1/26/11

A Tickle In My Throat

My throat is starting to hurt. I have had that tickle you get before you get sick for most of the afternoon. One that won't go away, and leaves me clearing my throat in that gross way strangers do on a bus or plane that is just annoying enough you want to smack them.

The timing of this tickle could not be worse. I will be getting on an airplane destined for a warmer climate tomorrow. A work conference Friday, and then fun in Sunny San Diego all weekend. I will be that stranger on the plane tomorrow-that someone will probably want to smack.

Apologizes for who ever has to sit next to me. And heres to hoping I snore A LOT tonight, just as a little payback to my dear husband who snored horribly last night keeping me awake. All when he got 12 hours of sleep....

I love you honey, aren't you glad someone else gets to sleep with me for the weekend?

1/23/11

Orange Toes and Tank Tops

The title of this post summarizes a little of what happened while I was in California for a few days.

I am now back home in Minnesota with Stan and Molly who I am happy to say are: Fed, Empty (yes I am being gross and they both pooped promptly after I cleaned the litter box) and in love with their mommy.

I can't even imagine what it is going to be like when we have kids and I leave them for a few days. Yes I know that I can't just leave my kids at home and have Lorayne come over and check on them in the middle of my trip, because that would be considered child abuse, but the love and sadness I have for leaving my kitties is going to be times a million for my own children that I actually birth. I am sure that my mommy would take our kids in a heartbeat for any length of time. She even bought a cow rocker for her "future" grandchildren last week. Crazy woman.

Lucy Dog "B...." is missing her sister. She loves me and is sad that I am gone. I bonded with that damn wiener dog when I was home. Even though I didn't think I was going to like her, I think that I fell in love with my new sister, even if she does have short legs (kind of like her mother :)

I am home, minus my other half, and I am okay with that. I realized something about our relationship when I was home, something pretty profound and comforting. Dru and I have been together for 10 years. Yes, it will be our 10 year anniversary of dating on January 31, 2011 and we could not be more of what people define as "soul mates"...

This is where it can get tricky. I am going to explain why I think that, and I might offend some while doing so, but that it totally not my goal. I realized a few people read my blog that I didn't know were reading (Hi Shannon.........)But anyways here it goes.

Dru and I are not PDA type of people. We don't get all lovely in public and I am totally okay with that. We are not needy people. I don't think that either of us are needy or overbearing at all. I don't question his motives for when he does things, and he doesn't mine. We don't need to be together 24/7 and that is fine. I like that about us. I really love knowing and trusting my significant other to no end. I don't need the reassurance of a hug or a kiss to know that he loves me. We only slept in the same bed once when I was in California, and by sleeping i mean actually sleeping. He got to bed way after me, I didn't even know he was there.

I would prefer to not make out in public, and especially not in front of our parents. Just not our style. But I saw a lot of that when I was home. More than I really wanted to see. And it got me thinking. Why? Why do people need to kiss or cuddle in front of other people? My parents never have been PDA type of people. To tell you the truth I am happy about that. I know that they love each other, but I don't want to think about them doing it. Yep I went there.....I know that my parents have "done it" at least twice, because, well, I have a brother and I am pretty sure that we both came out of my mother's vajajay...I know how babies are made :) But back to the point. Do you kiss and cuddle on your husband/significant other in public? Are you okay with it?

I don't mean to bring this up to be mean or rude, and I am sure that I have made others uncomfortable before. I just don't understand. And I was hoping that others could help me.

And that is the end of that. Honey I love you, and I will see you tomorrow night. I am going to get some laundry done, and prepare myself for what is sure to be a fantastic day of work tomorrow. Tank top's and Orange toes are a distant memory, but will happily be a reality again in a few days when I am back in California for a work conference. San Diego here I come!!!

1/20/11

Hello From Sunny California

I am here-I have been in this glorious state for over 24 hours and was up for almost that many hours yesterday....And it feels good.

The sun is shining and it has to be at least 50 degrees. I went outside w/out shoes on today and it was glorious. Wearing a tank top. I didn't freeze my butt off. Currently my computer is telling me that it is 2 degrees in our little Minnesota town. That makes me incredibly thankful to be in California.

I met my new sister Lucy Dog "Insert my family's last name here"....Yes, that is what she is called. Her official name and both my mom and dad use her full name when talking to her. They talk to the dog quite a bit. And she is treated like a princess. Maybe she takes after her human sister just a little bit? She is kind of a pain in the ass.

Macy-my new niece Puppy is also "visiting" right now. Her grandma went and got her so her dad could take his nap this afternoon. Yes my brother is 26 years old and a dairy farmer who naps each and every afternoon. Ohhh the life.

I also got to meet my friend Jena's baby boy last night. He is such a cutie, and I can't believe that he is 16 months old. We are pretty sure that she started going into labor at our wedding, and he was born 2 days later :) I miss seeing old friends, and am so happy that I could keep my eyes open long enough last night to spend some quality time with my friend Kate and her family and Jena and her family. You are both such beautiful women and I am so happy we are friends!

Now I must get back to work. My parents are not that great at being quiet when I am on conference call's and my mom has talked to 2 different clients since I have been home. But all is good on the home front. I am going to go take a walk and soak up some California sun sometime this afternoon :)

Peace!

1/17/11

Did you see that One Full House Episode?

So most people start out their stories "Like on that one episode of Friends"

Well my friends, this story does not go that way. Because as far as I can recall, they never did something THIS stupid on Friends......

From My Good Friend Google Images



The above picture is what most people would use as a "lubricant" in situations such as mine. Get your head out of the gutter people, I am not writing about sex acts. This was a real problem that I was facing.

I bought my bosses old office furniture and Dru and I spent all day yesterday hauling it to our house and assembling it in the spare bedroom (yep thats right, I am no longer sitting in my cold basement). Once we had it all assembled, I started moving things that I would need for my office upstairs. Until I noticed that we had put the desk against the wall and I hadn't yet plugged in the power strip that I would need to work my appliances.

I tried to stick my arm between the desk and wall and it seemed that my arm was a little too large (muscle people, muscle not fat) to fit in order to plug the strip in. I tried to maneuver the little prongs into the hole with no success. I needed a small child, or Stan or Molly needed to learn how to use their little arms for more important tasks rather than just swatting at each other or petting. I needed a miracle people.

So I did what any sane woman would do. I thought of BUTTER. I had seen an episode of Full House one time where Stephanie was babysitting and the boy got his head stuck in something and she used butter to free the little boy. So why wouldn't butter work to slide my arm further down the side of the wall???

Dru was occupied in the bathroom. He fixed himself some sort of Mexican food for dinner that didn't agree with his stomach and I was determined to do this without his help. So I walked to the kitchen, grabbed the full fat butter (why would I use my "Can't Believe It's Not Butter"?....when full fat butter was available? And lubed myself up. My whole arm. Wrist to elbow.

I grabbed the power strip and easily slid my arm down the hole and VIOLA it was in. I had successfully made my arm skinner by using butter to lube up and had plugged the cord in. But wait, my arm was stuck. I couldn't slide it back out of the crevice....

My arm was being held captive by the desk and wall, and it started to hurt. My arm was stuck. I was going to die with butter on my arm, baby kitties licking me and my husband sitting on the toilet. Ensue screaming "I'm STUCK"...HELP!!!!

Dru had no idea what his wife had done, but finished up his "business" and ran to my rescue. He managed to pull the desk away from the wall a little bit so I could slide my butter covered arm out of the crevice.

Then he laughed at me. Why the hell was I covered in butter?

Moral of the story? Butter does work, but can leave you in strange situations where you have to explain to your husband why you are covered in butter and the kitties are following you around for the rest of the evening.....

Google Images

1/15/11

Home Sweet Home

Since I am returning "home" I have been thinking about the things that I miss from my childhood and can't wait to experience again, even if it is only for a few days.....And in no particular order they are below

1. Waking up to the coffee already being made by my fantastic mommy and sitting watching the Today show with her...Refill's of my coffee are also a great perk :)

2. Sitting in my dad's recliner for hours on end and him "pretending" to kick me out of his chair (I know he is secretly happy that I am there even if I am in his spot)

3. Running to the hot tub on the slippery deck in my bathrobe (or no clothes at all) trying to not let Lady lick my butt (yes I realize this is odd, and I am naked....and yes Lady is the big dog who lives outside) Then sitting in the warm hot tub watching the night sky hearing the cows moo.

4. Watching Thursday night TV with my mom and trying to stay awake until 11pm (yes I'm old and Thursday night TV ends at 10pm when you are on CST time) eating popcorn.

5. Not having feet of snow outside my front door, and being able to wear just a sweatshirt when riding a bike down the lane to get the mail.

6. Knowing just about everyone when you go somewhere, even in the "big city"...The Safeway store is a sure place to run into at least 10 people that I know or knew when I lived there.


 List to be continued tomorrow----I need to finish my laundry. 

1/12/11

It is a new year....

I haven't blogged in what seems like forever. And it has been weighing kind of heavy on my heart. I love this space, I love getting things out of my head and on "paper". It helps, it is healing. So here I go.

Dru and I had a conversation last night about this space. And how I share many aspects of my life. I am 100% comfortable with it, I am an open book in most aspects of my life. When it comes to this space, I want it to be my space, and a place that I feel comfortable with just talking. So that is what I am going to do. Just talk. Sometimes things are crappy, sometimes things are just not working the way that I want them to, and I get that. I love that about life, but I also hate that about life.

Things have been fairly good lately. I am starting to feel more normal, and more like my body does not hate me. I go days where the pain isn't so bad. Where I can handle the pain, with one extra strength ibuprofen. And that is awesome. I love that. I love not having to take meds to get through the day. But I want to be normal. I want for my body to work in the correct way that god designed it to. Don't we all? So I still struggle with what is happening. And I don't like to talk about it that much. Maybe in the future I will go more into depth about this, but for now I am just living. Living life to the fullest when I can.

I am going to get to see many friends and family sometime soon. And I am super excited about it. I haven't been "home" to California since the wedding in Sept of 09, so it will be nice to be home. To meet Lucy the puppy, and to have the comfort of my parents house. To lay on the couch snuggled in one of my mom's homemade quilts, watching Thursday night TV with her while snuggling with Merv and "stealing" the chair from my dad. My dad and I have a love hate relationship regarding his recliner. I tend to think that it is my recliner when I am home and plant my butt in it whenever possible :) I will also be working when I am at home. That is one luxury of working from home, is that work can travel. But this is a luxury that not many are afforded, so I have to make sure to not screw that up. I will be working 8+ hour days when I am at home and I have to be productive. This doesn't mean that I probably won't stop work to raid the fridge every so often, or even take a quick hot tub break at lunch (I REALLY wish that I had a hot tub here in Minnesota, I could use it)...

I am getting a new office set this weekend. And I couldn't be more happy about it. It is beautiful and new to me, (it was my bosses and he is getting built in desks put in). I will be moving back upstairs and hope that the warmth of my new space will allow me to not have to wear layers upon layers when working. Or even sitting on a heating pad (yes I am doing this right now) because my office is frigid. Did you forget that it was cold here? Probably not, but this is the 3rd snowiest winter of all time in Minnesota. I don't know how I feel about that, knowing that Winter is not even close to over.

Sorry for the novel. Sarah G you are probably cringing over my grammar, and spelling mistakes. But this is me. I have missed you all, and maybe you missed me too?

Peace.