1 in no time!

It is Baby Buddy Eve!

I am so pumped! Today is Baby Buddy Eve...similar to Christmas Eve, but in the end I will have a nephew. That means one of each kind. So now if I see something cute I will be getting 2. No favoritism here!!!! Buddy doesn't have a name yet, so I will have lots to report when I finally get off work and can finally go home and and can finally head to Birmingham for the big day.

old school bingo

Today was a great day. I took life by the horns and road it until the bull gave up and decided to sleep it off under a shade tree. Ok...maybe it wasn't that brave...but I think it was pretty brave. Luckily, Sue was there to show me the ropes! At lunchtime, we went to Winner's Bingo World and played Bingo. It was crazy. They call out those numbers and letters really fast and they don't play with simple lines. They want you to get things like a Mini-photoframe, a small diamond, equal signs, 3 straight lines, the entire card filled and stuff like that. It was a lot more complicated than I was expecting. How do the dumb people keep up?

Another great part was that you have to have a big marker thing that puts a colored dot over the ones that have been called out. They don't use the mini-poker chips or beans or anything like that. So now I have this really neat purple dot making marker and it works really well. Plus it was only $1.50. Some people at the other tables had these totes with little pockets all the way around it. And they had a different colored marker in each pocket. You could tell they were hard core.

So Sue and I gotten our instructions and settled in and then decided we had more questions. I am totally serious when I say that it was not as simple as I thought it would be. In the end, we didn't win anything but it was a lot of fun. I kind of want to have a fund raiser for something and do bingo.

Time Out...until Monday

I haven't quit blogging again, I am just taking a time out. I have a camera and a video camera but neither have charged batteries or chargers for the batteries, so I couldn't take pictures of anything. But I have taken care of all that so this weekend I am going to get all charged up and take a few pictures so I can start Monday and blog like there is no tomorrow! P.S. Next week is going to be great. My co-worker Sue and I are going to have some devilish fun during lunch one day and Buddy will be here no later than Wednesday! :-)

A Small Rant for A Lovely Thursday Afternoon

So, I am going to toot my own horn here...I have been posting like a champ for several days now...possibly close to 2 whole weeks. I am pretty impressed with myself.

Today, I was thinking about what to post and all that came to mind was those gross decals on the back of cars/trucks/whatever that has Calvin (from Calvin and Hobbes cartoons) urinating on various things. Those pictures are gross. And they are stupid. And they are really just weird if you think about them. For example, it is a picture of a cartoon little boy with his hiney showing. His hiney is actually out there - crack and all. Who wants to see that? Granted it is not as bad as a real-life hiney and crack, but I see no need to draw cartoon ones either. Plus, why is it necessary to tinkle on something in order to show your dislike. Why can't we go back to drawing a circle around it and then drawing a line through that. It all means the same thing, but it isn't nearly as gross. So I suppose if I were cool I wouldn't mind them, but I do. I am not cool and I don't want to be. Because if I were my Calvin would be wee-weeing on a picture of himself wee-weeing on something else...since that is what I don't like!

P.S. No pictures today because I dislike that Calvin stuff so much. :-)

The Antithesis of Hoarders...there should be a show for people who can't stop getting rid of stuff!

HAHAHAHAHA!!!! I am so conquering the world today! I was tired of seeing three Pelican cases sitting in out floor, so I took quicky pictures of them this morning before I left for work. I decided Ebay was the way to go. Around 12:20 I remembered my plan to put them on there and after about 15 minutes of getting the pictures off of my phone and filling in the blanks on ebay, they were officially for sale. Within another 5 minutes I had already sold 2 of them (using the buy-it-now feature). HAHAHAHAHAA!!!! I will have them at the Post Office by noon tomorrow! I am so pumped about that and about the fact that my mom and I are doing some major cleaning out over the long weekend and you KNOW I will be looking for more great things to put on Ebay. Today was definitely productive!!!

Project

Several years ago we cleaned out my great aunt and uncle's home after he passed away and she had moved to an assisted living place. We decided to keep this really neat chair that has steps that can be pulled out and put back in. When we got it, it was rusted and I think it was a grey color. It sat in storage for a couple of years and then when we started to re-do our kitchen, we pulled it out and asked one of our church friends if he would paint it for us. He powder coats things as a side business. So we asked him to paint it red. And it has been a great addition to our kitchen.

Ever since then several people have commented on the chair and said that if we ever wanted to sell it, they would be interested. Well, back in February or so I was in Birmingham and went into a flea market/junk store. As my mom and I were leaving she saw a similar chair in the window and I decided we should find out how much it would cost. The owner sold it to me for $15. It looked pretty rough and needed a couple of screws and a paint job...but now look at it!


And I am giving it to my friend Ellis for her birthday! I can't wait because I think she is going to love it!

This reminds me of the Patty Duke show...identical cousins

...Except it is me and my mother that are identical. We are like twins but birthed 26 years apart. I guess it is a miracle.

The top picture, I am on the far left and in the bottom picture I am in the middle. My mother is on the far left of the middle picture drinking a coke.

I always wondered why my Grandmother hung a picture of me in her living room but not my brothers. Turns out it is my mama! :-)

I love free money!

Ok, so it is not exactly free money, but it is close enough for me. A few months ago when I got on a couponing kick, I learned about a website that will send you money back on purchases that you make online. It is called Big Crumbs. They have a listing of online stores. Once you sign up at Big Crumbs and sign in, you can click on your store through the Big Crumbs website. Then you just order like normal. The great part about it is that about 2 months later they make a deposit into my paypal account and I transfer it to my checking account. The last one I got was for a little over $30. Not only had I forgotten about that money, but they sent me an email telling me that a deposit had been made to my paypal account. It was like finding $30 in the street.

So, I am trying to train myself to remember to order through them so that I get a percentage of my purchase back in cash. The percentage is different for each company, but it all adds up! You can even get money back from other people's orders if you get them to sign up. So, please feel free to tell them that I turned you on to the Big Crumbs website.

Here is how you do it:

1. Go to www.bigcrumbs.com
2. Click the button to sign up for an account (it is free).
3. Enter my big crumbs id. It is ROBISONCOUPONS
4. Start shopping!

Even if you don't want to attach me, that is no problem. You should still do it, because it is great to get money back...expecially when you start shopping for Christmas.

This totally sounds like a sales pitch (and it kind of is) but the fact of the matter is that you get money back from a purchase you were already going to make. And it is free.

Who's Yo Daddy???

So I got sucked into that show on NBC called Who Do You Think You Are? It was really quite interesting and I have always been interested in family history. So, of course, that is my current obsession. I joined Ancestry.com and started working on my family tree. It is really neat because you can find your relatives and sometimes other people on there will have added pictures and stories that you haven't seen or heard before. And you can upload your own and share them with whomever you wish.

I have a lot of good information from my grandparents on my mother's side. They are both still living and have done their own research in the past. Plus, they love to go through pictures and tell me stories about things they remember.

My dad's side of the family it another story. Both of my grandparents on that side are deceased and since my dad passed away, I only have his sister and brother to get information from. Plus they both live out of town. However, I am grateful to have them and I am hoping to get to spend some nice chunks of time with them in the near future to pick their brains. I am also hoping that there are some pictures somewhere...but we will just have to wait and see.

I should be studying for the CPA exam, but I keep thinking of things that I "just have to do first". But, as soon as I get done with it (November hopefully), I am planning to research even more.

The pictures are all from my Grandmother on my mom's side of the family. They make me smile.

So, it has only been like half of a year since I last posted...hahaha. I knew I might not post every day but surely I can do better than once every six months. My friend Jeni, who is an avid blogger, wrote me the sweetest note yesterday and included an encouragement to continue blogging. So, this is my post for Monday, June 21, 2010 and I am hoping to post again before Christmas!

I think I will write about food today. Probably because it is 4:05 p.m. and I am hungry with nothing but Sweet Watermelon gum to keep me going. As a side note, this is some loud smelling gum but I really like it. I also like to pop it, but I try not to when other people are around. I know it is tacky but I like to pop it...what can I say.

So, on to real food. I love to try new recipes and one that I most recently tried is Asian Chicken Pasta Salad. I am in no way claiming that I made this up, however I do not know which blog I got it from. I follow several blogs and I am sure it is from one of them. In the future, I aim to do better in the credit department.



Asian Chicken Pasta Salad

1 box bowtie pasta
1 package boneless skinless chicken tenders
1 package of sliced almonds - toasted
1 bag of fresh spinach
1 large can of mandarin oranges - drained

Dressing Ingredients:
1/4 cup sesame seeds - toasted
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup oil
2 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp salt and pepper

Cook the pasta and drain. Cook the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Toast the almonds. Make dressing. Put the cooked chicken in the dressing to marinade overnight. Next day, combine chicken, pasta, spinach, almonds, oranges, and remainder of dressing left in bowl of chicken. The original recipe also said to make the dressing again and add it in, but I thought there was plenty with only 1 recipe of dressing.

Now I also do not have a picture for this, so it will not be the best post ever, but I posted nonetheless!

P.S. I FOUND WHERE I FOUND IT. IT IS FROM WWW.NOBIGGIE.NET and the picture is hers as well!