Adventures in Life

We have been pretty busy lately. On the 29th Gabe and I went to a benefit dinner. The food was yummy!

We climbed up a mountain on the 30th. The weather was great and Alex was a good sport.

Tuesday and Wednesday I made tamales with my neighbor. They were so good that we added a second day (Wednesday) of tamale making.

I met a friend for coffee a couple of times. I also went to a craft night where we made a fun valentine craft. I finished the valentine wreath that I started a few weeks ago. I will try to post a picture soon.

Alex went to the dentist on Thursday. He didn't mind it too much.

We had tickets to the symphony on Friday, but Gabe wasn't feeling well so we gave our tickets away.

Saturday Alex & I dropped some cupcakes off at a friend's house for their birthday. Gabe was still sick so he stayed home.

We missed a superbowl party on Sunday. Gabe was still sick.

He left for the cold state of Nebraska on Monday. He is back home now.

Playing Don't Spill the Beans

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Since I seem to have ignored my blog for a while I am fishing through thousands of spam messages. Good times!

I have organized my linen closet, my pantry, my chest of drawers, and my closet (not in the challenge). I also cleaned out my desk drawers (also not part of the challenge). With the linen closet cleaning I purged a lot of hotel freebies that we are not going to use. I am in the process of looking for a homeless shelter to take the goods.

Yesterday I went to a baby shower for a friend.

I think taking down the Christmas decorations is high on the list for today. Yes, we are those people. Everything is still up except for a single strand of light Gabe pulled down from our house a couple of days ago.

I will leave you with a picture of one of our dogs.

Jimmy

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Yesterday I cleaned out our tupperware cabinet. It wasn't too messy, so this was an easy challenge. I don't use most of it so it was easy to donate. Plus, I still want more Pyrex since those containers are the primary ones that I use. Today's challenge by A Bowl Full of Lemons is to clean out the linen closet. I will get to that later tonight. I feel another large container of donations items coming on.

I made Beef and Barley Soup yesterday. It is one of my favorites. I guess Alex really likes it. When I asked him what he wanted for breakfast, he said "soup". I made him waffles. He didn't eat them. I should have just given the boy soup.

I have been purging a lot lately. You might not notice when you come to our house though since a lot of it has been drawers, the garage, etc. In all of my purging I recycled all of our 20% an item at Bed, Bath, and Beyond coupons. I figure we rarely go there and there is no need to hold on to the coupons. Well, last night found me digging through the recycling bin to retrieve one. They were expired.

Gabe and I have been playing a Sherlock Holmes computer game before going to bed. We go through one "case" each night. The funny thing about this game is that Holmes has an Australian accent. It is quite hilarious.

So my post isn't all words, here is a pic of one of our dogs.

Posted by at 4:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

http://www.slidejimmyhome.com

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Last night I took advantage of an awesome Groupon deal. Only $25 for $50 worth of products from Zazzle.com. It can even be used on custom postage! The deal is available today, through a different city. Below are some of the Groupons that I thought people might be interested in since they are pretty much all online deals. If you see a city you are interested in just click on the Groupon link and then select the city on the Groupon page for the deal.

Baltimore: $9 for One-Pound Tin of Otterbein's Cookies ($18.99 Value)
Chicago: $40 for $85 Worth of Wine Shipped Right to Your Door from MyWinesDirect.com (valid in certain states only)
Columbus: $29 for $100 Worth of Silk Flower Arrangements from Silk Mama
Fresno: $21 for a Side-by-Side Tree Planting for a Loved One from Plant Trees 4 Life ($35 Value)
Hampton Roads: $8 for a One-Year Subscription to "Hampton Roads Magazine" ($19.95 Value)
Memphis: $12 for $25 Worth of Candles, Gifts and More from The Candleberry Company
Pittsburgh: $15 for $35 Worth of Gourmet Coffees, Teas, and Gifts at Joe's Coffee House Online
Richmond: $10 for $25 Worth of Nuts, Dried Fruit, and More from Nutty Guys (I bought one of these)
Washington DC: $25 for $50 Worth of Customizable Gifts from Zazzle.com (I bought one of these)
Wichita: $10 for $25 Worth of Cookies, Cakes, and Confections from Dessert Diva

Posted by at 10:26 AM | Permalink

We are back from our vacation. Actually, we came back late Friday night. Everyone seems to be adjusting back to the current time zone (except Gabe). Apparently his new wake-up time is 3:15 a.m. I wrote the posts about our vacation while on our vacation. So, I will post them one or two at a time. Luckily, we are unpacked. On a side note, we watched Alice in Wonderland. I was a little disappointed. This is probably because I was really looking forward to seeing the movie. More posts to come...with pictures!

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I am frustrated with my blog right now. It decided to delete all of the comments posted after January 19. Maybe Gabe can figure out how to bring them back. I will ask him later, as both he and Alex are taking a nap. I think I am going to read. Hopefully I will be able to write another entry tonight.

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I won this adorable little tea cup mouse from Fun in the Making. Thanks!

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Not a whole lot of exciting things to report. I went walking with Dawn D on Wednesday. On Friday a group of us went out to eat and we saw Leap Year. It was a cute movie, but I don't think that Gabe is disappointed that he missed it. Yesterday Katie and I went to see Legally Blonde. It was fun. I really need to work on picking up our house. Somehow our kitchen isn't really organized right now. I am not sure what happened. Oh well, it is an easy fix.

Don't miss the entry on Alex's Plate and our Illinois travels, parts 1 and 2.

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Update: I have been told, by a couple of people, that this will work anytime.

I have pictures from Alex's party and I will try to post them soon. For now, here is a fun little thing you can all do (provided you have a broom). My niece, Brandi, told me about it today. Your broom will stand on its own tonight (and I believe tomorrow). I think this phenomenon is due to another body's gravitational pull on the Earth. Give it a try...I did.

Posted by at 8:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My blogging friend, Rosanne, gave me a Lovely Blog Award. Thanks Roseanne!

I would like to pass this award on to Barby, Carrie, Jeannie, Julie, Kailani, Nicole, & Nicolle. I read all of these blogs regularly, even if they all don't show up on my blog roll...I really should update that sometime soon.

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I had the opportunity to try Nothing But Soap's Eucalyptus Hemp & Tea Tree olive oil, hemp oil & shea butter soap. Below is the description of the soap on the site.

Intense Eucalyptus and rich Tea Tree with peppermint leaves make this an eye opening treat. The eucalyptus will energize your day while hemp, shea butter and a wonderful base cleanse your skin. Eucalyptus and tea tree essential oils are known for their medicinal properties in anti-fungal and anti-staph capabilities. Peppermint leaves are added for additional exfoliation. An intense experience to remember.

Try showering with this soap when you have cold-like congestion or sinus allergies to create a soothing vapor.

The soap smelled wonderful! It was a nice treat to use it after exercising and it left my skin unbelievably soft. So, head on over to Nothing But Soap and check out everything that is available. The soap is VERY reasonably priced. I currently have my eye on the Raspberry Rush Natural soap with Olive oil and Shea Butter.

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There has been quite a bit of animal activity around our neighborhood lately. We have a pet lizard. Okay, we don't really have a pet lizard, but there is one that thinks he is our pet.

We have seen quite a few lizards on our walks in the evening. We have also seen rabbits the past few nights, but I left my camera at home.

This little girl showed up in our yard. Elsa and Clara had a great time playing with her. Her owner found her before we had a chance to go to each house door by door to locate the owner (we were waiting until after we finished dinner).

Roadrunner (I think). He hung out for quite a while and gave Alex something to look at for about an hour. He even pecked on the door a couple of times.

We actually saw a double rainbow on our walk, but the picture of the single rainbow turned out the best.

This picture is one of my coasters that I display (I know I promised a few of you a picture of how I display them.

I watched the movie Bride Wars this past week. It is actually a pretty funny movie, much more so than I expected. Two wedding obsessed individuals mistakenly have their wedding booked on the same day. Hilarity ensues.

We don't have a lot planned for the weekend. We are going to a party tomorrow and after that who knows. Maybe we will finish watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. We started it last night.

Posted by at 8:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I participated in the Unbirthday Swap over at Miya's. My swap partner was Sara and my swap package was awesome.

I love all things with the letter S. A notepad shaped like the letter S is awesome. I love all of the little foam S's too. They even have a sticky back.

A huge bag of mini candy canes...yummy! I love the little diaper pin stamp. I will use it on Alex's scrapbook. The fancy ribbon will come in handy on my craft projects. The package also contained a cute little etsy pin. Stop by and check out Sara's shop and blog. Okay, I am getting ahead of myself. We aren't through my swap package yet.

I love my coffee cozy (she made it). It came in a gorgeous bag. Too bad I didn't have it in Seattle with me :)

The cloth covered buttons were made by her was well. They are famous. She posted them on her blog.

A cute little card was also included as well as a tag to label a handmade item. I need to find some more of these.

A huge thank you goes out to Sara. My package was wonderful and I love it! I hope that you enjoyed yours.

Posted by at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I participated in the Favorite Things Swap over at Dandelion Wishes. My swap partner was Carrie and she did an amazing job with my swap package. If I had not been in such a hurry to open the package, I might have thought to take pictures of the wonderful wrapping job. Each item had a little envelope attached explaining why it was one of her favorite things. We actually have a lot in common! She doesn't know it, but I almost bought her a water bottle too.

How lucky am I? I received a onesie with Alex's name (the wrinkles are from me, not her). She also sent me the paper so I can make more of them.

Umm...these little things are genius. They have Alex printed on them (also in Braille) and they slip over sippy cups or bottles. Plus they are dishwasher safe.

I really like the water bottle. It actually fits in a car cup holder! No more throwing my water bottle in the passenger seat. It also lets me keep track of how much water I have had in a day. The brownie bars are yummy! There were also some tootsie rolls, but they are long gone and did not make it to picture day.

The apple candle smells wonderful. Apple is one of my favorite scents. I absolutely love the lip tint as well as the soap. I love anything mint/peppermint. She also sent me four of her favorite recipes. How sweet is that? I wish I would have thought to send her some of mine.

If you can't tell, I absolutely LOVE everything in my wonderful swap package. A huge thank you goes out to Carrie.

You can check out her post on the package I sent her here.

Posted by at 10:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Amy came over to watch the American Idol singing competition between Adam and Kris on Tuesday. It was a lot of fun. She had to work late on Wednesday, so she was unable to make it for the final episode of the season. I must say, though I like Kris, I still think that Adam should have won. I also wanted Gilles to win Dancing with the Stars. I guess Shawn was pretty good too.

Gabe's parents arrived on Wednesday. They are taking a vacation of their own while staying in our house while we are gone on vacation. It should work well for everyone.

Alex helping me pack. He had his own suitcase, half of mine, and part of Gabe's. All of this was in addition to a large diaper bag and half of the carry on.

Picture of a snake that was in the desert behind our house.

I managed to get my hair cut on Friday. Gabe had his hair cut as well. His didn't take quite as long as mine. We drove to Tucson and they dropped me off for my hair cut. While I was there, they went to Sam's, World Market, and Gabe managed to get his hair cut. They came back to pick me up and they were just starting to wash my hair (the girl was really running behind). It usually takes about an hour, but this time I think it took over two. We were all starving and went to Jason's Deli for dinner. Every time that Gabe and I go, I always say I am going to get the salad bar, but I never do. This time I did and it was yummy. Off to Canada tomorrow.

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Aaron flew home on Sunday. We decided to have brunch at a buffet, but the line was way to long considering that one of our party needed to catch a flight. So, instead we ate at a McDonald's on the way to the airport. We all hoped that they were still serving breakfast, but we missed it by about 20 minutes or so. After dropping Aaron off we went to a few stores in Tucson and headed home. I worked on some more Christmas presents and finished a few.

Monday Alex had an appointment for his shots. He did really well this time. He cried a little when they gave them to him and once Gabe picked him up he started smiling at everyone again.

Wednesday Josh and Amy came over for dinner. Gabe grilled and after dinner we played some Wii. It was a lot of fun.

Wednesday my phone decided to give me a message from last Thursday saying that our picture was in from Alex's 6 month portraits. So, we headed up to pick it up and stopped off at Olive Garden for dinner. We also stopped at a couple of other stores. We don't head up that way very often, so we did everything that we needed to while we were up in that area. I also ordered the CD with the copyright for the pictures from the 6 month session. I should have the CD in a few weeks and be able to start printing pictures (and post them on my blog). I need to get my hair cut before we leave for our vacation. Hopefully I can find the time to get that done.

Posted by at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here is a fun idea that you can do when you have visitors. Go to your visitor center and pick up a bunch of brochures and maps. Place them in a binder with some additional information (non-emergency police number, grocery stores, favorite restaurants, etc.). I placed my information in plastic sleeve protectors. Keep the binder around and when guests come they can look through the binder the figure out what they would like to do. You can keep adding additional information to the binder for future guests to use. So, if you ever come out here to visit I will have a binder full of information for you to look through.

Check out my other fun visitor idea here. I recently added a mini lint brush.

Posted by at 11:38 AM | Permalink

I am participating the Unbirthday Swap over at Miya's.

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My partner for the Crisp & Clean White & Green Swap was Miya. She sent me an awesome package full of fun things to use to make some Christmas presents. I have already put some of the material to good use. She even sent me some yarn and knitting needles to encourage me to start knitting. The book is from a series that is one of her favorites. I am really looking forward to reading it. The bags are absolutely awesome. She made them herself! The package also included a wonderfully scented bar of handmade soap, some cute knitted items, a variety of buttons, and a really neat little zippered bag. The needle holder is both cute and very useful. Check out her Crisp & Clean White & Green Swap post here (It includes pictures of the items I sent to her).

Swap package from Miya.

Posted by at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I was about to write an entry saying that I am going to catch up on all of my delinquent blogging. I have a lot to write about, but we have been really busy lately. Well, I just received a phone call from Gabe and some of our friends our coming over for dinner tonight. So, I am off to the store to get some supplies. Maybe I can either catch up on blogging tomorrow (or tonight if I don't sleep). I will post again...I promise!

Posted by at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sunday Gabe, Alex, and I headed up to Ikea. My parents want a piece of furniture from there so we went to buy it and we will be shipping it to them. It is less than a hundred dollars for shipping if we ship it, but it is around three hundred dollars if Ikea ships it for us. I had some returns to do anyway. We had lunch at Cracker Barrel. They were having a 70% off sale on some of the items in their shop, but I didn't buy anything.

I am a little surprised that Lil' Kim went home on Dancing with the Stars tonight. I was thinking that Ty would be going home. I like Ty (even though I don't think that he has a chance at winning) so I am glad that he is still around for another round.

I am not sure who is going to be sent home on American Idol. I am thinking it might be Kris. Slash still looks the same that he did 25 years ago. I think it might be the long in your face hair and the sunglasses. Now I want to play Guitar Hero. Too bad I am getting ready to go to bed.

I went to the grocery store today while Gabe was at work. We usually go together, but since he has been sick I am trying to get things done during the day so we can just stay home at night. Well, I had to change a diaper while we were shopping. I went to the family restroom and while I was in there someone knocked on the door. I said "just a minute." I guess they took the minute to be literal, because they knocked on the door again about a minute later. If they had a child, there is a changing station in the women's and men's restrooms, so they could have used it instead of knocking on the door repeatedly. How annoying! Another thing that bothers me is usually when I am waiting on a family restroom because the other restrooms don't have changing stations it will be a single adult that was occupying the facilities. I never used a family restroom before having a baby. Okay, I feel better now. It also helped that I left a very stinky diaper in the restroom. The impatient person that kept knocking had a nice surprise waiting on them.

Oh, I mailed out a few packages on Monday. These included a swap package, a birthday package, and a few others. I will post the contents of the birthday and swap package on here soon.

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Gabe went to the doctor on Friday and found out that he has strep throat. Luckily, he has been taking his antibiotics and according to the doctor he is no longer contagious (starting today). So, Alex is happy that his dad can hold/feed/play with him again.

Yesterday we watched a lot of Grey's Anatomy (season 4). We are actually watching it right now too. Today we went to have Alex's pictures made. We skipped the pictures where we kiss him or put him too close to our faces. Even though Gabe is no longer contagious, there is no need to take a chance by sticking him up in Gabe's face right now.

We also went to Babies R Us and purchased a high chair.

Alex in his new high chair.

Recently, Gabe and I have watched several movies. Two of the movies were based off of books that we both read. The Last Templar book was very disappointing. I seem to remember Gabe mentioning that the book would make a good movie. He was right. The movie was pretty good and was better than the book. This is a pretty rare thing, but the movie was just better. The other movie was Marley and Me. The movie was good and funny. I was laughing out loud through some parts. I would have laughed more and even louder if I had not been holding a sleeping Alex. He always wakes up when I laugh. This movie followed the ordinary trend and I preferred the book, even though the movie was good.

I made the Creamy Basil Parmesan Chicken & Pasta tonight and it was very good. We sat outside and ate our dinner. I should have taken a picture of both the food and of us eating outside, but I didn't. I could take a picture of the leftovers, but they just don't look as appetizing when they are crammed in a food storage container.

I have been working on getting all of my swap items together. The first one will be going out on Monday. The second one will be going out near the end of May. Hopefully everyone will like the things that I picked out. I will post pictures later (after they receive their packages).

Posted by at 6:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, Gabe is still sick. I have been the sole care provider for Alex for four day now. Since he is sick and running a fever Gabe doesn't hold or touch Alex. Alex will stare at him and smile. Then he gives Gabe a look like, remember me dad? I think he misses Gabe putting him to bed at night. Every night I put him in his crib he wakes up 3-4 times screaming. So, I am not getting a whole lot of sleep. Gabe is going to the doctor today.

Random picture of Alex sleeping, so there is more than just a picture of a box meal (keep reading and you will understand).

There was a major scare on American Idol last night. Adam was in the bottom two. Luckily Matt was sent home. I think I might actually vote next week. I always assumed the final would be between Danny and Adam, but now I am not so sure. It seems like Allison and Danny might be a strong possibility. I still like Kris too. Decisions, decisions.

Gabe and I watched Yes Man last night. It is a movie, staring Jim Carrey, about a man that always says no to everything because he is afraid to embrace life. He then takes a self-help seminar and starts to say yes to everything. The movie had both Gabe and I laughing out loud. I would have laughed a little more, but I was holding Alex and he was sleeping.

I never really followed up on the NCAA basketball bracket from Gabe's work. I won!

A friend from Illinois is coming to visit me next week for a long weekend. It should be a lot of fun.

Last night when we checked the mail I had a package. It contained a lot of awesome things from Macaroni Grill. I signed up for a blog giveaway on Hip2Save and I won! It had a colander, serving spoon, Creamy Basil Parmesan Chicken & Pasta, cheese grater, and three coupons for three free Macaroni Grill Entrees. I am looking forward to trying the chicken meal. Maybe we can give it a try tonight.

My surprise package! Thanks to Hip2Save.

We are scheduled to have Alex's 6 month pictures made on Saturday. I hope that Gabe is feeling better. Otherwise, we might not be in any of the pictures and they might be Alex only.

Posted by at 9:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Today is Alex's 6 Month Birthday! Maybe I should have made a cake or something. Hmm...I guess the day isn't over yet. Anyway, here is his 6 month picture next to a 12 month outfit.

Alex 6 months next to 12 month outfit.

Alex is pretty long, but it is next to impossible to get him to straighten out while taking a picture, so yes, that is my hand attempting to straighten out one leg.

The way things are going, the 12 month outfit may be too short at 12 months. Maybe he will give it a try for the 9 month picture.

I am looking forward to the Dancing with the Stars results show and American Idol tonight. I really hope that Melissa has enough fans to keep her on the show. I think that Ty or Chuck might be going home.

On a happy note, I spoke with a very good friend that I haven't spoken with in a while...a good day. Okay, maybe not the best day, Gabe is sick. So, tonight we are relaxing and watching movies and TV shows.

Posted by at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Saturday Gabe, Alex, and I had dinner at a sushi restaurant with some other people. It was a lot of fun and the sushi was really good. Thinking about it now makes me want some more.

Alex hanging out on the floor while I was working on my swap packages.

We watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua and I was a little disappointed. I really expected a lot from the movie and I think that is the reason for the disappointment. Oh well, it was a free movie.

Sunday we relaxed. Today I received a package in the mail. Brandi painted a dish for Alex and I love it! Alex does too...you can tell from the picture :)

Alex and his Alex plate.

We have watched The Librarian: The Curse of the Judas Chalice and The Librarian: The Return to Kind Solomon's Mines. We have watched the series in reverse order and now we just have the first movie left to watch, The Librarian: Quest for the Spear. The series is a comical Indiana Jones. It is great to watch if you are looking for something that is relaxing, entertaining, and doesn't require a lot of though.

I watched The Promotion. It is about a guy, played by Seann William Scott, that is essentially guaranteed a promotion in his Chicago-based grocery store chain until a new guy shows up, played by John C. Reilly. It had its funny moments. If you don't have anything else to watch, it is worth a rent.

Gabe and I are currently watching Speed Racer. It is based off of the comic book and it was Gabe's choice. Maybe if you really liked the comic book series you would be a little more into the movie. It isn't bad, just not my choice of movie.

Posted by at 9:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

This one is for Nicole.

Posted by at 9:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We picked up my car on Wednesday evening. Friday, Alex and I ran most of the errands that I wanted to do on Wednesday. This included picking up the rest of the stuff that we needed for the party on Saturday. We had a good time at the party and the weather was nice enough to sit outside and enjoy the outdoor ceiling fans that Gabe installed. Today we did a little shopping. We bought a few supplies at Sam's and I hit up the paper sale at JoAnn. I really want a Cricut, but I can't justify the cost (even though one version is $110 off right now at Michaels). I have been checking ebay and Amazon. I still can't decide.

Posted by at 10:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We can all use new blog friends. So, go on over to My Chihuahua Bites and join in the fun. Here is this question for this week...who are your top five celebrity crushes?

Hmm...this is a toughie. I don't really have any celebrity crushes, but if you made me choose (in no particular order)...

*My list isn't necessarily about a physical crush. Maybe more a mental crush if that makes any sense.*

1. Sean Biggerstaff. He played Oliver Wood in the Harry Potter movies. Unfortunately, they cut his character in the films before he actually graduated.

2. Adam Lambert. There is just something about him.

3. Simon Cowell. I like him for his brutal honesty...and his accent.

4. Severus Snape. I know he is a character in the book, but like Adam, there is just something about him.

5. Robert Pattison. I am talking about the Cedric Diggory (Harry Potter) version. I know most people won't agree, but he just isn't my idea of Edward Cullen.

Three of the five are from Harry Potter and two are from American Idol, lol!

Posted by at 9:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (20)

I am participating in the Crisp & Clean White & Green Swap over at Foxgloves, Fabric and Folly!!

You can also sign up for her monthly newsletter (starting in May). It includes recipes and decorating tips.

Posted by at 11:37 PM | Permalink

I am participating in Mamarazzi's Favorite Things Swap. It you would like to join, head on over to her blog and reserve a spot...they fill up quickly!

Posted by at 11:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here is a fun little thing you can do when you have a few extra moments...or just do it anyway :) The idea came from Corinne over at So September.

Go to google or your favorite search engine and type in Unfortunately, your name. So, I typed in Unfortunately, Stephanie and see what shows up. Here are some of mine.

Unfortunately, Stephanie is quite the catch but Eugene is a bit of a nerd.

Unfortunately, Stephanie did not have any hits in the U.S.A.

Unfortunately, Stephanie's website has been woefully neglected for the last 9 years, so this new and improved website is a welcome change!

Unfortunately, Stephanie has a bad habit of leaping first and looking later, and it seems that she has leapt right into a very dangerous situation.

Unfortunately, Stephanie is now broke and has to close the 24-hour Church of Elvis in Portland, OR.

Unfortunately, Stephanie always has a wet diaper.

Unfortunately, Stephanie's quail breast with lobster ravioli is marred by leeks that are both undercooked and unnecessary.

Unfortunately, Stephanie knew she didn't have enough energy to make it through the entire meal.

Unfortunately, Stephanie, when you use a cryptographic hardware device, it isn't possible.

Unfortunately, Stephanie isn't interested in Michael for he isn't a T-Bird.

Unfortunately, Stephanie cannot speak to me directly, as her phone has been stolen, but she is happy to converse by email

Unfortunately, Stephanie was slightly allergic.

Posted by at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I am joining the Ultimate Blog Party 2009. You can join too. Just go and check out 5 Minutes For Mom. While you are there, you might as well peruse some other Ultimate Blog Party blogs.

In case this is your first time visiting, my name is Stephanie and I have been married to Gabe for 5 years. We have a son, Alex. He is almost 5 months old. Our other children are our dogs, Elsa and Clara. We are currently living in Arizona (since August 2008), but we are both transplants from Illinois.

I enjoy reading. Some of my favorites include James Patterson's Alex Cross series, Harry Potter, and Twilight. I also like to scrapbook. However, since Alex's arrival I have fallen behind. Spending time with Gabe, Alex, Elsa, and Clara is at the top of my list. Gabe and I watch Ugly Betty, American Idol, and Dancing With the Stars. It is a fun way to spend time together. We also like going to the zoo.

Alex

Gabe & Stephanie

Elsa

Clara

There are so many cool prizes to be won at this year's Ultimate Blog Party, but my top three picks would be:

* Kitchen Aid Artisan Stand Mixer from Moms Who Think.
* Halo SleepSack Wearable Blanket from Halo Innovations.
* $25 gift card to Target from Mummy Deals.

And if my top three picks are already chosen, I would very happy with anything else especially related to babies since I have a 5 month old.

Thanks for stopping by.

Posted by at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Gabe and I just returned from dinner. We went to Two Girls Pizza with Josh and Amy. Gabe and I are now back and watching American Idol.

Paula thinks none of the contestants are in the bottom three and she doesn't believe it? This is the 8th season of the show does she know how things work? Come on Paula!

I was a little worried that Adam might have ended up in the bottom three. I started to think I should have actually voted. :)

I am glad that they didn't use the one save on Alexis. Okay, that was my American Idol wrap up. Now I need to complete my bracket on Yahoo.

Posted by at 9:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Nicole tagged me in the fourth picture picture game. At least that is what I am calling it. Basically, this is how you play. Go to the fourth file in your picture folder. Then choose the fourth picture and post it on your blog.

This picture is from 2005. Bree, Jenny, and I all roomed together at the American Optometric Association Convention in Dallas. Bree is in the back and I am in the front of the picture.

I am going to tag Rosanne (Bits of Life, Scrapbooking and Cooking), Maria (Busyness Girl), Andrea (My Chihuahua Bites), Betsy (Snips, Snails, and Mommy Tales), and Beckie (Infarrantly Creative). Feel free to play even if I didn't "tag" you. Leave a link to your post in the comments section and everyone can check out your fourth pic too.

*Wow, I really need to update my blog roll!*

Posted by at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Wow, I have a lot to do to catch up my blog entries!

Thursday Gabe, Alex, and I went to Ruby Tuesday to eat. We had a BOGO coupon, so we both had steak for under $20 tip included. Before this visit I was anti-Ruby. I did not like their menu. I am not sure if the menu changed, or maybe just what I ordered changed, but it was yummy. The salad bar was spectacular and next time I am thinking of just ordering it.

On Friday we went to a hockey game. The University of Arizona Icecats were playing the Arizona State University Sun Devils. As you can tell Alex was really excited.

Alex at the hockey game.

Clara hanging out at home.

Alex "riding" Clara. Gabe thinks it is fun to have Alex ride Clara like a pony. Elsa is in the lower left corner.

The weather here has been beautiful lately. So, we have been taking advantage of the mid-80's by taking Alex on a lot of walks. The high today is actually 88!

As far as American Idol goes, I am really glad that Danny made it to the next round. Go Danny!

Gabe and I watched Hancock the other night. I rented it because I thought Gabe would like it. I was a little hesitant about another Will Smith movie after I Am Legend. It turned out to be a pretty good movie about a lonely superhero with amnesia. However, I didn't like the ending. Hmm...my description makes it sound pretty bad when in actuality it was pretty good.

We also watched Surfer, Dude. I was advised it wasn't the best movie. It wasn't. There really wasn't a plot. Maybe a guy that wants nothing more in his life than to surf, sticks it to the man (a corporate rich guy that happens to be a jerk...just a side note that not all corporate rich guys are jerks). That darn Matthew McConaughey made me watch it. I am a sucker for his movies.

Posted by at 11:08 AM | Permalink

I can't tell you exactly what we have done this week, but we have been busy. We always end up going to bed later than we intended and we don't accomplish everything that we planned. Alex and I made a trip to Wal-Mart today. We bought some material. I made him a car seat cover. This way instead of throwing a blanket over him while transporting him in his carrier from the car to the store, a cover will be attached to the infant carrier.

Car Seat Cover

Underside of Cover

Straps to Attach Cover

Velcro Holds the Straps On

Infarrantly Creative served as the inspiration for the car seat cover. I attached my straps to the cover while sewing the edges of the cover. I believe the original poster sewed the cover together and then attached the straps.

I also have four pillows to cover. I already purchased the material for two of them, so I purchased material for the other two today. I didn't buy the zippers though, so I won't be working on those just yet.

Pillow Material

Posted by at 9:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I realize a lot of people are bringing a carry on as their only piece of luggage since airplanes started charging for checked baggage. Here is a great way to use up hotel soaps. Tell your guests to leave their soap, shampoo, conditioner, etc., at home. Take a variety of bar soaps, shampoos, conditioners, shower gels and lotions, as well as facial cleaning supplies, a vanity kit, a sewing kit, comb, toothpaste, dental floss, razor, after sun gel, and shower cap and place them in a basket in your guest bathroom. If our house had been a little more organized I would have done this for our last four guests.

Toiletry basket for our most recent guest.

Posted by at 8:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I am making an attempt to go back and categorize all of my blog entries. It is not going as quickly as I had hoped.

I also need to update the list of blogs that I read. Some of the websites are no longer functional. I also read quite a few more blogs than I have posted. So, an update is going to happen in the very near future.

Oh how I love you!

Yesterday was very exciting. We went to Target TWICE! We bought a can of baby formula and it was dented and formula was coming out of the top. So, I returned it for another can. While Gabe was checking out he noticed the new can of formula was also dented. What are the people at Target doing with all of the baby formula? Are they playing football with it? So, I went back for another can and the first can I grabbed was dented. I finally found a good can and that is the one that we purchased. I also had to return a Space Bag. It had a 6" rip in. As you can imagine a bag that keeps air out does not work well if their is a large rip in in it. We also had some pictures made. So, look for those to be posted soon. We always buy the copyright to the pictures, so it is completely legal for me to post them.

Yesterday was also our 5th anniversary and it was a really relaxing day (minus the Target fiasco). My mom and dad ordered us a cake for our anniversary from a bakery in Denver, Colorado. It was sent overnight delivery and the cake was packed on ice. It had mousse in the center and needed to stay refrigerated. It was should have been delivered to us on Friday but it wasn't. It didn't even come Saturday, so my mom called and canceled the order. The bakery kept telling my mom that the cake wasn't being delivered due to the weather. We assumed they meant Denver. No, they meant Tucson. The cake was sitting on the loading dock in Tucson and FedEx refused to deliver it. The weather was gorgeous and in the 70's. I think they were trying to save money and didn't want to drive the 20 miles to deliver our cake. Either that or the FedEx people are enjoying our cake that was featured on the food network. If they are calling this bad weather they should try living in Illinois for a winter. So, the cake was ruined and we will never know how good the raspberry mousse center tasted. We went to a local baker and bought a very yummy black forest cake.

Stephanie (with new haircut), Alex, Elsa, and Clara.

We ate at Solaris for our anniversary and it was yummy. It is now my favorite restaurant around. Taco Bell is my next favorite. Solaris has Greek inspired food and the bruschetta with feta was wonderful.

We came home after dinner and relaxed.

Gabe and Alex reading.

Today we went to IKEA. We bought a couple of side tables. It was Alex's first trip to IKEA. He slept through most of the time at the store. They have free diapers in the bathrooms. So, Alex wore a free diaper when he needed his diaper changed.

Now we are back home watching the Super Bowl. Go Arizona!

I have two Christmas presents made and I am going to finish a third one while watching the Super Bowl. Only a bazillion more left to make and yes, that is a real number.

Posted by at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

One of my favorite things is an automatic soap dispenser. This was a recent purchase for us. I hate having to touch the soap dispenser with dirty hands (especially after handling raw meat). Now I just wave my hand under the dispenser to get my soap and use my elbow to turn on the water after handling chicken. I am not sure that it makes much of a difference, but it makes me feel better.

Our house is primarily unpacked (yippee!) however, the garage is a completely different story. Our three car garage currently fits only one car. I am hoping to tackle the mountain of stuff in there soon. Another thing on my list is to take down the Christmas tree. Yes, I know, I have turned into one of "those" people. You know the type. They leave their decorations up until June and then at that point decide they just might as well leave them up until December. It isn't entirely my fault. I am blaming the move on that one. I would like to have it down before February. I guess I only have a couple of days left. At least January is somewhat associated with the holiday/Christmas season. Maybe Gabe and I will be able to tackle it this weekend.

Below are some random Alex pics.

Tummy time.

Playing with the activity mat.

Tummy time.

Alex 3 months old.

Please, no more pictures.

Yesterday we went to get the oil changed in my car. The plan was to drop off the car, pick up the loaner, and then go back today for my car. Well, when we arrived to drop the car off they informed us that they could change the oil right then. That saved us about an hour and a half in driving time.

Alex hanging out while my oil was getting changed. I think he needs one of these to "drive" around when he is older. Gabe doesn't agree.

After the oil change I went to get a much needed hair cut. Before last night, my last haircut was in July before we moved!

This was taken before my haircut.

I received my Quaker Oats Mini Delights sample. I chose the chocolatey drizzle and they were yummy. Plus, I received a coupon for $0.50 off my next Quaker Oats purchase. I eat a lot of oatmeal, so the coupon will come in handy. You can still request a sample.

Posted by at 10:03 AM | Permalink

Grab the nearest book.

* Open the book to page 56.

* Find the fifth sentence.

* Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your blog along with these instructions.

* Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

I grabbed Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. I am still in the process of reading it (I just don't seem to have a lot of extra time).

"I don't think you were in any danger."
"I told you I didn't want to fight with Charlie."
"Nobody said you had to."

I am really enjoying this series of books. I think it was originally written for teens, but hey, Harry Potter was initially a book intended for children and I love them. I still need to watch the movie Twilight (the first book in the series). It will be released on DVD on March 21, 2009.

Check out Bits of Life, Scrapbooking and Cooking. This entry was inspired by her post and her entry is a recipe for Sour Cream-Pineapple Muffins.

Posted by at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I have a new camera! Gabe ordered one for me. I still miss my old camera.

We are still working on our house. Today the furniture repairman came today. He stayed from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. repairing the damage to most of our furniture. Quite a few items were deemed non-repairable and we were given cash for them. I even helped repair a few pieces. The pieces I worked on were items that were not damaged by the movers and so he did not have to repair them. He gave me the supplies and showed me how to do it. So, I worked on a rocking chair and ottoman as well as a table and chairs set. He is out of Phoenix. If anyone is looking for a great furniture repair guy in the state of Arizona I can help you out. He actually covers the entire state and he is very reasonable.

Alex in his swing.

Elsa

This is off of the prickly pear cactus from our front yard. It was broken and apparently you can just plant it and it will grow. We will have to wait and see.

We used a gift container from Christmas to serve as our time capsule. We will open it on January 1, 2010.

Posted by at 10:26 PM | Permalink

Okay, this really isn't a poem about my camera, but it is a blog entry. I still have not found my camera. Gabe and I have come to the conclusion that it is truly lost. I am sad that I lost my camera for several reasons.

1. My memory card was in the camera and it had pictures on it that I had not copied onto my computer. Pictures of Alex were on the camera as well as our trip to Madera Canyon.

2. My camera was metal (not plastic) and it was awesome. I dropped it so many times and it just kept on working. There were quite a few close calls though.

3. It was my 2nd Anniversary gift from Gabe. I thought he was pretty clever in his gift choice. I needed a new camera and he bought one as my "paper" gift (the pictures are printed on paper).

4. I have been unable to take pictures for a few days now. I really like taking pictures and it seems there are awesome pictures to be had when one is without the means to catch that perfect photo opportunity.

5. I guess my 365 project will be without a few days.

I am pretty sure the camera had a good life :) Several of its pictures were featured on my blog and many family members and friends enjoyed them. It traveled to various places in and out of the US. Some of these places included Italy, Ireland, the Bahamas, Spain, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Hawaii.

I don't have a picture of my camera to post.

With my next camera I am taking a picture of a piece of paper with my contact information. I am going to put it directly on the camera and my memory card. Hopefully I will never lose my camera again, but if I do, maybe and honest person will find it and return it.

Posted by at 2:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Gabe and I went to Morton's for dinner on Thursday. I felt like crap, but the food was great. It is not the type of place that I would go every week (too pricey), but every once in a while would be fine. The bread was just ok and so was my appetizer (crab cake). I should probably note that I don't really like seafood. Gabe liked the crab cake and his appetizer (jumbo shrimp). The salads were alright. We both had the filet and it was delicious. We shared the veggies (baked potato and broccoli). For dessert we each had the molten chocolate cake. The best item of the night was by far the steak. So, go for the steak. All of the items at Morton's are a la carte (a baked potato is $8 with steak up to $96) unless there is a special going on. The special will save you about $100 for two people.
Friday I still was not feeling too hot. I went to the library with Aaron and I returned something to Macy's. After that I was worn out and came back home and slept for about four hours until Gabe called and woke me up around 6:00 p.m. The sleep helped me feel a little better. Gabe and I stayed in and watched the back episodes of season seven of Scrubs. Now we will be ready when there are new episodes.
Saturday I was feeling so-so until work. I was completely drained after work and felt about 10 times worse when I left as when I started. So, Saturday night we started watching Grey's Anatomy. We have the first season on DVD.
Today I am feeling a little better. I still tire out pretty easily and I am still congested, but I am slowly getting better. I will be feeling better and then after a day of work I feel like crap again. I have to work tomorrow and Tuesday, but then I have Wednesday off. Hopefully Wednesday will help in my recovery.
On a fun note, we purchased Guitar Hero III. I rock! Well, at least on the easy level. It is a really fun game.

Posted by at 9:58 PM | Permalink

I am currently hanging out at home watching Georgia Rule. It isn't the exact type of movie that I expected. I am going to leave it at that.
I went to the doctor today. I have a sinus infection, an ear infection, and fluid behind my ear. I was given some medication...hopefully it works before our trip.
Gabe should be home shortly. We are going to Morton's to eat. We aren't really going because it is Valentine's day, but more just because we both want to try it. I will let you know how it goes.

Posted by at 4:56 PM | Permalink

Gabe is feeling much better. He has been sick the past few days. He isn't completely well, just a little stuffy. I have had a sore throat since yesterday. I hope that I am not catching whatever it is that he has. I don't feel sick, just exhausted. I slept for 8 hours, so I should be well rested. If I am not better by Thursday, I am going to attempt to get an appointment with the doctor. I do not want my trip to Spain ruined by illness. I think mine might just be allergy related though...at least that is what I am hoping. At least my schedule isn't too busy today at work, so I can relax between patients.

Posted by at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I guess it was only a matter of time before airlines start charging for baggage. RyanAir, which services Europe, has extremely cheap airfare, but charges for all luggage. If It helps to keep ticket prices down I guess it is okay (but they aren't as cheap as RyanAir)...I will look at it as a pay for your own jet fuel charge.

Posted by at 10:43 PM | Permalink

Friday evening my parents came up. We went to Islamorada Fish Company, the restaurant at Outdoor World. I had a steak and a baked potato. The steak was pretty good (especially after I salted it). We walked around the store and then headed to the supermarket. Afterwards we came back home.
I had to work on Saturday, but they came up to the office and once I was home we relaxed for a little while. We had reservations at Meson Sabika for dinner. Yes, this has been quite the Meson Sabika week. I love the dates wrapped in bacon, but anything probably tastes better wrapped in bacon. My nephew came over (he attends a college about an hour and a half away) and we ordered pizza. I think that he left sometime between 2 and 3 a.m. Gabe and I went to bed after he headed out.
Today has been quite the shopping day. We went to Marshall's and I found a pair of shoes. I am going to take them with me to Spain...they are really comfortable. Gabe and my dad dropped my mom and me off at Ikea and then they went home. Now Gabe and my mom went to get the pizza and White Castles. Dad and I are watching the Superbowl. I am pulling for the Giants...I like the underdog. They should be back soon from their food run. It has been a busy and fun weekend. Back to work tomorrow.

Posted by at 4:43 PM | Permalink

Monday night Gabe and I went out in the inclement weather to purchase a few storage containers to organize our hallway closet. As you are probably guessing, this was entirely my idea. I did manage to talk him into helping me sort through things. I think that the closet looks great. I should probably post a picture so I can show off my newly organized closet. I have another closet to organize, but it is on the list for tomorrow. I think I just need to throw away a lot of the contents. Anyway, I am on an organization kick and there isn't a room in the house that is safe.
Gabe used half of a vacation day and came home early from work. We went to the store and purchased ingredients to make a chocolate cheesecake. Then we came home and made it. We went to Meson Sabika for dinner (even in the crazy weather) and then came back for cheesecake. I didn't like it (I am not a fan of cheesecake), but Gabe did. We just finished playing Dance, Dance, Revolution. Now we are getting ready to play Wii Big Brain Academy.

Posted by at 9:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I am watching American Idol, and I must say that I am ready to get on with the show. I am getting a little tired of the auditions. I really think that they should have combined the four audition shows into one hour long show.
Gabe and I finished watching Ratatouille last night. It was a cute movie about a "chef" that depends on a rat to help him cook. I am going to say that it is a renter, since it is no longer in the theaters.
Tomorrow I should have the day off, but I am working. I worked today and I had been home around 20 minutes when my phone rang. I answered it and the doctor that normally works on Thursday is sick. So, I will be working for her. I could have said no, but I would want someone to work for me if I was sick (she would be working if I was unable to fill in for her). I had to rearrange a lunch date, but I think that it worked out better for the person that I was supposed to meet tomorrow. Anyway, what it all boils down to is I will not get my day off tomorrow...I really love my days off.

Posted by at 8:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Weekend catchup time. It has been cold lately. When I left for work on Saturday morning it was -4 degrees F. With the wind chill it was around 20 below zero. I know that it may be colder elsewhere, but at some point cold is just cold. After work on Saturday Gabe and I hung out together.
Elsa has been sick lately. She is throwing up, moving slowly, and just not her normal perky self. A week or so ago, when we took Elsa and Clara to get their rabies shots, the vet suggested that we put Elsa on the sensitive stomach Science Diet food. So, we decided that it might help her stomach. At the point Gabe and I decided to venture out to buy the dog food on Saturday night, it was around 25 below zero. Oh the things that we do for Elsa. While we were out we stopped off at Ikea...hey we were already out.
Sunday we watched an episode of Pushing Daisies. The episodes that we are currently watching are from October. They have been recorded for a while and we are finally catching up with the show. We took a nap and it was a HUGE mistake. When it came time for bed I wasn't tired at all, so we went to the store around midnight and bought the supplies to make Tiramisu. Gabe likes it and I haven't made it for a while. So, I came back and at 1:00 a.m. and I made it for him. I finally made it to bed around 2:00 a.m., but I don't think that I actually went to sleep until after 3:00 a.m. So this is why the nap was a huge mistake. At least I didn't keep Gabe up (plus he didn't have to work today).
Today I worked, so Gabe met me near the office and we had lunch at Topa. It was a little pricey for lunch, but it tasted pretty good. Today the weather was a toasty 28 degrees. It feels like a sauna when you have been used to negative temperatures. The dogs appreciate the double digits. When it is really cold you have to carry Elsa to the door. She stops, looks up at you, and then turns around and walks back to the bedroom. She looks at you with an expression that says "you want me to do what, where?" You pretty much have to force her outside and shut the door. It has been pretty cold. Yippee...I get a day off in a couple of days!

Posted by at 9:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Gabe and I went out for dinner tonight. We tried a new sushi restaurant. It took a little bit to find. We actually did not believe how close it was to our house. It is called Aodake and they are also a steak house. We didn't go for the steak, so we sat at a regular table. We had several different types of sushi, but we couldn't pass up trying something called the "Chicago Roll". I actually liked it...it was deep-fried and artery clogging. So, we probably won't be ordering it again even though it tasted good...I attribute that to the deep-fried flavor. Leave it to us to take something relatively healthy and then deep fry it.

Posted by at 10:15 PM | Permalink

Last night Aaron came over and we all watched Mr. Brooks. It was not a typical Kevin Costner character, but it wasn't too bad. I will say that I thought the ending was slightly lacking.
Gabe and I were really tired today and slept for about an hour and a half when I came home from work. He was dreaming about milkshakes and wanted to go to Steak and Shake for dinner. We did, and guess what he ordered...a milkshake.
Now we are working on more tax stuff. I believe that we are in the home stretch now...yippee. I need to write a letter to the state. Maybe I should actually work on that now. I think once all of this tax stuff is sorted out we will be sleeping more...I love sleep.

Posted by at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today is apparently delurking day. You know who you are, so leave a comment :)

Thanks to Smiling Through it All.

Posted by at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My books are balanced...and it is only 1:00 a.m...man I need to get to bed. The $2.41 was slowly whittled down little by little until it was $0.50. At that point Gabe thought that I was crazy for continuing to look for the $0.50 in my books. I couldn't help myself. I had to find it. It was a battle of me against the numbers and I won! So, that is what I spent my evening doing. I am going to bed.

Posted by at 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My life has consisted of work and taxes these past couple of days. We started watching Ratatouille several days ago, but we have not finished it yet. So far it is pretty good. As far as taxes go, I have a few dollars and some cents that I cannot find in my books. The check register balances, but my books are having a $2.41 discrepancy. I will find the "lost" money. Gabe thinks that I am crazy looking for it, but this is the type of thing that I used to do for my Dad's company. Back to the penny searching.

Posted by at 9:35 PM | Permalink

If your new year's resolution includes keeping things clean, this will help out with your computer.
Thanks to Julie for the link.

Posted by at 1:54 PM | Permalink

Friday Gabe and I did some shopping using a gift card. I bought a cookbook that I wanted. We hit a few of the "After Christmas" sales, but we didn't really buy anything. Most of Friday and Saturday were spent watching the second season of Big Love. We finished it. A third season has been ordered from HBO, but I don't think that it will be out until sometime in June 2008. I think that we are getting ready to go to the grocery store...wow, that sounds exciting ;)

Posted by at 1:15 PM | Permalink

The cost of the 12 days of Christmas items is up 4% from last year. It would cost $78,100 this year.

Posted by at 8:43 PM | Permalink

Saturday Gabe and I went to Meijer to grocery shop. We were using the self check lane and I was scanning and Gabe was bagging. I was entering the number for produce, but instead of hitting the "enter item number" button, I hit the gift receipt button. I started laughing and Gabe asked what was going on. I told him that we were getting a gift receipt for our $0.54 worth of bananas. He said it would be even funnier if he returned the bananas with the gift receipt and told them that he wanted apples.
Aaron came over Saturday evening and we watched Fracture. It was pretty good. Anthony Hopkins plays some pretty creepy characters.
Yesterday we did some shopping. We went to Lowe's. Oh, we bought a new Christmas tree at the American Sale. We don't get it until Wednesday. The majority of our ornaments are at my parent's house. I am really tired, but I have a lot to attempt to do tonight. I think that I am going to bed around 11:00 p.m.

Posted by at 10:06 PM | Permalink

This is just wrong.

Posted by at 10:43 AM | Permalink

Ever wonder what happened to the confiscated items at the airport? Now you can have an answer.

Posted by at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I am not so sure about these.

Posted by at 7:48 PM | Permalink

For some reason I just cannot sleep tonight. I think that it might be because I am thinking of the million things that I need to do tomorrow. So, instead of tossing and turning in bed and keeping Gabe awake, I am attempting to get some things done. I am debating staining the new doors in the laundry room, but I might save that for tomorrow. I hope that everyone else out there is sleeping peacefully.

Posted by at 1:02 AM | Permalink

Since Halloween is coming up soon, I thought that I would post the link to the Cadaver Calculator. Find out how much your body is worth. I am worth $5175...don't tell Gabe ;)

The question about vision is misleading. Most people that think they have "perfect vision" are uncorrected hyperopes that will wear reading glasses before the "normal" age and a distance prescription when they are unable to compensate for the distance correction that has actually been there all along. Or, I guess they could just walk around not seeing so hot.

Posted by at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yesterday we stayed home and watched Dancing with The Stars. Tonight, we went to Lowe's. We actually found a counter top for the bathroom that we both liked. This was something that had yet to be accomplished at both Menards and Home Depot. The only problem is it is not in stock. I have a lot of things to do, but I don't think that they are going to get done until Thursday. I can't believe that it is already almost 10:00 p.m. Any way, I thought that I would share one of my favorite YouTube celebrities with you guys (just in case you haven't heard of him). His name is William Sledd and he is from Paducah, Kentucky. He also has a website. I really like Ask A Gay Man: Fashion Edition #1, Ask A Gay Man: Special Baking Edition, Ask A Gay Man: Denim Edition, and Ask A Gay Man: Wedding Cake Edition. I know that I have told some of you about the site before, but if you haven't watched a video or two, you should give him a try. The videos that I linked to make me laugh.

Posted by at 9:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I am really tired and I am getting ready to go to bed. I have one load of laundry left. Boy did we have a ton! Since Gabe is in California I didn't cook dinner. I actually had pancakes. I told him that he needed to eat dinner with me because that way I would eat a healthy meal. Either way, I don't think that I would have pancakes every night. He comes home late tomorrow night. I work until at least 7:00 p.m., so he should be home a few hours after me. I am really looking forward to getting a day off on Thursday.

Posted by at 11:55 PM | Permalink

Let's see, I went to the grocery store last night and returned home around 12:30 a.m. I put all of the groceries away while Gabe packed his bags. He left for California at 5:00 a.m. today. He is going for a work conference. This morning I got up and went to my doctor's appointment for a flu shot. Then I headed to the town hall to buy garbage stickers, the library to return a book, and the post office to mail a few things. So far I have done 6 loads of laundry and I would say that there are 4 or 5 more loads, but hey, we have towels. Now I have to get ready for work...I need to leave in about 15 minutes.

Posted by at 9:57 AM | Permalink

Woo Hoo! We are back in business. My first load of towels is finished and my second is in the dryer. I am getting tired, but I think that I might run to the grocery store tonight so I don't have to do it after work tomorrow.

Posted by at 11:08 PM | Permalink

Gabe went with me to my externship site today. While I was seeing patients he went to Panera and Barnes & Noble. Afterwards, we had lunch, went to Borders (where I purchased another book on CD), and went to Greek Fest. Greek Fest didn't start until 4:00 p.m., otherwise we would have eaten lunch there. If you are thinking about going, there is a mandatory $2.00 donation per person. We didn't mind paying, but mandatory donations always crack me up. After walking around and seeing what all of the vendors had to offer we headed back home. My computer was having a few issues and while Gabe worked on it I started packing. The front room is basically packed up. I plan on packing more tomorrow. I am really excited about getting Monday off...two days in a row...wow! Unfortunately I think that I may have to work on Wednesday to make it up.

Posted by at 10:41 PM | Permalink

Commuting sucks! This is the second day that my commute time in the morning has been over 2 hours. If it rains, it is pretty much a guarantee that my commute will reach at least 120 minutes. Yuck!
On Saturday Gabe rode up to my externship site with me (he went to Barnes & Noble and did some work while I saw patients). Afterward we went to the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Wisconsin. I will say that I am glad that I went once, but it probably isn't something that I will rush out to do again. After the faire, we went to the outlet malls...that I will do again.
Sunday we headed off to the Museum of Science and Industry. We went to the Frog exhibit...I highly suggest it. It is such a bargain at only $5.00. I guess that we felt like big spenders, because we also watched the Omnimax movie on Greece. I really want to go to Greece, so I thought that it would be a lot of fun. My suggestion is skip the movie and see the frogs. We also went to the Coal Mine exhibit. I must say that I was extremely disappointed...it doesn't help that I know some of the "facts" that they told us were not true. I feel like writing a letter to the museum pointing out their false information...maybe another day when I have more time.

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Now everyone can relive their childhood military dreams. The Department of Defense sells their surplus goods at an auction site. Check it out for all of your aircraft parts and x-ray equipment needs.

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Yesterday I became a "true" commuter. After traveling ~one and a half hours each way in traffic, I no longer consider my 10 minute ride to school to be a commute. Unfortunately there are no trains to my new site. If there were I would be going Metra all of the way. I saw a new traffic manuver while driving yesterday. As I was merging with traffic onto the expressway a car drove over the concrete barrier from the lanes of traffic into the merging exit. Then they drove in the merging lane for a while and then went right back into the lane of traffic that they came from. After the merging lane ended they drove in the emergency lane for a bit. The emergency lane driving was something that I had seen before, but jumping the concrete barrier to get in a lane that was about end was something new. I have decided that I am going to start listening to books on CD to help pass the time. Any suggestions?

Posted by at 8:16 AM | Permalink

While traveling to the orientation at my next externship site yesterday, I heard a story on the radio about a massive tug of war competition. Apparently, for the past 20 years Port Byron, Illinois has been taking on LeClaire, Iowa in an event called Tugfest. A 2,700 foot rope is strung across the Mississippi River and the two towns tug away. Just in case you are wondering, Illinois won this year but the overall record is Illinois 10-Iowa 10.

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I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. They were very good even if they did come out of a can. My mom makes good cinnamon rolls and they don't come from a can. We were going to see a movie, but by the time we were ready to go, it was too late. Instead we went to an outlet mall in Indiana. It was fun to walk around (it was an outdoor mall). After shopping we decided drive to Michigan since we were really close and neither of us had been to Michigan before. We stopped off at a rest area and walked around a bit. Then we decided to come back to Chicago. We just finished dinner, and think that we are about to watch a movie. This weekend turned into a lot of shopping, but I must say not a lot of purchases came from it.

Posted by at 8:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Today we started out at the grocery store doing the weekly shopping. After grocery shopping we came back to the apartment and packed a picnic lunch. We then drove to Elmhurst, found a park, and enjoyed our lunch there. It was really relaxing. We went to the Yorktown Mall and I bought a couple of things from Eddie Bauer. The New York & Co. was going out of business so everything in the store was 50% off. I found a couple of shirts. There were a lot of things that I would have liked to purchase, but the sizes had already been picked over. Naturalizers was also having a 50% off sale, so I purchased a pair of clinic shoes. They aren't the most attractive pair of shoes that I have seen, but they are pretty comfortable. Afterward, we came back and made dinner and watched a little T.V.

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I actually posted this as a comment in one of my entries, but so you all can share in the festival, I am going to repost it as an entry.

At the Rayne Frog Festival in Rayne, LA, a Frog Queen is crowned. There is also a frog derby. You can also try frog legs while you are there, but that just seems wrong to me since they are crowning a queen and all...do they eventually eat her?

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If your name matches the "mystery name", you might just win yourself a trip to Barcelona with a complete stranger. Apparently this poor guys girlfriend dumped him and left him with a non-transferable ticket to Spain. "All" you have to do to see if you get the trip is send him your name, address, phone number, weight, height, and some pics. He is just looking for friendship, but if more happens he feels "that is cool". I wonder why his girlfriend left him. I am just sitting here trying to figure out who would actually send this guy all of their information. If I am going to Spain, I will pay for it myself...or until I get a "real job" I guess Gabe will.

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I didn't believe it when I read about it, but West Virginia has a "Roadkill Cook-Off". This is actually the 15th annual event of this type. If you are in Pocahontas County, WV on September 30, give it a try. First prize is $600.

My favorite rule is the first one.

"1. All entries must have, as their main ingredient, any animal commonly found dead on the side of the road - groundhog, 'possum, deer, rabbit, squirrel, snake, etc. Pigs, cows, chickens, horses, and goats also in that category also. However, it need not actually come off the side of the road (and most of the judges would prefer that it didn't)."

FYI, in 1998 WV approved a roadkill law that allows drivers to keep practically anything that is roadkill.

Posted by at 7:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today I must say was not the best of all days. We decided to look for a new place to live closer to Gabe's work and my upcoming externship sites. Let's just say that we were sadly disappointed. The only place that we saw with potential is a little more than we were willing to spend and it is pretty small. I guess all that I can say is we at least have a back up. We are going to have to increase the amount of money that we are willing to spend on rent in order to find a place that we are willing to stay. To add to the poor turn out of housing options my palm pilot fell out of my book bag onto the floor in the front seat of the car. Somehow the case managed to fall off and I ended up stepping on it, cracking the screen...they don't make my model anymore. Gabe decided to take me to one of my favorite places to eat and both the food and the wait staff sucked. Today just wasn't a good day. All I have to say is at least we have tomorrow to look, though I am not looking forward to it.

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Today was fairly productive. I sent out some emails that really needed to be done. We ran a few errands here and there. We just returned from one of my favorite restaurants...Meson Sabika. It is a Spanish restaurant with very yummy mushrooms, olives, and dates wrapped in bacon, yes that is right, dates wrapped in bacon. I actually would have never tried the bacon wrapped dates but on a trip about a year ago with Tony, Maren, Travis, and Gabe, Travis really wanted to give them a try. Everyone at the table loved them. So, today we ordered food and picked it up and went to the park and ate with Gabe's dad, mom, and sister. We tried to get reservations, but the restaurant was booked for the evening. The park was really nice. If the weather had held out for us we might have explored the park a little more. Maybe Gabe and I can go back some day.

Posted by at 9:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Amazon.com now sells more than 10,000 non-perishable food items. This would be great except I have to wait on the items and I will still need to go to the store for produce, dairy, and the like. I might give it a try though. If you spend $25 your order is eligible for free super-saver shipping. Gabe and I watched the Da Vinci code on Sunday. I will say that Tom Hanks' hair did not bother me as much as I thought that it might. He actually did a pretty good job as the character in the movie, but the character in the book still reminds me of a Harrison Ford. Yes, I know that Robert Langdon is the character in the movie and the book, but to me they are two separate entities. The movie left too much out and changed to much for it to be the same as the book to me. Something that really bothered me has to do with the ending, so I won't type it here and spoil the movie/book for those of you that have yet to see/read it. My one major question is where was the chemistry between Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu?

Posted by at 10:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

All of the finals are finished. Well, at least until the mother of all finals...boards. Those will reer their ugly head in December (Part II) and then again in April (Part III). Primary care clinic sessions at school are over as well. My first rotation is at school in Pediatrics/Binocular Vision, Low Vision, and Advanced Care.
Wednesday night I had a Lia Sophia Jewelry Party. It was a lot of fun and I ordered some really cute jewelry. Several of my friends came over and we all tried on jewelry.
I watched the final 7th Heaven a few days ago and must say that I am a little disappointed in the ending. They didn't really tie up loose ends. I have heard rumors that they may be trying to sign the show on for one more season. I am assuming that is why they ended the series the way that they did.
The Gilmore Girls season finale was o.k. For those of you that watch, I have pretty much decided that I want Lorelai to get with Christopher and dump Luke.

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For those of you who wondering, I am still reacting to cockroach from my allergy testing last Monday. Okay, I really need to study now.

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Today I did something "super fun". I had allergy testing done. It actually wasn't that bad. It turns out I am allergic to all of the things that they tested me for except two...dogs and I can't remember the other one right now. I guess that I will ask the doctor what it is when I go back. Ten hours after the testing I still had a raised, hard, red, hot area on my arm about the size of three silver dollars. My face was red and I had red splotches on my neck as well as a fever over 100. I called the doctor to find out what I should do. Normally I would just take a Benadryl to stop the histamine reaction...Benadryl and I have a long history together, but since they started me on a new allergy med today I wasn't sure about mixing the two. It took them a while to call me back and in the mean time I went ahead and took the Benadryl and applied Benadryl Cream to the area. By the time they called me back my arm wasn't nearly as red, hard, hot, or as raised as it had been previously and my fever had gone down. Basically it was just pink and warm. They did say that if it happened again to call them back immediately. Now my arm is just pink and warm. I think that my buddy Benadryl and I will have another encounter tonight before I head off to bed. I still have some more fun testing to look forward to in my future.

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Everyone should check out the spectacular works of the fabulous artist Maren Zabel. I actually purchased three pieces. One of them, "Tap Root", is currently on her webpage.

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I thought that I had heard about everything...I guess not. Apparently a man in Appleton, WI decided to sell his 18 month old daughter for $7,000 to help fund his remodeling project.

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Bored with nothing to do...maybe riding in a car to Chicago...check out Puppy War and vote for the cutest puppy. More of a cat person? Check out Kitten War. Thanks to Laura for the Kitten War info. May the cutest puppy/kitten win!

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I have some good news for anyone that likes to post to my blog...you are automatically approved! Provided that when you posted you entered an email address. The important thing is to always enter your email address the same way, and yes, capitalization DOES matter. If you try to post and your comment doesn't appear, let me know.

P.S. I love internet via cell phone...I can have my internet fix in the car.

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While in clinic today a doctor showed me this website. Aside from the fact that there are some major issues with the info (i.e., LASIK ablates part of the cornea not the lens and how does the flap get pulled back?), it is very funny. If it didn't cost $100 I would order one just to see what it is like, though I am not too eager to give them my credit card number and they don't take paypal.

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I have a had a fairly decent week, minus the test. However, I had an extraordinary day a few days ago. I heard from a couple of friends (actually 3). It always makes me happy to hear what is going on in their lives, since I no longer get to see them on a regular basis. Also, we had an extra-credit quiz in one of my classes, and I got the problem right. Oh yeah, and the weather was great. I am really looking forward to grilling again this summer, and I am not talking about the George Foreman that we have used all winter.

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A few days ago I went to the post office to mail some books on CD for Gabe. Because they fall under the definition of media, I was going to use the much cheaper media mail service. I went up to the counter and the postal employee weighed my first package. She said $18 something. I told her that I wanted to mail the package media mail. She quickly asked me what was in my package. I told her it was a book on CD. She said that I could mail it that way if that really was what I had in the box. I said that it was. She was essentially accusing me of lying to her about the contents of the package. She said that it could be inspected (this is what they normally say). I said fine. I had a second package to mail as well. Both of them together were under $4. So, I could see why people might abuse the media mail system. I will say that my classmates and I did get a few good laughs out of the situation.

Posted by at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I tried my luck at the Yahoo Sports Tournament Pick'em for college basketball. I am not doing so well. The only team that I have left in the tournament is Villanova. The best that I can finish in my group is 24th. Next year I am going to pick the winning team based on which color of jersey I like better. My strategy of picking a team to win if there was an optometry school in the vicinity wasn't such a great idea this year.

Posted by at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Well, Gabe and I went to a restaurant that I really like tonight, J.C. Georges. If you ever get a chance to go, you should really try the Grecian chicken tenders with the Greek-style potatoes...yummo! Anyway, when we walked up to the hostess to ask for a table she looked at us and said, "I can't remember if you like smoking or non-smoking." She actually remembered us. I think that means that we are eating there too often...the food is so good. Okay, when it gets to the point that when I walk in everyone turns, looks at me, and says "Steph!", then I might consider cutting back on my J.C. Georges addiction, but until then Grecian chicken tenders here I come!

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While watching another episode of the Smurfs certain things occurred which I found to be very disturbing. Smurfette was attempting to figure out which Smurf that she wanted to marry. All of the Smurfs were vying for her affection...including Papa Smurf. Growing up I always assumed that Papa Smurf was their father or at least a father figure. Also, why is Smurfette the only female Smurf? In the later episode I remember some Smurf children...where did they come from? I think that I should quit analyzing the Smurfs and just watch them.

Posted by at 6:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Gabe and I are having a tropical themed get together at our apartment. Since we don't know what the weather is going to be like in a couple of weeks we will bring to the tropics to us. Anyway, the point of this is that I just read an article on dogs and parties. There are apparently quite a few things that can be found at parties that one should not feed a dog.
Among them are coffee, chocolate, and tea. These can cause urinary tract problems as well as nervous system problems.
Macadamia nuts. These cause problems with digestive, nervous, and muscle systems.
Grapes and Raisins. These can cause kidney problems...Clara won't like this, raisins are her favorite food.
Tobacco poisoning can cause vomiting and Alcohol consumption can cause death.

Just thought that I would pass the information along.

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Gabe put together some links for the Republican Primaries...check them out if you are interested.

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We just changed our T.V. package and we now get the Boomerang Channel. I just finished watching the Smurfs. It has been a really long time since I have seen them on T.V. I used to love the cartoon when I was little, and the theme song was so catchy...I would sing it for days. Great, now I am singing it. I remember collecting the figurines from the McDonald's Happy Meals when I was in gradeschool. As I was watching them this morning I was trying to figure out why Gargamel wants to rid the world of Smurfs. What would he do with all of his time if he succeeded? Chasing the Smurfs is pretty much the only thing that he does. I still can't figure out what the Smurfs did to make him dislike them so much. This morning the "Astrosmurf" episode was on. It was Dreamy Smurf's smurfday and his smurfday wish was to travel to space. So, Papa Smurf concocted an elaborate plan to make it look like he had landed on another planet. Well, the process to make things look like another planet was quite involved for the little Smurfs. As a result, they were continually asking Papa Smurf "are we there yet?" Papa Smurf became so irritated that he told them to "smurf off". Wow! I wonder what else I missed when I was watching the cartoon when I was 5. Maybe the Smurfs aren't as innocent as I once thought.

Posted by at 8:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Hello everyone. My friend Nicole's dog, Lily, is in the PetMeds' Cutest Pet Contest. Click here to vote a "10" for Lily!!

Posted by at 7:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Since I have $0 of my $100 in donations that I need, I am going to try posting this again. :)
I will be taking the "Polar Plunge" for Special Children's Charities on Sunday, March 5. Special Children's Charities is a group that supports the Special Olympics. The Polar Plunge involves going into the very cold waters of Lake Michigan. If you would like to support me in this cause, please feel free to donate through this link. Any amount is greatly appreciated. Check out the Polar Plunge at this link.

Posted by at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Have you ever lost luggage while flying somewhere? Ever wonder where it went? Check here, you might be able to buy some of your old stuff back.

Posted by at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1)

Finals are over for the quarter...yippee!!!! So, last night I decided to have a little fun and I went to a website that lists some dumb laws. I am not sure if these really are laws, but they are still funny. Since I am currently in Chicago, I figured I would list some dumb laws that are specifically for Chicago.

1. Law forbids eating in a place that is on fire - really?
2. It is illegal to give a dog whiskey
3. Kites may not be flown within the city limits - has anyone told the cops about kite day at the lake?
4. Spitting is forbidden
5. It is illegal to take a French poodle to the opera - I hate it when people take their French poodles and they bark along
6. It is illegal to fish in pajamas. - that is my favorite way to fish

Here are couple from the Chicagoland area:

Cicero: Humming on public streets is prohibited on Sundays.

Orland Park: No pool tables are allowed in a public establishment, because it supports gambling.

For my friends from Minnesota...Hamburgers may not be eaten on Sundays.

And, my favorite, you may not take a picture of a rabbit during the month of June in Wyoming.

Posted by at 9:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I will be taking the "Polar Plunge" for Special Children's Charities on Sunday, March 5. Special Children's Charities is a group that supports the Special Olympics. The Polar Plunge involves going into the very cold waters of Lake Michigan. If you would like to support me in this cause, please feel free to donate through this link. Any amount is greatly appreciated. Check out the Polar Plunge at this link.

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