Potter Marathon

What's up with the fog lately? Sometimes it's been so bad that we can't see the house across the street. I'm really glad it rained on Saturday into Sunday. I'm gonna do a rain dance....well it'll probably be a rain cough... I think we need more rain. I like when it's raining and I'm home for the day.This weekend was spent on the couch watching Harry Pothead movies (yes, Pothead). I've never watched the movies so I figured I may as well have a "Potter Marathon". I watched 5 of the movies and learned there are 6 and one still in theaters. Poop. I thought I finally caught up with these silly movies. NOPE! I told Doug, "Maybe the next time I'm sick I'll watch the Lord of the Ring movies." (I haven't seen those either). He said, "What about Star Wars?" I said, "I'm not THAT sick, I'll have to work up to those movies." LOL Now I'll have to go buy the 6th Harry Pothead movie so I can catch up....geez, then there's a seventh.

But, I sure didn't do much over the weekend. Just a lot of coughing and medications. I crashed my computer (on purpose) last weekend and I spent this Saturday morning putting my programs back on it. It's only a year old and was giving me the "blue screen of death", so I backed everything up twice on 2 hard drives and then crashed it. I was bummed that my finances wouldn't recover, so I asked Doug to pick up a new version of our program. I was able to get it all back! I was pretty excited; it's got my finances back to 2002 and then includes Doug from 2007 and on. Then I went back to the couch. Here is my medication picnic:Here's a closer picture of the cough syrups: I hope you can see the label on the lighter red bottle - maybe clicking on the picture will make it bigger. I wondered if that's the flavor they gave me?? Also, notice the level the liquids are at in each bottle...the dark red bottle is 2/3 full, the Nyquil is just about empty and the light red bottle is at almost half. Yeah, I drank a lot over the weekend. The light red bottle is the syrup with Codeine. I just drink it out of the bottle and then I stopped to read the directions yesterday. It's supposed to be 5 ml per dose up to 3 times per day. I learned 5 ml is a teaspoon. I was drinking about 2 tablespoons at a time on top of 2 tablespoons of Nyquil. I was taking some decent naps though! Or maybe I was just passed out. Who knows. LOL I'm generally okay not taking medications when I'm sick, but this time I got my butt kicked. Coughing this hard and this long is exhausting. I honestly thought the doctor was going to tell me I had pneumonia, but luckily it hadn't progressed that far. But bronchitis and I are NOT friends. Hmmm, it's time for lunch and more medication.

Cough....Cough....cough cough cough cough

I've had a long, exhausting week. I woke up last Saturday morning coughing like crazy and I haven't stopped. I've been getting headaches from coughing so much and I've been gagging and dry heaving too. It's quite delightful. I haven't been able to sleep all week and I don't know how Doug has gotten any sleep, but he said my coughing hasn't bothered him. I've taken vitamins, daytime cold pills, nighttime cold pills, Nyquil cough syrup, Advil, many many cough drops, vitamin drops, allergy pills, drinkable medications and I even began taking expired medications because I was willing to try anything to stop coughing - even an expired inhaler. My body hurts from coughing and it's only getting worse....so I gave up and went to the doctor today. I've only been off the couch long enough today to shower, go to the doctor and the pharmacy - and random bathroom breaks :). I didn't even put makeup on and I NEVER leave the house without foundation on.
This is what I gathered while waiting at the pharmacy for an hour:The doctor said I have a slight fever, rapid pulse, shallow breathing, a lot of junk in my lungs and significant wheezing = bronchitis. She said if I don't get the wheezing and junk in my lungs under control it can get dangerous. Yep, I kinda knew all that and pretty much diagnosed myself, but I can't write prescriptions so I paid my $30 copay to get prescriptions for an antibiotic, inhaler and cough syrup with codeine - which is what I really wanted - something to stop my cough for a little while and help me sleep. mmmm drugs. When I got home from the pharmacy I took 2 antibiotic pills, cough syrup with codeine, Mucinex, Nyquil cough syrup and ate a few cherry candies as a chaser to the Nyquil flavor and waited for everything to kick in. Doug came home a little early to take care of me and got more sleep than I did - without drugs. I'm hoping I can get some sleep tonight.....mmm drugs. Hopefully I'll stop coughing and won't drive myself and everyone crazy anymore.
While talking to my step-dad today he said I sound awful and I told him this coughing is kicking my butt. He said, "Yep, colds will kick your butt more as you get older... And you're not a spring chicken anymore!" HAHAHHA. Ya gotta love family - we all need reality checks :)

The Battle Continues

First, I'd like to embarrass myself....I tripped UP the stairs on Friday at work. I went down hard on my knee and both hands. I laughed and laughed - no blood, no foul right??

Second - have you ever used a Mr. Clean Bathroom Magic Eraser? They really are magic! This is the before and after:Yes, my tub was gross. It's such a pain to clean, but with the erasers, it only takes about 10-15 minutes. They are larger and more durable than the original eraser sponges. Ooooo sparkly:

We had Ben and Breanna over for pizza and a movie the other night; I made it a small birthday celebration since her birthday was a few days ago. We each had our own mini bottle of Martinelli's too:

Here is the battle...AGAIN!!!
We saw the cat again, so we pulled the table cover off and pulled the chairs out.... there was cat poop on each freakin' chair!! While we were waiting for my parents to get to our house, we spent the time scrubbing the chairs and table and rinsing everything off. AHHHH CATS!!!

We had to check the table cover for pee too.

While at lunch today, I picked up some more cat repellent and I yelled out, "Hey you dang cats! Quite pissin' on my chairs!"

Then Becky said, "Can switching to Geico save you 15% or more on car insurance? - Do cats pissing on April's chairs really make her mad??" HHHAHAHA If you haven't seen the Geico Woodchuck commercial, it's hysterical, but my favorite is the Little Pig.

Our truck arrived - this is Glenn giving us the in's and out's of the truck:

Isn't it pretty? We have to do some work on it, but it's in great shape!

Red Robin

We went to Red Robin last night for Breanna's birthday dinner. When they called Breanna's name to announce that our table was ready, a long line of people walked through the lobby to the table. I think there was about 20 of us. We started joking that everyone waiting in the lobby was thinking, "No wonder we're not eating yet!!!"
Dinner was a lot of fun. I sat next to Ben's dad and he is really easy to talk to and really funny. He shared his story about his journey so far with breast cancer. He recently had his first chemo treatment and he has such a great sense of humor that he was telling me he has a knit cap already (because he doesn't expect to have hair in about a week) and he even has one with dreadlocks - he's such a kidder that I really believe he has one. I'm really glad I was able to get to know him. We met some other great people too. One gal actually knows another good friend of mine; it's such a small world!

Why Are Commercials So Loud?

Just a random question because I have a TV on behind me and I can't figure out why the commercials are yelling at me although the movie isn't loud.

Doug got the garage ready for the truck:Doug bought a piece of furniture to help fill in our empty wall. I'm hoping to get pictures framed and put on the wall above it soon. There are doors on the outside and shelves in the middle, or you can slide the doors to the middle and have shelves on the outside:Do you remember my war against cats and slugs from a while back when I ended up locked outside? Well, the war begins again!!! I went outside to turn our sprinklers on since it hasn't rained for quite a while. I found pee on our 2 lounge chair covers again:I sprayed the pee off the covers and called Doug. I asked him to buy a cat trap so we can get rid of the freakin' cats. Not long after I got off the phone with Doug, I went downstairs to put laundry in the dryer and there was a cat on our table - it probably wasn't on the chairs because they're wet. I called Doug because I wasn't quite sure what to do because we don't have a BB gun. He quickly reminded me we have an airsoft rifle and pistol. OH YEAH!

It's wabbit season.

No it's duck season.

Wabbit season.

DUCK season!

DUCK season!

Wabbit season!

....Um, NO it's CAT season!

I loaded the airsoft pistol and went to the back door. I switched the lock and then looked through the blinds to make sure the cat didn't move. I slowly slid the door open and the cat stopped and looked up. Then I slid the door open far enough that I could fit through it. I watched the cat through the blinds again, it was watching in the direction of the noise but couldn't see the door. After a minute or two, I stepped out the door and aimed. BUT because I could only see the shoulders and face of the cat, I got nervous I was going to lodge a plastic BB in it's eye. I lowered my aim a couple inches and hit the table cover directly below the cat. The cat freaked out and took off running. I ran after the cat while quickly pulling the slide back to reload. I have no idea where the cat went and I've never seen a cat move so fast! I hope I scared it enough that it won't come back.

The Good, Gross and Funny

Here's the gross... Doug has a very large pore on his back. I don't know if anyone has any tips regarding this type of thing, but it has to be drained occasionally. EEEWWWW! Doug has let me cut at it with scalpels and everything. It stayed pretty clean after I tried to cut it out of him 4 years ago, but it didn't stay clean. Doug brought it up the last time he went to the doctor's office, but all he said was to clean/drain it. Gross, gross, gross. I swear, I've helped with abdominal dressing changes while working at a hospital where gauze was 3 inches into someones intestines and that didn't gross me out, but this giant zit does. It gets swollen under his skin like a pea is growing in his back. After draining recently:

Here's the good... We have a new door handle! I won't get left out in the cold anymore. Yippey!More good....I went to dinner with a married man tonight! I told Doug I was a single woman today because I left my wedding ring at home. We went to Ben and Breanna's for cupcakes for Breanna's birthday and on the way home we stopped at Costa Vida for dinner. If you guys are ever near a Costa Vida, it's totally worth it! SO YUMMY!! Can you tell Doug was hungry? He's done and I'm not half way through my mango chicken salad.Here's the funny... My mom sent me this picture today. She was cracking up because this buck was sticking his tongue at her.Here's more good... Isn't it nice when good outweighs everything else!!?? It's going to start with figuring out what to do with all this stuff in the garage:We have to move all the stuff in the garage to fit this:

We just rearranged the garage to fit Doug's gigantic truck and now we have to fit another truck in the garage. This truck has been in my life for 22 years and I learned to drive in this truck (and a minivan and a Corvette - heck yeah, I learned to drive in a Corvette!). It was my step-dad's first new truck, first new anything. He decided it's time to get rid of a few things and my mom mentioned he was selling it so I told her we would buy it (after I double checked with Doug of course). My parents are really excited to keep it in the family. I've already ordered personalized plates for it; they are very similar to my current plates. We also ordered custom plates for Doug's truck. We will have MSS, MRS and MR plates. So fun! The MSS plates started it (years and years ago) because I had a show car that everyone thought was my boyfriend's car; of course a woman can't have a show car **insert eye roll** so I put girl license plates on it. Hopefully the DMV will approve the plates although they are all very similar.

Credit Card Fraud Lesson

I got an email from Chase yesterday. The email explains that someone was trying to log into my account and for my protection it was locked. In order to unlock the account I just have to click on the link in the email.First problem is the email doesn't have my name or the last four digits of my account number. Second problem is when I hover the mouse over the link in the email it says: usapeec.org and a bunch of other letters afterwards. That certainly isn't a Chase website.

I do have to give credit to the makers of this fraudulent email. It looks pretty legit and even has a no-reply @ chase.com return email address. I wonder how many people will click the link without batting an eye.When I clicked the link to see what would happen (so I could share it with you), it takes me to the Chase website via a forwardyourid.ir website. Very sneaky. Norton stopped it and gave me the blocked information above. Yay for Norton!

My tips for you are to never click a link in an email from a credit card company (I say never, but if you KNOW you requested your password moments before - or something along those lines then okay), always type the company website into the web browser. It's safer to type chase.com than to click a possibly fraudulent link and give your log in and information away. And if you get an email you think is a fraud, get your credit card out and call the 800 number on the back and ask. I called Chase yesterday and the gal could just about recite what the email said because they see it all the time.

Keep your log in and credit card/banking info safe. People will try anything to get your information.

Frozen Trees

Our poor trees have suffered through the frozen nights we've had - and we have plenty more to come. We can cover them in the evening, but because of our schedules, the cover stays on them throughout the next day into the night and then we have to leave them for the next freeze. My fancy hubby built little homes for our trees yesterday: Now the covers won't rest on the trees and if they stay covered it won't be such a big deal.

Oh, by the way, we ate the oranges that I accidentally cut off some time ago and they're pretty darn good. We only got 2 oranges that the slugs didn't get to. We were able to get a couple bags of lemons, a bag of mandarins, and 2 tiny limes that weren't edible.

Dinner Date

We had a dinner date last night with Amera and her future husband, Alby (we both think the word fiance is kinda weird - she still calls him her boyfriend, but I said he's graduated from that :) ). We haven't seen each other for a long time and it was great to meet her future husband. We had a great time visiting and laughing. This is a tall group of people:It's fun for me to set up the camera and then run to get into the picture. I usually make everyone stand there for a few pictures. This one was taken on the first try! Nicely done everyone. Thanks for spending the evening with us, we'll have to do it again soon.

27th Donation

Yesterday seemed like it went on forever. I'm sure you've had those days when 8 hours feels like 16. Do you have people/friends in your life that blame everyone else for everything? I live it everyday and it gets frustrating.
Q - You don't like your job?
A - Find a new one.
Q - You hate people walking all over you?
A - Don't let them and learn to say no.
Q - Your boyfriend is worthless?
A - Get rid of him. (Some people cannot stand to be alone and would rather be unhappy than alone.)
Q - You HATE your relative/friend?
A - Don't talk to them or contact them anymore. (The joy of being an adult is we don't have to be around people we don't want to. Mom/Dad doesn't MAKE us spend time with our family anymore.)
Q - Hate being a victim?
A - Then choose not to be one and live your life differently.
Q - Do you hate being in debt?
A - Then quit eating out everyday and wasting your money on things you don't need or won't even remember in a month. (We don't have many "needs" in our lives; people waste so much money on "wants")
Q - Do you hate being a doormat?
A - Again, learn to say no and have more respect for yourself.
Q - Are you overweight/out of shape?
A - Get off your duff and do something about it. The diet/weight loss fairy isn't going to knock on your door, wave her wand to make glitter appear and your weight will be gone when the glitter settles.
Q - Did something go wrong and you can't control it?
A - Take a deep breath and try to realize you will get through it.
Q - Do parts of your job/home life drive you crazy?
A - Realize that people generally don't do things to piss you off or try to get under your skin. Pick your battles and listen with an open heart. (I'm sure someone didn't intentionally leave something for you to clean up or fix just to make you mad; maybe you just need a calm, rational conversation to understand where they are coming from - you might find out they didn't realize they have a certain habit. It's not worth jumping down someone's throat when they may have the same issues with you that you didn't realize either.)

Can you tell I've had a lot on my mind?? LOL I totally realize some people are just lazy and/or prefer drama in their lives. To those people I say, "Deal with it." You CHOOSE to keep that drama in your life so learn to live with it.

I'm completely guilty of some of these questions and answers, but I think I have a pretty good grip on my life. I've learned a lot during my lifetime and I get really frustrated with people who continually slam their head into walls and wonder why they have headaches. The issue I'm dealing with the most for myself right now is getting off my duff to get back in shape. I complain about it and then I don't get up when my alarm goes off to work out and I have a horrible weakness for sweets. BUT I know I'm the only one who can change it. That stinkin' fairy hasn't come knocking on my door. :)

Another example I can think of is when we make dinner and do the dishes. When I cook dinner, I clean up as I go so there's less to deal with when we're done eating dinner. When Doug cooks, he cleans up everything when he's done. To me, that seems like a waste of time and I see it as a big mess to deal with after dinner. On the other hand, Doug probably views my way as extra work because not only am I cooking, but I'm also cleaning instead of spending time with him - when I could just do all the cleaning at one time instead of over and over. And I continually give him a hard time for leaving one dish or pot in the sink or on the stove when he's done cleaning. Does he do that to annoy me? Of course NOT! I LET it annoy me, I choose to let that stupid dish get under my skin. With a huff and an eye roll I clean the final dish or pot. Is it worth the eye roll or huff to begin with? Nope. It's just a dish. Doug has a lot on his mind, just like I do. Does he huff and roll his eyes at me when I'm lazy and don't change the toilet paper roll? Nope. I'm learning to be more like that :)

Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.

This entire rant was supposed to just be a simple intro to the post title, but it sure turned into a venting session. Onto what I was originally going to post about....

I gave my 27th blood donation yesterday - that's a total of 3.375 gallons. Most people can't stand needles or hate watching blood draws....not me, I took pictures:

I got home late for our dinner date with Ben and Breanna. I told Breanna, "It's nice of me to show up huh? LOL" Ben and Doug watched college football and we went upstairs to play Mario on the Wii. We were yelling and laughing a lot and then we thought we better go check on our hubbies. Yep, just as we thought - they fell asleep. They work so hard for us.

I got a present yesterday! I love presents!! In all reality, I love anything wrapped - I always say it could be a stick of gum or a pencil, it's just so exciting to unwrap stuff! Even if I wrap it to give to someone else I can't stand it and have to make them open it! My sister-in-law, Denise, made me the cutest apron!!! She is so talented! I'm so excited to use it! But I don't want to use it and ruin it at the same time. Oh what a dilemma. She must know the pajama shirt I'm wearing has an oil stain on it. LOL Thank you so much Denise. I love it!!!

Man, do I sound bipolar or what???!!! "Holy crap it was a long day, rant, rant, rant....OOOO a super cute apron!!!" HAHAH Like a dog that just saw a squirrel or a bright shiny thing.

Oooooo Flowers!

Awe!! Doug got me flowers!!! Peak season is done! I've got my Dougie back!

So, while he was out of the room for a few minutes I set up a "romantico" dinner setting. I put out our Mr & Mrs wine glasses with some sparkling apple/pomegranate juice. We have 2 tables and we still eat in the living room. Fancy huh?

WT-H.E.Double Bendy Straws

I took this picture while out and about with Kristie: Yeah...but apparently spell check isn't on duty.

Hello 2011

HI!!! It's 2011!!! We spent New Year's eve with Ben and Breanna. We had a yummy dinner followed by Wii games. It's pretty hysterical to play Super Mario Bros with 4 people. We yelled a lot and called each other names as we accidentally killed each other. Ben wasn't feeling well and it got progressively worse as the evening went on. Just after 10:30pm they left to take Ben to the emergency room. We got a text message at about 11:15pm asking if Doug could give Ben a blessing. We got ready and waited a little bit. I thought it would save us some time if we left and met them at their apartment because the doctors were moving quickly and I thought they would be leaving soon. Breanna sent another text that they wouldn't be leaving soon after all. We headed home and caught a glimpse of some fireworks on the way. We hope Ben is feeling better today.
On a different "pity me" moment, I don't feel good today. I'm ringing in the new year with a female "visitor" and cramps.

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I had one more thing on my cleaning list to finish from yesterday. Changing the HVAC filter. We change the filter regularly, but holy cow this thing got dirty quickly!! No wonder I had so much dusting to do. I'm going to try to never change this filter again. I'm filing a petition that it's a Doug job - he's the one who always does it anyways, but I thought it would be no big deal. After carrying a heavy awkward ladder upstairs and down (banging it on the steps on the way up and down), prying on the latch, struggling to get the filter over the screw head that's sticking out, yelling "DANG YOU!!!!!!!!!", and hitting it with a hammer, I'm not doing it again! Yep, I let the air filter get the better of me. Stupid filter.

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I haven't really thought of the things I really want to accomplish in 2011, but I do have things that have been on my list through 2010. One big thing is getting back in shape. I've reached a point when I walk/run - I feel jiggling, if I hit bumps in the road - I feel jiggling, you get the idea. I've been telling people that I need to watch it or my muffin top will become a donut ring. I found these 2 shirts that made me laugh:Also, while searching for a funny picture for my "donut ring", I actually found a donut ring! How cute is this:

Doug and I really need to focus on getting healthy. We're not very unhealthy, but we can definitely use some exercise and better diets.

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More stuff on my long time list:

We need to spend more time with our friends and families.

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We need to work on paying his truck off as soon as we can, but that's going to take us more than a few years.

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We need to get outside more often.

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I need to work on having more patience. I'm pretty patient in general, but I get very annoyed with some people and things, so I need to work on my own understanding and not let it bother me so much.

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I want to turn our blog into a book per year.

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We have other projects for the house in mind too and I know there are many other personal growth things for me to work on this year.

I'm really grateful for Doug and I'm lucky to have him as my husband and eternal companion. I'm also thankful for our family and friends. We are looking forward to this year and hope your 2011 is wonderful too. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Goodbye 2010

My last pictures from 2010.
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We had a pretty bad storm the other night. I found entertainment watching the neighborhood Christmas lights blowing in the wind. I also watched our patio umbrella for a while. There were 40mph winds and I wondered if the bricks would hold it, The winds only moved it's location a little and one brick fell off. This isn't the most appetizing picture, but my visiting teacher made us a lasagna. I was so surprised! She knows how busy Doug is through the holidays and that we don't get to spend a lot of time together, so she made us dinner so we wouldn't have to worry about it for a few days. We really have some amazing people in our ward and I really need to work on getting to know them better. The lasagna was super yummy.

Why is it when you're running late, everything seems to get in the way? I really think it's just our perception that everything gets in the way because we're stressing to get somewhere. BUT, the other day I left a few minutes late, which I wasn't really worried about because traffic has been lighter due to the holidays. Why is it that I hardly ever deal with the train, but on this day when I leave late the train has not only stopped me, but is way longer than normal?? I spent my New Year's Eve day cleaning. I cleaned for about 9 hours straight! How only the 2 of us made 9 hours of cleaning, I'll never know (one hour was spent putting our Nativity set away, that thing has a lot of boxes and styrofoam!). I wiped down every surface, cleaned bathrooms, did the dishes, laundry, vacuumed, January finances, etc. I apparently needed to end 2010 on a clean note. While doing laundry, I had a little surprise when I opened the door:

What a grand moment when I found a black gel pen sitting on the lint trap. You can't see it very well, but the picture below shows some of the black streaks I spent about 30 minutes wiping off with nail polish remover.