Silly Thankful Eve

There are two things I need my daily dose of. Two things I either wake up to or fall asleep to. They are my sanity. They are my joy. Every morning I watch Sportscenter. It's a habit and I love it, I love watching top 10 plays. Love the reports, the analytics of each and every game. I love catching some of the music on my iPhone and being able to download it for some of my favorite workout songs. Most of all lately, I have been grateful for the fact that most of it is football talk. It's my sanity in the winter. It's what keeps me looking forward to Saturdays...Sundays....Mondays..............and Thursdays! I am also grateful for Thanksgiving...because there is a lot of football on! :)

What can I say. I need my nightly dose of Conan O'Brien. He makes me laugh...a lot. Troy calls him my other boyfriend. Yes, he's pasty with more freckles than grains of sand on the California beaches, I find him highly non-attractive and yet, after the kids have gone to bed, after I've watched the third loop of Sportscenter for the night, I drown myself in laughter watching Conan. Thank you Conan, for being such a spaz on TV!

A few other crazy thankfuls:

After watching the Dr. Who episode of "Blink", Derek, Annabelle and I refuse to go down to the basement at night (I didn't let Rachel or Joe watch it...could you imagine??). I am grateful Troy isn't scared of the dark!

According to my last "thankful", I am a wimp in the dark. And watching scary shows (okay, scary to me. Alesia would scoff at what I think is scary!), keeps me from going to sleep at times. Combine that with some anxiety and I am deeply grateful for klonopin. I can actually sleep through the night at times when I need it the most!

Good times. This is Jake. Jake rocks. Troy and I attended a wedding reception of one of our old employees from our old music store. The kids we had working for us were fresh out of high school, loved classic mustangs and were band junkies. Best kids we could have ever hired! Fast forward 5 years and they are still eclectic and fun to talk with (see above). One year they gave Troy and I a 2 1/2 foot tall trophy for Christmas with two body builders atop, "Hiroko and Troy, The Bestest Boss People Ever." It still stands on my office hutch.

A webcam on my new computer...and leaving my girl to figure out how to use it.

Thankful

It's two days before Thanksgiving and, being without a computer it has been impossible to blog all the many things I am grateful for this month as well as all the funny and crazy happenings as of lately.

I will try my best to express my sincere gratitude for the recent (and not so recent) events in my life over the course of the next two days, in no particular order.

1. Thankful for my family. Derek sprayed pledge on the tile floors last night. The kids had fun playing tag and deliberately chasing each other in the slick area of the floor. They make me laugh, cry, make me angry and bring me a lot of peace. Thank you Troy for your hard work, the many foot massages and for this beautiful computer that I can once again get into the things I love doing so much (like blogging). Thank you for you ever patience with me and my football obsession.

2. Thankful for very dear, close friends. You know who you are. You are real, you are funny, and it's so great to laugh together! You are who you are without putting up perfectionist fronts. I can give you my ipod without a second thought and love that we can listen to Breaking Benjamin and RED! Friends that are true, without strings attached, without hidden agendas, without drama or animosity. You who can pick me up when I cry and keep me going and know that football, chocolate and UFC are the best medications for my soul! I can't say it enough how deeply grateful I am for the true friends I have!

3. My family...extended. My mom makes me laugh, constantly. I need to post more about her, because she's incredible! My mom is the very essence of charity and the true gospel. My dad who taught me not to throw like a girl, how to use a power tool, and plumb a sink, hang sheetrock and paint walls. My sisters who stand by me. Who call at the moment I need someone to talk with. My brother, who is the perfect brother. He's one of the most important people in my life.

4. Opportunities. 5 years ago, I would have thought at this point in my life I would be 300 pounds, sitting on the couch watching Oprah, eating a whole bag of chips and 2 quarts of ice cream. Things happen for a reason and I was blessed with the opportunity of having the one trainer that would change my life, Patrick. He taught me more than weights. He taught me nutrition, the workings of the body, the metabolism, the why's to everything. Because of that one opportunity that I bravely took, I find myself finding more doors opening to other opportunities that I am once again bravely taking.

5. Facebook. I got reacquainted with my old high school friend, who helped me get a part time job at a clinic where her husband worked, which turned into an amazing learning and growing opportunity for me to be able to grow and develop in ways I have yet to discover. Laura has the heart of an angel and I love her dearly. And Justin has the patience with me to teach me so much that I am trying to grasp in the few short weeks we have before opening up his practice.

Back In Business!!

After given a diagnosis that my computer was dead from Geekbox and it would be better to go out and get a new computer instead of forever fixing our old (2 years old) PC, Troy and I got a new one. I will say that advertising works. It works well. We figured since we were going to have to move all of our stuff anyway, we might as well get something that won't crash on us 3 months later. We got an iMac!

So finally, I'm back in business and back to blogging! (YAY!!). And yes Ammon, I guess I am dead to you now. But, I don't miss my PC one bit. (because my iMac has been running for 5 minutes now and hasn't crashed once!)

Holes

For the past month or so we've been trying to get our basement finished. It's been a slow process as my dad has been coming over a couple times a week to help out and get things done right. We dug up some of the cement floor to allow for plumbing changes and found the builder didn't quite get things lined up with the footings! Seriously! I will be taking pictures of our find before we cover up the cement again. We also have to float the concrete as there is a nice slope to our floor. All these things to do before we can even get the walls up!

And then....(and I'll get into trouble for this), last week, Troy and our friend Todd were running wires and cable through the attic to fish down to the basement. Troy tripped and didn't quite step in the right spot...thus, the large gaping hole in our ceiling. So it looks like for now, we have bigger things to work on than the basement. It's a good thing we have a big bucket of our trim paint!

Halloween

This Halloween we were a little more subdued and not as all out as we were last year, which, given my very crazy busy days, was just fine with me! Living where we do, it is a big place for kids to come trick or treating. We actually ran out of 3 boxes of Halloween microwave popcorn and had to run to the store to get some candy! It was crazy!!

I never got the chance to post the pic of me in my gorgeous costume last year. I had a TON of fun scaring the ba-geebers out of plenty of people (and little kids, I know, I'm horrible). Here is me. Really...it's me.

This year I decided to go just a little different route. Like I've always said, you can never go wrong with Star Wars! The only buggy thing is, about 90% of people that came to the door called me Princess Leia. Really? Um. No buns on the side of my head, and I would be in white winter clothing for planet Hoth, as that was the only time she had worn white pants . Seriously people. Padme. Is that so hard? I gave extra candy to those who actually got it right. Like the Anakin and little Yoda that came to our door! :)

Next year I've got great things planned for me and the three kids who love dressing up!

Believe It or Not

Believe it or not, at one time in my life, I donned a mullet. And I have the picture to prove it...to everyone. That's me, in the electric blue, oversized sweatshirt wearing my West High basketball socks. I know, I was the hot chick back then. I think I gave Kurt Russel in "Big Trouble in Little China" a run for his money...er...mullet. Here's the scary part. I was 15. 15!!! And I wondered why the guys didn't ask me out very often in high school (I could probably count my high school dates on one hand). Is it any wonder after seeing this? Seriously.

But, more than that, believe it or not, my computer is back, fixed (for real this time) and I'm back to more than just my personal blog but my health and family blogs as well (finally). Thank you Geekbox for fixing it and thank you Ammon for referring me to them.

And just because, here's a few more:

1. Believe it or not when I was 13 I would smear ketchup on white bread and eat it! Mmmmm
2. Believe it or not I have over 60 pairs of shoes.
3. Believe it or not I refuse to flush the toilet in the middle of the night (unless I absolutely have to).
4. Believe it or not when I was about 7 I would eat VICKS mentholatum. I'm still not sure why.
5. Believe it or not I have blown out 3 pairs of Skull Candy earplugs.
6. Believe it or not I am already waiting for summer to return.
7. Believe it or not I start and end every single day with Sportscenter.

Back From the Dead

After much trial and tribulation, thanks to the guidance of my genius of a brother, I have been able to bring my computer back from the dead (although, I still think there is a creature lurking inside - curses!)...which explains the long and overdue blogging absence. But, much has gone on during this computer malfunctioning time. Here it is (in no particular order):

1. Did 52 1/2 loads of laundry.
2. Changed the filters in the turtle's tank.
3. Mopped up a horrid overflowing mess from the kids' toilet (thank you kids).
4. Started my 1100/1400 calorie regimen and dropped 12 pounds (almost there!)
5. Went tanning.
6. Read "The Hunger Games" and "Catching Fire". Shocked my family in the process (I don't read novels) and LOVED the books!
7. Got brave and started giving me my own hormone replacement shots (no, not HCG...or HGH).
8. Started working with a facial plastic surgeon.
9. Forming a company with the facial plastic surgeon which has been a lot of work but a fun new adventure!
10. Watched Conan almost every night.
11. Went to the movies
12. Am going to now watch the cat chase (and eventually kill...and eat) a mouse in our garage.