The Good Life

The end of the semester is quickly approaching and I'm working on a graduation video for the RN to BSN class. I picked a song specifically for them---Kanye West: The Good Life. See music Video to your right.

I presented it to my boss and she loved it. Especially, the part where he talks about watching the money pile up. These nurses make a ridiculous amount of money, fresh out of college and they know it.

Other than work, I'm really looking forward to the biggest football game of the year. Trey and I plan on watching Green Bay vs. Dallas tonight. It's gonna be a good one. Note to self: wear ear plugs.

Corky aka Corkscrew

Mom and Tasha stayed at our house last week. From Wednesday to Sunday they gave Corky lots of lovin. Tasha and I took him walking last week, but it was so cold it was hard to enjoy it. Yes, it's getting more difficult to go walking because the temperature is dropping. The good news is, I hear this week temperatures should be in the mid 60's.

The last few weeks I've been training Corky to go walking without a leash. He was doing great for a few weeks, he was walking right next to me, but here lately he's been testing his boundaries. Now, I'm trying to rotate between the leash and without. I've been watching the Dog Whisperer and I've been practicing being the pack leader. I know it sounds so cheesy, but I think Corky is catching on.

I'm not trying to get comments, I'm just addressing a question I've been asked a handful of times

I've had several family members and a few friends who have had a hard time commenting on this blog and then there are some who have no idea how to comment. I've been meaning to address this issue for some time, so I guess this is a good time because I don't have anything else to blog about.

How To Comment on a Post:
Say I write a blog entry that says: I'm Shaving My Hair Off B/C Britney Spears in my hero!

After reading this you may want to write a comment to tell me I'm crazy and if you're smart you'll want to stop me. So, this is how you can do that...At the bottom of each blog entry there is an area that says 0 Comments. You click on that and a box appears. In the box you'll leave your comment that you'd like Trey and I to read, then you choose your identity, most of my blog readers don't have a blogger account, so they would select Other as their identity. When choosing Other, you have the option to leave your name. Type your name and press publish comment and that's it.

P.S. You don't have to comment on this entry. I write you read, no hard feelings.

Christmas Helmet Tag

For some reason, Trey manages to squeeze football into every holiday season, including Christmas. A while back, Johnny gave him a miniture D Cowboys helmet that he has to display on the mantle. I tried telling him a football helmet has no place on a mantle, but every time I move it he moves it back. I'm about to give up because I feel like I'm playing a never ending game of helmet tag.


The other day I put the Christmas stockings up. I hung the stockings off of snowflake hooks, so I had to move Trey's helmet out of the way. A few minutes later, he shoved the Cowboy helmet on the snowflake. Like I said, he always finds a way to fit football into every holiday. Hmmm, I wondering what he's planning for Valentine's Day.

Chasing the Laser

I'm Right with You Corky

My morning started early before sunrise. Mom, Tasha, and I hit-up the mall and did a little shopping. The crowd wasn't bad like Mom thought it would be. I tried explaining to her that this isn't like Abilene where you only have one Circuit City in the entire town. Here you have like 20 something (I think that's an exaggeration, but who knows it might be true).

After shopping, I went shopping even more, but this time for groceries. Linda and Steve were in town and stopped by for lunch. I cooked lasagna because I know not everybody likes Thanksgiving leftovers. It was so good to see them and catch up. I miss Linda because now I don't have a crazy friend around who is willing to act insane in front of a camera with me. I showed her and Steve the video I posted online and we all had a good laugh. I'm telling you that video cracks me up. I can't get enough.

The Most Anticipated Meal of the Year

This Thanksgiving was by far the smallest gathering. Including Trey and I, we only had six mouths to feed. Yes, we have lots of leftovers. Last year we had over 20 folks at our house, but I guess it's hard to travel this time of year. It was still good and we made the most out of it. Actually, this was the least stressful Thanksgiving ever and it was sort of easy and fun.

Natasha with her pie aka Freakin' Awesome Pie

Momma's in the kitchen

Can you believe I managed to pull Trey away from the football game to sit at the table. I know, it's a first. Thank God, the Cowboys had a mid-afternoon game.
























Mom and I are thinking about doing the whole black Friday shopping at the crack of dawn. Well, we were thinking about it, but now we are reconsidering because it's SNOWING. Maybe the snow will stop and the streets won't freeze. You know what I'm thinking...it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Next on the to-do list: Decorate Christmas Tree

I Crack Myself Up

I have honestly watched the Liar Liar POF Video at least 10 times today. It never gets old. Oh, I have more clips where that came from. Now whether or not I will post them, that's a different story.

Other than watching the Liar Liar video every hour, I almost shredded an important piece of paper. The other day, Trey went through our old bills and documents-the ones that have ID sensitive information. Well, he made a pile for me to take to work to shred, as I was going through the box I noticed my birth certificate. I came this close (you can't see me, but I have my fingers really close together) to shredding my birth record, as well as the cute paper that has my baby footprints on them. It really was a close call because I was sitting right in front of the shredding machine and happen to notice the papers.

Digging Through Home Videos: Liar Liar Pants on Fire

This is a little short movie Linda helped me with, back in 2003. I actually produced it for an ethics presentation, which I got an A on---thank you very much. Now, that I'm thinking about it, I might regret posting this video. When I found it, I knew I had to share it with the world. Maybe this video is like one of those inside jokes, that nobody gets (except you and your best friend), or maybe it's hilarious. Who knows? All I can say is this video made me laugh so hard I almost cried.

Settling Nicely

We don't have much on the walls yet. We're slowly figuring out where we want things to go.

One more thing to add to my ever growing to-do list, is figure out what color I want to paint the bedrooms. Orginally, I wanted to paint the kitchen , but after chatting with Trey he thinks it might be a bad idea. Apparently, the walls are rounded at the edges so the spaces/walls flow right into the next area. If I want to paint one area I better be ready to paint half of the house. At least the bedrooms are seperate.

I love this kitchen. It's so much fun to cook in this space.




































































This is the mudroom. It's a great place to drop our stuff, as soon as we step in the door.

Tired of Being Tired

Ever since we moved, things have been moving so fast, including me. I can't think of one day I've had to just relax. All I've been doing is unpacking and cleaning and trying to keep up with myself....it's so exhausting. Maybe with the upcoming holiday I'll have some time to relax. That's it, next weekend I'm vegging and recouping from the move and Thanksgiving. Oh, thanksgiving is coming, which means I have to go shopping. Great, more things to add to my to do list.

All I know is I have a stack of Spike Lee DVD's waiting for me. The first chance I get I want to wear my PJ's all day and stay home.

Who Moved Thanksgiving Up?

A few minutes ago I looked at the calendar and realized Thanksgiving is on the 22nd--a few days away. For some reason I thought I had an extra week before I had to even think about it.

This year Trey and I will host it at our place and I'm really looking forward to spending time with family. Last year we celebrated at our old house and it was my first time to make the bird. My mom guided me along the way, but my hands were all over it. Yeah, it was so gross sticking my hands in the bird and pulling out all of its insides.

Well, at least this year I'll have a chance to work in a much larger kitchen. So, far the new kitchen is growing on me nicely. I love the space, the counters, the new appliances etc, but the one thing that I'm warming up to is the flat stove top. The first time I used it, it seemed like I was cooking on the counter. It'll take a while, but it'll grow on me.

Ready or not, here comes Thanksgiving.

No More Clothes in Different Area Codes

It’s official; we’ve successfully moved all our belongings out of storage. One of the first things I wanted to roll out was our big area rug because as of a few days ago, it sounded like we were living in a bathroom. Hopefully, with the rug in place we’ve fixed that problem.

We had some good help making the move from Abilene to home. My mom, Natasha, Brandon and his friend Billy helped us. The extra hands helped especially when I had to unpack the kitchen. I had to wash every piece of silver wear, dish, pot, and pan. I can thank my mom for helping me with that big chore.

Oh, and I almost forgot, Natasha celebrated her 14th birthday and Trey and I wanted to get her something special. My grandma heard about what we wanted to give her and contributed too. You should’ve seen her face when she saw we bought her an iPod. She was ecstatic. She’s a good kid and stays out of trouble and it was nice to be able to get her something she’s been asking for…for a long time.

Hannah Montana Concert on a Weekday?

I got a call from the IATSE agent about the Hannah Montana concert. I really want to do stage work for that show, but I can't believe it's on a weekday. Don't they know the majority of the audience will be school aged kids.

So, I had to turn down the gig because it's a weekday show and I have to work at my real job. I thought about taking vacation time, but I have to work on this specific day that the show is scheduled. I also thought about working the "out" which means tearing down the stage (post concert), but I don't think that's a good idea since the next morning I'll have to go to work.

Oh, well. There will be other concerts and work in the future. I'm thankful that I at least had the option to take the work.

Bring Back the Bone

Adjusting to my Schedule

My new friend is having to adjust to my daily schedule. Originally, I was concerned that he would be a nervous wreck, but so far he's been a real trooper. From what I've heard, it's best to have dogs on a daily routine to avoid behavior issues. Sticking to his routine has also helped me manage my time more wisely and it has also kept me on a daily exercise routine.

I just love my Corky.

All About the Move

This weekend we moved from our itty bitty efficiency apartment to our brand new home. The move was fast and for the most part painless. Some good things came from the move and then one bad thing.

The good stuff first:
Friday, Trey hitched a trailer to his work van and headed to Sam's Club to purchase our washer and dryer. He knew exactly what I wanted. The appliances weren't anything fancy, just your standard washer and dryer, which means the cheapest thing they had in stock. Hey, I'm happy as long as it cleans my clothes. So, Trey purchased the appliances, headed home, unloaded both of them, opened the dryer and noticed somebody made a mistake. The dryer we paid for only cost us $295 and the dryer they gave us was a front load dryer valued at $799. Oops on them. I told my mom and she said we should call them because they might charge our card, but I told her they had no way of tracing us because Trey paid with cash. Trey thought about it and figured the best thing to do would be to call Sam's Club. He got a hold of an employee and he said it was their mistake and we didn't have to take it back. My conscious is cleared. Our appliances don't match, but who cares because I have a sweet dryer with all the options.

The other good thing I mentioned in one of last weeks post. I didn't go into much detail, but when we went to closing someone forgot to add a $500 credit to our closing cost, which means we walked away with more change in our pockets.

Now the bad:
As we all know my husband is crazy for football. 2 weeks in advance he set up our Dish satellite service to be transferred and hooked up on Saturday. If you don't know Saturday's college football all day long. Trey was a little paranoid about the order so he called and confirmed the order a week later. Yeah, we have had an unpleasant instillation history with Dish. So, Saturday the technician came to our house and to make a long story short they screwed up again. On the spot Trey cancelled our service and within hours signed up with Dish's competitor, Direct TV. The one thing I learned this weekend is don't mess with a man's football watching or he'll hurt you where it hurts the most, your pocket book. I'm sure taking our business away from Dish won't hurt them, but if they treat all there customers the way they've treated us they will soon be out of business. Fo Showww....

Corky's 2nd Day Home

We haven't had a full day with Corky yet, but he seems to be adjusting just fine. Last night after Trey and I unpacked, we watched Transformers here at the house. It was cute because all three of us snuggled on the couch and enjoyed the new screen. One thing I've already learned about Corky, is that he enjoys watching TV. I've heard of other pets watching the tube, but until you actually see it, it's hard to appreciate. Another thing I learned is he's pretty easy to train. We're currently crate training him at night, but during the day we let him loose in the house. So far, he's had two accidents on the tile and one on the newspaper, other than that he's been taking care of his doggie business outdoors.

Here are a few video clips of him lounging and barking.

Celebration Dance

This morning we closed on the house. Everything ran smoothly and we found out we took more money to closing than we needed, so that was a nice surprise.

And now the fun begins. As soon as work ends I'm heading HOME! And then from there back to the apartment :(

The first thing I'm going to do when I step in the house for the first time, as the homeowner, is do my signature celebration dance. You definitely won't see any pictures or video of that.

I haven't started packing the apartment because everything that we have, we use. Well, we do have a few items I could start moving like bar stools and DVD's. I'm so happy we're moving and I'm ready to do some cooking in a real kitchen. I already know the first thing I want to bake, chocolate chip cookies. It's nice to be a homeowner again and no I won't miss apartment living.