Let's Blend

I have been craving anything blended lately.  Josh and I went to Wal-Mart and I purchased a personal blender with 4 different glasses (a cheaper version of the oh so famous buller). McDonald's Frappe's, Tim Horton's Ice Capps, Starbucks Vivano, Freshens Smoothie...ANYTHING blended.  I was in Wal-Mart looking for ingrediants for lasagna and ended up in the frozen fruit isle and I came across Jamba Juice Smoothies.  Who would have thought in Michigan we could drink like the celebrities!  Can't wait to try it but looks like it will have to wait another day because I forgot the special ingredient...apple juice.  I am going to try to master either the Ice Capp or Frappe over the course of the next few days.  Wish me luck :-)

Amish Bread

I was craving homemade bread, mainly in the form of Texas french toast.  I found a new recipe for Amish white bread and it was ohhh soo yummy.  Tonight we had grilled cheese with it and hopefully there will be some left for the weekend so I can make French Toast. 

And this is why I watched Glee

Josh worked Friday night, came home for 3 hours of sleep and then we were off to get our taxes done.  We watched video tapes at my parents house of when Becky and I were little.  It was sooo much fun!  It really makes you think how quickly we grow up.  It seems like yesterday I was riding around with Dad in his truck, listening to Alabama's-40 hour week cassette tape and stopping at Jensen's for beef jerky  or going school clothes/supplies shopping with mom (an all day event) or going to Bay City bowling on the weekends with the family and being amazed at the electronic score keeping!  I could not ask for a better family :-)  Anyways...my Saturday evening was spent catching up on Glee and checking out Pinterest...from the picture you can see why :-)

Break through the clouds

I love when the sun shines through the clouds on a drury day.  Too bad all I had was my camera phone to capture this.  I feel like people are looking down from heaven when you can see the rays.

Branches

I had a very stressful week at work and I came home soo happy that it was finally friday, UNTIL I noticed DTE cut down everything but the dying evergreen.  I was soo upset.  I LOVE huge trees and they touched one of mine, which equals me not being a very happy camper.  I understand that trees/branches can't be by the power and if the two branches that they cut off were indeed by the power lines I would grin and bear it.  However you can see they were extremely low and growing in the opposite direction...ugg.

1 more day

Only 1 more work day till I am going to put my pj's on and stay in them allll weekend long...oh except for the appt with our accountant on sat...prob shouldn't wear pj's to that.  I have been completely exhausted so these posts are short.  The pic:  As I previously state Tazer ALLLLWAAYS copies Lucee.  She now discovered how she too can sit in the window sills.  She climbs on the table Josh has set up for his taxes, then onto the keyboard, and then onto the window sill.  She isn't as graceful as Lucee so I decided I would use a blanket to protect my keyboard from her little paws.  I think Lucee found another use for the blanket...

Work at home=not a good day

I had to bring my work home with me tonight :-(  My eyes feel glazed over from exhaustin and I have to wake up an hour earlier to go into work.  I am making a promise to myself that I will not do anything this weekend but relax...I will be having some serious couch potato time.

Tired

It was a very rough day.  Florida can't come soon enough.  I came across this pic from Sunday and it made me smile.  That pitcher and bowl was used for Noah's baptism.  We barely walked in the door and sat it on the table and Lucee went and laid in it.  I was in the bathroom and Josh brought her in to show me. 

My Valentine guilty pleasure

Valentine's Day is full of love, cards, hearts, flowers, chocolates and...MY ULTIMATE FAVORITE Brach's Cherry Ju-Ju Hearts.  I could eat bag after bag after bag of these yummy gummy hearts.  Unfortunately, so could Josh so I have to make sure I hide a bag from him ;-)  Tonight when I got into the car with the Ju-Ju Hearts he asked me where my bag was because this bag was his, haha.  And they have to be Brach's no exceptions.  Oh and on a good note today.  Detroit Edison knocked on the door and told us that the half dead evergreen tree in our front yard will have to be cut down by them...what a shame...NOT!  Good thing we didn't pay to have it cut down last year :-)

Noah's Baptism

Today was Noah's Baptism.  He did great!  The food at Drew and Becky's house after was really yummy too!  I even baked a cake.  I love all of them muchas!

Drinking fountain

Josh and I had a GREAT day together.  I love Saturdays with him home!  I was in the process of washing dishes.  I shut the water off and walked into the living room to see what Josh was watching on TV...nothing exciting so I went back into the kitchen and realized I didn't shut the water all the way.  The water was trickling out of the tap and Lucee was drinking away.  I don't know how she knew I had not shut the water completely off.  She is one smart kitty.

It's Only $12.00

Today was the most stressful day of work I have EVER...EVEEEEEER HAD!  We were short staffed and had so many late ads that had to be built.  The Shopper was 3 hours past deadline! 3 hours past deadline=NOT GOOD AT ALL!  I couldn't wait to get home and cry.  I got home and I looked noticed there was a buck decal.  I asked Josh where it came from and he told me that its from a hunting magazine.  I said oh...and he said that he was going to get a subscription...apparently throwing a deer decal in what most people would consider to be junk mail turns into cool mail in a guys head.  His big sales pitch to me was "It's only $12.00".  I said "yes that is cheap however, you already get 1,000 deer magazines that were only  $12.00 so does it really matter that it is only $12.00?"  He laughed...does this mean I talked him out of it? Or will I see yet another issue of "It's only $12.00"?

It's all about the Benjamins Baby

Today was a long day at work.   I worked 12 hours which is a first for me as a Graphic Designer.  It went by really fast...almost too fast for the amount of ads we still have to do before our deadlines tomorrow!  My desk was covered with ad upon ad and it was hard to stay on task.  8:00 pm came and I decided enough was enough for the day.  I went to go down the stairs and it was pitch dark.  My co-worker out of habit prob turned off the lights.  Well let me be the first to tell you...our building is scary at night.  Its three levels and old.  It cracks and it creeks and there are a million doors not to mention two stair cases.  In fact someone once told me they think its haunted by one of the old printers!  Not fun things to think about when you are by yourself!

The cup

Before Christmas I was strolling through good ole Wally World...let's be  honest...I am not the biggest fan of that place.  Christmas 2010-Josh and I went to Walmart to get an e-reader.  They had one left in stock, so I used my Christmas mula and it was mine!  YEAHHH!  Turned it on and notice someones name was already in it...I thought maybe this is just a generic name so I moved forward.  I then noticed this "fake" person had a ss# and cc# saved into the e-reader.  At this point I realized this person was not fake.  I had so much info I could even find her on fb.  The previous owner was from Grand Rapids.  I took it back to Walmart, told them what had happened and watched as they put the e-reader back in the restock shopping cart.  I never knew Walmart was the new store version of ebay.  Needless to say the e-reader that I ended up with came from Barnes and Nobles!  Anyways...back to now, like I was saying before Christmas I noticed these awesome looking cups.  I wanted one but thought $7.00 for a Walmart cup was a bit much so I passed it up.  Josh and I went back the day after Christmas and well I'll be they were now a clearance Christmas item.  CHAAA Ching!  I now drink double the amount of water I was drinking...all because I have a cool cup.

Uncle Joshey

Tonight Mom and Becky are having a slumber party at our house.  The roads were bad, mom babysat Noah and Becky worked late so it worked out nicely just to stay!  I was busy making Enchildas, homemade tortilla chips and choc. chip cookies and mom was busy taking care of the dishes I made and mess :-)  This left Uncle Josh to tend to Noah.  Josh is really...REALLY...good with babies...did I mention REALLY GOOOOD!  So in the rocker chair with bottle in hand was Uncle Joshey and Noah.

A living Christmas tree

First of all, let me apologize at the quality of this image.  It was taken with my camera phone.  This year I decided instead of chopping a tree down aka killing it, we were going to have a living Christmas tree.  Aren't all Christmas trees living...no.  Ours was dug, this included a burlap ball.  It weighed well over 100 lbs before being watered.  How did we keep it watered?  Good question, funny answer.  In the summer we fill a cheap blue plastic kitty pool with water...apparently when I purchased this pool I took two!  OOPS!  Well it worked out in our favor (of course it did you got two for the price of one) because the extra pool became our pool for the tree.  I only had to water the living Christmas tree for about a week and that filled the pool enough, allowing the tree to drink on its own.  The tree is now planted in our yard (it marks our first Christmas in our house) :-) thanks to Dad, Mom and Josh...(I think Becky made sure the cats didn't try to run out so she should be including into that thanks, lol).  Oh it should prob be noted that the kitty's thought this was a giant water bowl made just for them.

Time to work out the those fingers again

I finally have my keyboard set-up!!  YEAH!  Thank you Mom and Josh.  I even downloaded the first song I want to play on it, Vanessa Carlton-A Thousand Miles.  I am pretty excited because I can record music and put it on my computer with the handy dandy USB drive...sawweet!  Can't wait to get practiced up...it's been long enough :-)

How to cook a Turkey

I made my first turkey today stove top stuffing included (why do I choose Stove Top vs. homemade?  Because if I were to make homemade and realized all the yucky parts go into it, I would prob not be able to eat it).  I got out my cookbook that showed how to stuff the turkey which may seem obvious to some people, but my turkey had two holes.  One where the bag of "yucky" turkey parts is stored and one where the "oh my gosh there is a neck in there" is stored.  I followed the pictures, cooked it for the proper time (until the timer popped ;) ) and properly tried to cut it with a bread knife.  Say what?  Yes a bread knife because I do not have a carving knife and it was the longest one I had.  The turkey was delicious :-) It was followed by homemade apple pie and a scoop of vanilla.

Finally winter

Mother Nature finally decided to stop with her tears (aka raindrops) and start with her...dandruff? :-)  I was so happy to look outside the windows at work and see the beautiful snow flakes of WINTER which believe it or not it is.  I let Paris out when I got home and she was sooo happy to play in the snow.  I wanted to stay out longer but of course I have a cold :-(  Oh and it's Friday the 13th...which has always brought me luck :-)  Maybe that's why it snowed!

My man nurse

I have a bad cold and Josh made my night.  I was sitting on the couch and I felt a finger tapping my shoulder.  I turned around and Josh had water with airborne in it and medicine.  I didn't even ask him.  Such a sweetie!

God Parents

I am sooo excited!  Becky asked Josh and I if we wanted to be God parents for Noah.  We excitedly said yes :) I am soo happy to be such a big part of Noah's life. 

Hmm what's for dinner

I forgot to get meat out of the freezer and the grocery department was running thin in our house.  Josh requested grilled cheese but no bread or tomato soup.  Finally a lightbulb went off.  How about thin bagel pizzas!  Put them in the oven under the broiler and boom.

Perfect combo

I ate my lunch and remembered I had a fun size pack of Starburst in my purse.  Exactly what I was craving.  I quickly ripped open the package and thought my day couldn't get any better.  TWO REDS!!  My absolute favorite!! I considered myself lucky! 

WINEeraner toys

It has been extremely warm out this winter.  Yesterday Josh decided to organize the garage so Paris and I were outside playing.  She was busy burying whatever she could find.  First it was a bone and second a wine cork...a what?  Yes that's right a wine cork.  I was looking to see what she had in her mouth.  It looked unusual.  Upon further examination I realized it was a wine cork.  I am not sure where she found it but there it was sticking out of her mouth like a pacifier. 

Mickey D's in bed

Josh had to work OT Friday night.  He texted me at midnight and said he was taking orders for breakfast in bed.  I told him what I wanted and when he got home at 5:00am he woke me up with McDonald's in bed...we ate and fell back asleep :-)

Copy CAT!

If you couldn't tell from the kitty tower post, we have a copy cat at our house.  Anything Lucee (1 year old) can do, Tazer (she is 2 years old) tries to do better.  Isn't it supposed to be the younger one copying the older one?  Well tonight as I was sitting at the computer desk.  I heard scratching.  I turned around to see Tazer "trying" to be as graceful as Lucee, crawling into the Christmas decor cubby.  She eventually made into the little spot after she made a few branches fall and unfortunately she doesn't have enough room to lay down (excess "fur").

Where's Lucee?

You will probably notice two things today...One, the Christmas decorations have not made it to the attic and two, our pets are like our kids so there will be alot of photos of them, with that being said, Josh called me into the living room and said can you find Lucee.  I looked on her tower...not there, I looked in the cat bed...not there.  Finally he said look at the Christmas decorations.  There was Lucee all curled up in the sparkly Christmas forest, sleeping.  Cats lay in the craziest places.  I am not sure how she didn't disturb even the smallest twig while crawling into her cubby. 

Pixie and Dixie

Interesting day at work.  I was working at ads at my computer when one of the Sales Reps came up.  She said you will never guess what I found in my daughters bathroom, in a box, hiding in her garbage can so she wouldn't get caught.  My head went in and out of the gutter in a matter of seconds, when finally she exclaimed...MICE!!  Two white field mice to be exact.  Her daughter had bought them at the local pet store, put them in a box along with newspaper and a make shift water bowl made from a cut off coffee cup, oh and a couple of crumpled crackers (note...mice are not fans of Ritz Flip crackers).  She asked if my boss or I wanted them...right then I thought to myself...noooooooo don't ask us!  Why?  Because they were Mice?  NO...because my boss has a snake and what does she feed her snake...LIVE MICE!  My boss said she would take them and right then I knew the fate of these mice.  The sales rep went back to her office and brought up the box of mice.  I peaked at them and they were sooo cute!  Apparently mice can be cute.  They were also really friendly.  I began to feel soooo sorry for these mice...they were about to meet their death! I picked up the fatter of the two mice and it just sat in my hand almost as if it was saying "save me".   My boss left work for the day and I told her that I hoped (ONLY JOKING OF COURSE) she would trip and the mice would escape their death....unfornuately for the mice I don't this happened.  RIP Pixie and Dixie.

Tazer to the top!

Josh and I purchased this 5 ft kitty tower a few months ago to replace the 8 ft kitty tower.  Our previous tower was a spring loaded tower that fit between the ceiling in the floor.  Lucee LOVED it.  She would sleep on the top layer of the tower every day, however, Tazer could only get onto the bottom layer, so we decided to purchase a shorter, more durable tower.  Tazer is vertically challenged.  She currently weighs 13 lbs and is only about 8 inches tall when she is on all fours...if you are thinking to yourself wow that cat is fat, you are right!  Tazer claims its excess fur but we all know the truth.  Just before Christmas I was feeling bad for Tazer.  (She would always stare at Lucee on top with envy...possibly a little jealousy too, I mean she is older by a year and can't jump!  Wouldn't you be?!)  I decided to pick Tazer up and set her on top of the tower.  You would have thought she had won a lifetime supply of catnip.  She sat on that top layer sooo proud, purring to beat the band!  After a couple hours went by she decided it was time to get down (prob to have a snack) and cried because she wasn't sure how to do that.   I lifted her down and away she went.  A day passed and I noticed Tazer was becoming more and more curious when looking at the cat tower.  I was sitting on the couch and thought I was hallucinating...was Tazer preparing to jump from the top of the couch to the top of the cat tower...she was!  She crouched down, her little stubby tail was flicking from side to side, her back legs started shaking from the adrenaline...and she was off...SHE MADE IT!!  I have never witnessed a cat more proud!!  She now goes on the top layer all the time.  Lucee and Tazer are working on sharing, usually their version of sharing consists of Tazer's sleep being interuppted by Lucee's paws hitting her so she will give up the top.  Tonight was the FIRST successful night of Kitty Tower Sharing. 

Downer Decor

I think the worst part of Christmas is taking down the decorations.  Not because taking down the decorations is messy and time consuming (Josh said to me "Will taking down the decorations be as easy as putting them up"...we can tell who did most of the decorating, wink wink ) but because without them your house feels less magical, lonely and bare.   All the joy Christmas brings is put into totes, packed in the attic and forgotten until the next Christmas.  I have only just begun putting things into their yearly home and already I am feeling the "blue" part of Christmas.

Happy New Year-2012

Happy New Year!!  

Three years ago I was sitting in a history class listening to the professor discuss the Mayan Calendar.  They believed the world would end in 2012.  It is now 2012 and let's hope those Mayan's were off on their guesses. 

There is always something special about the start of a New Year...its like a start to a new life.  My resolution this year is to do a photo blog everyday...this means I will have to carry my camera with me in all my travels.  By the end of the year I hope to have 365 pictures (scratch that 364 pictures...my resolution won't be starting on the 1st) that show what 2012 was about.  

2012 Time To Evolve!