Almost-Amy = Dancing Chimps?

Being the Dancing With The Stars freak that I am, I like to keep up with the dancers/stars and have recently discovered that 2 of the dancers have a band called Almost-Amy. Mark Ballas (Sabrina Bryan's partner) and Derek Hough (Julianne's bro) started this band not too long ago, I guess, and are are working on an album, but have some songs out there. Curiosity got the best of me and I went to their website and listened to their music. I have to say, its really good, in my opinion! Kinda funky, kinda jazzy, soft-rockish? Anyway, they have a video of this one song (my favorite) "Get Through" , and its pretty funny. You'd think that with being world renown ballroom dancers they'd be a bit less um... chimp-like with their dancing but I'm afraid thats what it reminds me of! Anyway, silly video... hope you enjoy! (Best part is about 1/2 way through... watch for it in the background while Derek [the blond one] is singing. Very random!)

Four Glorious Years!

Yesterday our little family (Ben and I, that is) turned 4! Yup, it was our anniversary. :) I wasn't feeling too hot, so the festivities were cut short after dinner (I feel bad too, b/c he got all BYU-ish on me and did this scavenger hunt, that lead me to clues about the night's plans!) but it was still fun! Oh, and check out what I got to sport around all day, showing off what a great hubby I have! (I tried to take a picture of it on my hand but its all blurry, so you get the official website shot-by the way, its an amethyst, my birthstone) Oh, and yeah, he totally brought me flowers at work, what a sweetie!!!! I have the best hubby in the universe! :)

Ice Storm!

Well, typical of Oklahoma, we had a whopper of an ice storm! I wasn't too convinced that it was going to be as bad as they forcasted, but after spending almost 3 hours chiseling ice off my car... well, I take it back. I've always thought these ice storms were rather pretty, but something about spending 3 hours in the freezing rain (and I do mean rain... lots of it, it was absolutely POURING the entire time, but it froze pretty much on contact) battling the inch-and-some thick ice that covered my car... well, I don't think its so cool anymore. I had 3 layers of socks, pants, sweatshirts, etc and I still amanged to finish up completely soaked from head to foot.Oh and the kicker... the second I came in to get warm and change (yes, I was doing all this in preperation to get to work on time!) my phone rings... work was canceled... ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?! Argh!!! I mean its nice and all that I don't have to drive in all this, and I'm happy I got to warm up and rest after almost 3 grueling hours outside,but I mean COME ON! Talk about ironic... *sigh* Oh well, I guess its good that I got it off this morning rather than waiting for tomorrow when I'd most likely be battling 2+ inches rather than 1. Oh, and I had to move my car across the way because the tree that is right up front had some limbs that were hanging dangerously low, under the weight of all the ice. One of our neighbors was not so lucky to realize that in time and had a limb fall on his.
Here are some pics:

Pretty!

(1+ inch thick ice on my car) NOT so pretty!

Also pretty!

(Tree limb that fell on a neighbor's car) Also NOT so pretty!

Dominick The Donkey

Oh its that time of year again, when we get to hear Christmas music 24/7 on most radio stations and well... pretty much everywhere else! I personally love it, I can't get enough of Christmas music! Its funny though, how some songs are so famous in some regions of the country while in other parts they have never been heard of. One such song (which is amongst my all time favorites!) is "Dominick The Donkey," by Lou Monte- an Italian singer back in the late 60's. (Lyrics here) No one here (in Oklahoma) has ever heard it and I've asked friends elsewhere and get the same blank stares. Of course, that probably has to do with the fact that I grew up in Brooklyn which is heavily populated by Italian immigrants! So... I feel the need to spread the love, because this is an AWESOME song. Incidentally, I found a music video to it... well, sort of. Some weird guys got dressed up and lip sang to it, but anyway, its hillarious. Enjoy!

HOORAY fo Helio & Julianne!!! (And a tribute to Sabrina & Mark)

Ok, so another DWTS season has come to an end, and once again Julianne managed to get her star the mirrorball trophy! (Last season she and Apollo Anton Ono won) I'm so happy they won, as they were my faves, plus I was defintely not that big of a fan of MelB and Maks... and well, lets face it, there was no way Marie Osmond could/should have won... I'm sorry, I love her and all, but no... yes she's entertaining, yes she lost a ton of weight (hooray for her!), and yes she did amazingly well for a women her age, but no way was she as skilled as Helio and/or MelB. So yeah, HOORAY for Helio!!!

Now, as happy as I am for the champs, I do have a bone to pick. I'm STIIL really mad about a certain elimination that took place... yes, Sabrina and Mark. This is a classic example of one of DWTS flaws... eventually, it stops being about the dancing and it turns into a popularity contest.(um... like what happened with Marie making it all the way to the top?) Sabrina Bryan, in my opinion, could and SHOULD have made it to the finals! But of course, most of her fans are like what... 10? So yeah, that didn't help when it came to getting votes, and so she was eliminated 1/2 way through the competition. On 11/20 (during the semi-finals) she was invited back to dance as a guest (probably due to all the protests after she was voted off!) and performed with her new hunny-bun, Mark (awww!) to Avril Lavigne's "Complicated." I thought this dance showed just how much talent we missed out on. :(

Aaaand he's back!

Ben, that is. He's decided to start blogging again, so I've added him back to my links. I had previously given up on his blog since he hadn't posted since May, but the blogging bug must've bit him in the behind, and he's gotten into it again. This will still remain the "family blog" since I am fairly certain I will continue being the most consistent blogger of the two... I dare him to prove me wrong! Heehee...

Now that Thanksgiving Day is over...

Its time to put up Christmas stuff! Just thought I'd start by adding some Christmas cheer to our blog. I love this time of year, hooray!!!

You know your town is PODUNK when...

... the news channels can spend over 40 minutes covering "latebreaking news" entailing a fire in a building under contruction, where absolutely NO ONE has been hurt because there was no one in there to begin with! Mind you, the fire has long been out (about 10 minutes after they started shooting live) yet they still find it necessary to keep reporting on it. Shot after shot of all the smoke (ooooh, how exciting! NOT) and all the fire engines still hanging around. I have lost count of how many times they've told us what this buidling was being constructed for, and what their "thoughts" are on what might have started it, or that ONCE AGAIN, no injuries, folks! So.... now that the blaze is under control (for a good 30 minutes now) and we know that no one was hurt... WHY are we still having to watch this? Is there really nothing else more interesting going on that this has to be on every single channel??? Dancing With The Stars is scheduled to start here in about 20 minutes and they better be done with all this stupidity by then, GRRRRRRRRR! Sometimes I really um... dislike Oklahoma. X<

Tag, you're it!

I've been tagged, courtesy of Erin. I think I'll follow her lead and respond for the whole family:

ALEX
1) I loooooove Harry Potter! (But thats not obvious or anything... right? )
2) I snort when I laugh.
3) I HATE being tickled and will absolutely throw a fit if anyone even comes near me with the intention of doing so.
4) I recently (well, more like last year) overcame one of my biggest fears ever and learned how to swim!
5) One of my life's greatest ambitions is to swim with dolphins.
6) Although I am all about using proper grammar(and often correct people), I still say things like "bof" (both) and "reef"(wreath) ... I guess you can take the girl out of Brooklyn, but you can't take Brooklyn out of the girl! ;)

BEN
1) I love to read!
2) Some day I will become a master handyman and never again will we have to pay anyone to fix things in our home!
3) I like to aquire as many injuries as possible on the way to master handyman-hood. (see previous post)
4) Nothing is too spicy for me... Habaneros? Bring it on!
5) I like to make up words, especially in Spanish.
6) I've never had a single cavity in my entire life!

SIRIUS
1) I rule!
2) I am mommy's favorite.
3) Food is good.
4) Sleep is even better!
5) Squirrels are my mortal enemies.... I don't care how many times I have to rip my paw-pads off (see May 1st, 2007 post), I will kill them ALL!
6) I can sneeze on command!

MINERVA
1) My favorite place in the world is my bed!
2) I hate my brother, he's allowed on the couch AND the bed and I'm NOT!
3) I creep mom out sometimes when I sit and just stare at her for long periods of time.
4) I'm a daddy's girl.
5) Unlike my weenie of a brother, I don't cry every time I see the vet.
6) I love to catch and eat bugs!


Ok, now its my turn... I tag: Shannon & Clark, Carrie, and Laura!

Attack of the attic!

As many of you know, I am quite the accident-prone clutz. Always managing to hurt myself in the most unlikely of ways has become the norm for me. However, after almost 4 years of marriage, I think I'm starting to rub off on Ben. :)

Yesterday we were at his brother's house and they were working up in the attic, trying to re-route some cables. Ben is quite tall, and the attic is quite low... guess what happened? Yup, he stood up too fast and in a not-so-roomy part of the attic and bonked his head on a beam. This is what he has to show for it.

Being the manly-man that he is, he refused to be taken to the ER, despite the copious amount of blood dripping down his face. After 2 hours, however, I wore him down and pretty much dragged him kicking and screaming to the inevitable. Five staples and a tetanus shot later we were home again and Ben went to bed with a spliting headache... no pun intended. Next time he goes up there, I'm making him wear a helmet!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

WOOHOO, I love this day! We all dressed up for work, and this is what I went as... A Gryffindor student! Everyone knows what a Potter-head I am and although I've worn this costume in the past to other events, I couldn't dissapoint! I ran around yelling spells at everyone all day, it was pottertastic!

Wait... I'm taking WHAT?

These days I take so many pills its hard to keep track of what is what. However, today I was taking a closer look at one of my meds and happened to see this: (all the way at the bottom)

No, I do NOT have cancer! I always knew that Femara was originally intended to be used by women with breast cancer, but I guess I never really thought of it as chemo... Scary, huh? And what does "Dispose Of Properly" mean anyway? Should I have some sort of biohazard container laying around in case I have some unused pills? What does that say about what I'm putting into my body? Hmm...

Miracles DO Happen!

Some days are just hard. You look back on things in life that just didn't quite turn out the way you planned and are tempted to despair. I've been guilty of this myself, and when those times come around, I'm glad for little reminders that Heavenly Father is watching over us. Not only that, but that He has a plan for our lives, much grander than we could ever dream up for ourselves... even if we don't realize it right now.
I have a friend that has had to struggle with some pretty rough things over the past few years, and especially the last few months. She's made a video that explains it in a way that words cannot. Here is her story, her own personal miracle. Hooray for Kim and her little man, I am so amazed at how far Anthony has come! I'm so grateful for miracles and the reminder they are of God's hand in everything. It is a great comfort to me while I try to patiently await a miracle of my very own...

Race For The Cure

Today I did something I've been wanting to do for a very long time... The Race For The Cure! I lost an aunt to breast cancer a few years ago and so this year I raced (well, more like walked, due to my innards being a bit sore still from the Lap!) in her honor. One of my co-workers is a 6 year Survivor (woohoo!!!) and so I walked with her and her family. It was an amazing experience, and am so excited to do it again next year! (And the year after that and the year after that, etc!)Here are some pics:

This is the sign I wore on my back

And... we're off!

We made it, WOOHOO!

Here I am with Donita, my hero! She is such a brave woman.

This is the Survivor Ceremony after the race. The youngest survivor was 29 and the oldest 84!

HOORAY!

Ok, ok, I know... How many times am I going to change my blog? I just haven't ever been completely happy with its look and its taken me a while to figure out how to edit the HTML. I've been at it for hours and this is the end product... TADA!!! I really like it, thank goodness. Maybe now I can focus more on actualy blogging instead of revamping its look.

It's BACK!!!

My bellybutton, that is!!! I've been fretting over it staying a shriveled up raisin forever and fearing what my doctor might try next to "fix it" for days... What if he decided to put something else on it(that made it foam, change color/texture, and hurt for DAYS!) or simply picked up a pair of pliers and yanked it out? (I know, I know, doctors don't do that, but still...) That appt. on Thursday seemed to be coming much to quickly and my bellybutton was NOT reverting to its old self... I've been trying to scrub it off (gently, ouch!) but to no avail... its refused up till just now! I took a look at it and realized that the black "stuff" (looked like a huge scab, ew) was just barely hanging on by a thread and when I touched it, *poof* it fell right off! HOORAY!!! I was so estatic that I got my camera and took a picture of it, fully intending to post it here, thats how proud I was! Then upon closer inspection, I realized it still looks pretty gross, seeing as remnants of that "rash/infection" are still very much present... so I will spare you the sight. But yay, I've got my bellybutton back! It's still an outtie, by the way, but WHO CARES? At least its no longer a raisin!!!! :)

I Failed!

My goal that is... In my last post I set out to try and make it to my 6 week post-op with no more "new" problems. Its only a week away, how could that be so hard? Well, when you're Alex, I guess thats just a dumb question to ask, huh? I woke up this morning feeling a bit odd. Nothing huge, but just kind of sore all over, like I'd slept funny or something. As I was getting ready for Seminary, I realized that my scalp was particularly tender and it hurt to brush my hair. Then when I got to work I noticed it hurt when I reached up and scratched my neck. A few hours later, I was back at home for lunch and thought to myself, "Gee... my mouth sure does hurt!" as I chewed on my sandwich. You get the picture, right? As the day wore on, I started feeling more and more pain in more and more places. By 5:30 I was just one big ball of pain. All my muscles were seized up and tense, and I felt like I'd run a marathon or something. I got home and collapsed on the couch, unable to get comfy because every inch of me hurts to be touched... meaning just laying on the couch caused pain. Can you believe it hurt to blink?
I've been running a slight fever and Ben's theory is that since I've been on high-dose steroids (for that stupid rash!!!) that lower your defenses (it says so right on the label)I might have caught a bug. Mind you, I've been on high-dose antibiotics too (for the stupid infection!!!) but Ben was kind enough to point out that if the "bug" is a virus, all the antibiotics in the world wouldn't help. Makes sense, huh? So yeah, I've got some major aches and pains and a low-grade temp and feel like crawling in bed and sleeping for a month... or at least until that appt. next week. As long as the fever doesn't get out of control, I think I'm just going to let me body try and fight this one out... I'm so tired of pills and more pills.
Ok, my hands hurt... why am I still typing?

Oh, The Fun Goes On..And On...And Oooon...

Hmm, so the glue I spoke of last time seems to have worked quite a number on me. On top of that, I managed to get an infection in one of my inscisions (belly button) and have been feeling not-so-great for the past week and a half. Ended up going back to my doc who after telling me he had never seen anything like this before (yeah, thats reassuring!)promptly put me on some antibiotics and steroids. Its been less than a week and we are finally starting to see some progress, woohoo! Unfortunately my belly button looks like a shriveled little raisin now, due to some medicine he put on it last week... *sigh* First an outtie, and now a somewhat more innie, but shriveled up and black (no joke, the stuff made it turn black!) like a raisin... I wonder what more is in store for my belly button? I guess only time will tell. I have my 6 week post-op next week... my goal is to not have any new complications for my doc by then! Can I pull it off? Stay tuned!

Wound Woes

So you know how I mentioned that my inscisions were starting to look "normal" again? Um... that wasn't entirely true, but I just didn't feel like going into detail at the time. In reality, I've been having some problems with these little suckers. First off, they were closed with surgical glue, and just my luck, I seem to be one of those rare cases where you're actually allergic to the adhesive. For two weeks now I've been battling a nasty rash around my belly button inscision and unfortunately the hydrocortisone has not helped much. More unfortunate still is the fact that now this lovely rash has spread to my other inscisions... grrr. Kowing that the glue is the culprit, I've been working on trying to get the stuff off a little at a time each day by soaking them in warm Epsom salt compresses. Today I managed to peel off the last of the glue that was covering my 2 side inscisions and what should have been relief quickly turned into horror when I realized that as the glue came off... my inscisions split open, *GASP*!!!
Um, I'm pretty good about keeping calm when I see blood on others, but when its coming from me, and more importantly, from surgical wounds... well, lets just say I wasn't a poster child for "staying cool, calm, and collected." The room started spinning, my legs turned to jelly, and all of a sudden I was on the floor... heehee, I almost passed out! I called Ben who came running upstairs and wisked me off to lay down for a bit while he tended to my inscisions. We tried some of those little butterfly strips, but they didn't work. In the end I settled for some plain bandaids. The bleeding has subsided and I am pretty sure I'll be just fine... just not a nice sight.

The In's and Out's of Endo

Well, I promised a good excuse for not having posted in a while, and here it is. I went under the knife! Yeppers, I had to have surgery. :( I have
Endometriosis and on August 31st I had a Laparoscopy to diagnose the extent of the disease and to have as much of it removed as possible. Unfortunately I was diagnosed with Stage IV (severe) and had to have quite a bit of work done, including having my appendix removed. For years I've had several bouts of "appendicitis" that never really ended up being appendicitis, and I would end up being sent home from the ER with a huge bill and nothing to show for it except for some painkillers and no conclusive diagnosis. Turns out my appendix was covered in Endo and curled up and adhered to one of my ovaries, nice, huh? :P
The hospital stay was better than expected... I actually did not want to go home! I kept asking if I could take the bed home with me, I guess... I remember it to be quite comfy and made getting up and down a lot easier. The nurses were very sweet and helpful and I have to say that I now understand why they say women love their anesthesiologists. I had a bit of a nervous breakdown right before being wheeled into the OR and my angel of an anesthesiologist hooked me up with some NICE stuff that made me peacefully drift off into "I-don't-give-a-crud" land as I was being wheeled into the OR. I remember the nurses covering me with lots of warm blankets and an oxygen mask being put on my face and then I was g-o-n-e. :)
Recovery was rough... my mom came down for a week and 1/2 to help and thank goodness because I wasn't worth a penny! I will spare you all the details, but I'll just say it was not fun. As time goes by I remember less and less about that first week (probably thanks to all the Percocet I was taking) and thats probably a good thing!
It has now been 3 weeks and thankfully I am doing much better! I am back to work and teaching Seminary full time again and doing well, albeit exhausted, but I know that will pass with time. Whats interesting to me now is that before my surgery I had an "innie" bellybutton. Now that the swelling has gone down and my bellybutton inscision is looking more "normal" I've realized that my once "innie" has become an "outtie." Perhaps with time it will return to its former (innie) self, but for now I will have to be content with my new look... ;)

Fall Colors

I know its technically not fall yet, but we've had some cooler temperatures lately and all the stores have their fall/halloween/thanksgiving day decorations up, so I'm in the mood. I've been somewhat unhappy with the look of my blog as of late (I just never really liked the template to begin with) so tonight I scrapped the old one in favor of this. I probably won't keep this one forever either, but for now it's in keeping with the season, so it will do. :)

Confessions of a closet High School Musical-lover

Ok, so its been way too long since I last posted, I know. I've got a really good excuse(not nearly as good as Shannon's, unfortunately!) but more on that later. Right now there is something I must get out of my system... Last night I sunk to a new low, in Ben's words, and purchased a movie that will forever torture him and probably me too. For weeks I've been trying to surpress the desire, but last night it won and we lost. The songs would just not get out of my head, and so we decided to follow my brother-in-laws advice (His theory is that when you have a song stuck that you don't know all the words to, its b/c you need to listen to it all the way through and it satisfies something in your brain and then you can get passed it) and give my brain what it was yearning for...
I BOUGHT HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL... ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! :O
Oh and by the way Nate, no, it didn't work. I'm still walking around singing bits and pieces of all the songs.


This one tells it best: (sorry, the resolution is awful)

Hooray for Summer!

Not so much because of the heat... but because of all the yummyness that comes up out of the ground at this time of year. One such reminder of this was today when one of our patients came in and announced that he had brought everyone some freshly picked squashes from his garden! (No, not as payment!) Yummy, ripe, yellow squashes- homegrown! Very cool. I got about 6 of them to bring home and had some for dinner, oh yuuuuuuuum. ;) Not sure I'll be saying this after my 5th or 6th day of consecutive squash-eating, but we can't let them go to waste, now can we? So anyway... hooray for summer and all her nummy bounties!

Deathly Hallows

It is finished... Ben and I went to midnight release party Friday night and have since been eating, drinking, sleeping, living Harry Potter for a day and 1/2. Ben reached the goal first (of course, he always does) and now so have I. Out of respect for my fellow Potterheads (who I'm sure have been as locked up and isolated from the world as I, in order to avoid spoilers) I will not give any clues, hints, or teasers. I wish you all a spoiler-free journey through this amazing end to the most wonderous story ever written. Keep the Kleenexes handy and press forward even when all seems lost... Feel free to leave comments when you're done, but beware of spoilers if you haven't yet finished! I will start with my own, read at your own risk!

I must not tell lies...

Last night was THE night! Finally, after all that waiting... Order of the Phoenix was released and we saw it, WOOHOO! Now, let me start off by saying that because of my love for these literary masterpieces, I am very critical of the movies. I hate, hate, HATE when the screenwriters and directors take too much "artistic liberty" and deviate from the plot to the point of nausea. This was the case with Prsioner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire (although POA was particularly atrocious) and I feared that OOTP would also suffer this same fate. This time I prepared myself for the worst and went in expecting to be dissapointed... but was I?
NOPE! :) I was actually, rather pleasantly surprised to tell the truth! Did the movie deviate a bit? Of course. Were there scenes/characters left out that I wish hadn't been? Of course. But honestly, truly, cross my heart... it was REALLY good! The acting has of course greatly improved as everyone has matured. The newcomers (Umbridge, Tonks, etc) were excellent as well. Umbridge was absolutely perfect, soooooooooooo hateable you wanted to reach through the screen and strangle her! The romance with Harry and Cho was cute and we even got a little peak at Ginny's growing jealousy, very cool. The DA scenes were awesome, and Luna Lovegood was just fantastic! The final scene at the Ministry was very intense, although I have to admit... Sirius's death was very Lord of The Rings-ish. (Very remaniscent of the scene at the Bridge of Kazadoom, for all you LOTR buffs) Oh, also, one last thing I loved about what Yates did with this movie. All throughout the movie he inserted quotes from the book (conversations) and it wasn't just like once or twice, either... I actually lost count! No director in the past has done that, and I really appreciated him doing so in the efforts to put back in some of what "needed" to be taken out by deviating from the real plot for the sake of time.
So, all in all... Congratulations to David Yates for a job well done and not botching up such a crucial book in this series! :) Now everyone, get off your duff and GO SEE IT!!!!

Busy Bee

Wow, can it really have been that long since I last posted? Good grief, I'm turning into Ben! *Gasp!!!* Well, I'm back and with much to report. This last month has been quite eventful for me. First off, I quit my old job and started a new one! Job hunting totally stinks, but I lucked out and got called back to a few places and I am now currently employed at an O.D's (Optometrist)office. Still dealing with insurance, man, I just can't seem to pull away from that... and its not like I enjoy it much either! But I am liking my new job! The people there are great, bossman is wonderful, and I get to wear scrubs every day! Hooray for not having to dress up!!! Right now I'm still in training, but I'm slowly getting the hang of it. First few months are always the hardest, so I'm not too fussed.
I've also been away at Girl's Camp! I was called a few months ago to be Asst. Camp Director and last week was it! I really enjoyed it, Girl's Camp has always been one of my most favorite parts of the Young Women's program. Being on the leader side of it is not as much fun, of course, but its still entertaining in its own way... more than anything, it really is neat to see the girls learning and being strengthened. I had a great time, we went river-rafting(I didn't drown, yay!) got to rescue a little Beagle, and had the most interesting of experiences the very last night... Its a really long story, and if you want to know the particulars, ask away... but for now I'll just say this: There is a reason that glow sticks have a warning on them, cautioning you NOT to cut them open.... and although it goes without saying, I think they should also caution people against flinging the glowstick fluid all over cabin walls, floor, and ceilings as well... oh yeah, and people too. Although, it was kinda cool to walk around glowing green for a few hours... and thats all I'll say on the subject! (Unless you ask, of course!) ;)

Walking disaster

Ok, so as many of you know, I have been blessed with the amazing ability to hurt myself like no one else can! As a child, I was known as "the girl in the bubble" b/c I was allergic to all sorts of things and was always hurting myself in some way or another. I've grown out of the allergies, but this clumsiness of mine refuses to be shaken off. Just a few weeks ago I somehow managed to pinch my scaitic nerve and am now going to PT for it... Well, this was most likely supposed to be my last week, but guess what? Oh yes, I've managed once more to hurt myself grieviously. Yesterday, as I was getting ready to go out, I fell down the stairs! Somehow my right foot just gave way and I fell on my back with my left leg bent underneath me. Down I went, flat on my back, full weight on my ankle underneath me, all the way down, bump, bump, bump, bump...oh yeah, that hurt. So now... I have a sprained ankle and a very sore back. Not sure what my PTists will say when I show up Tuesday limping and with all those bruises on my back. This probably will set me back another week... hooray. :/

Not done just yet!

A gas station sign in SC. We just had to take a picture, the name was hillarious!


This is in Tupelo (TOO-peh-low)Mississippi, the birthplace of Elvis Presley! Here we have Ben standing next to the house Elvis grew up in!

My buddy, The King! (This is actually supposed to be him at age 13?)

When I first read this I got the funniest mental picture of the boy Elvis running around with a raisin in his pocket!

I know this is kinda hard to make out because of the reflection from the flash (doh!) but this is the funnel cloud we drove under on our way home. We were about 30 miles out from OKC when we drove straight into a severe thunderstorm. (Its the lowering on the right side.)

More Roadtrip Pics

This is in Beaufort, SC by the Waterfront Park. Its the historic part of this town, that has old Civil War homes and cannons, as pictured above! Sometimes dolphins can be seen swimming by, its really quite beautiful!

An old Civil War home and my cutiepie hubby!(and another cannon, too)

Ahh, how I love the Spanish Moss! You will find this parasitic plant (yes, thats what it is) hanging from all the trees. Its all over the place and just part of that Southen charm!

Attack of the tree, revenge of the squirrel...

Sirius hates squirrels. H-a-t-e-s them... actually, hate may not even be a strong enough word! In any case, you get the idea. Anyway, every time we go over to Ben's parent's house, he loves to run around this one tree jumping and barking at those evil, furry little demons that taunt him so from their lofty home. Well, Sunday evening he decided enough was enough and set out to really get (and probably kill) the little suckers. We were outside playing fetch and as usual he started circling the tree, snarling, and barking. Ben egged him on whispering, "Get it Sirius, kill!" which usually just makes him bark louder. However, this time he got a running start, jumped, dug his little claws into the bark of the tree and began scaling the thing! He got up about 5-6 feet off the ground! We promptly plucked him off the tree and set him back down, laughing and telling him what a good boy he was! I guess this spurred him on even more because within seconds he was back up that tree! He did this a few times and the last time we plucked him off, we noticed Ben had a substancial amount of blood stains all down his arm and on his shirt! Terrified we scooped up our little Kujo and flipped him over to be greeted by a horrific sight... he had torn a chunk of paw-pad off!!! He was bleeding all over the place, it was scary. First aid was applied and once we got the bleeding under control, we went home and kept him nice and bandaged and a bit drugged. The next day (yesterday) I carted him off to the Vet where he had the chunks of ripped flesh cut off (ouch!) and once he was all disinfected again, his paw was bandaged and wrapped. He is now hobbling around and looking oh-so pathetic in his E-collar. (designed to keep him from gnawing off his bandage) He will be making a full recovery, of course, and his paw-pad will grow back in time. I doubt this will be the last of the doggie-squirrel war, though. I know he's planning his revenge...

Our Roadtrip!

So Ben and I just recently got back from our roadtrip to South Carolina. My brother was getting married and so we made the 2 day drive out there and back. It was lots of fun (probably less for Ben since he ended up doing allllll the driving b/c I was drugged up for my sciatic pain) and we got to enjoy the family, as well as visit some historical sites! There are so many pictures I want to share but I think instead of putting them all in one post I'll do one or two a day until I've got them all in.

So, first up we have:

Ben and Alex at the wedding! It was on Hilton Head Island, at a beach resort. This is the deck where the ceremony was held. It was rather funny, how lots of people on the beach noticed there was a wedding and all came up to watch... in their bathing suits!

And here we are dancing the night away! Ben was humoring me b/c he hates dancing... not sure why, he's really quite splendid!

OOTP Trailer

Boo on Mondays...

After a terrible weekend resulting from a particularly torturous PT appointment, its is now Monday and I'm still in pain and not a bit closer to being ready for our trip than I was 3 days ago. Oh and did I mention that we have a busted sink in the kitchen that caused us to shut our water off for a while? Yeah... so hopefully today those plumbers will come and fix that so we can once again use our water and get everything ready and packed for our trip! How I wish I had a house elf...
Oh, by the way... everyone see the newly updated and revamped countdown ticker? :)

Steroids?!?!

So I went to the doctor today about my leg and turns out I'm having sciatic pain, hooray. It is most probably all muscle related and so off I go to do 4 weeks of physical therapy. In the meanwhile, and since I have to be much better by next Wednesday (we're driving out to South Carolina for my brother's wedding) I have been given some meds to take the edge off... a muscle relaxant and steroids. Yup, thats right... steroids! Apparently they are for the inflamation... get rid of the inflamation and voila, no more pinched nerve! That sounds nice... hopefully I won't end up with a man-voice and a beard! ;) Oh and... the torture, oh excuse me, I mean PT- begins tomorrow, bright and early...yay?

Gimping it again!

Not sure what it is about the right side of my body, but it sure does like being mean to me! Currently it has decided to go on strike (my right leg/hip, that is) and refuses to bear up my weight and do its fair share of work hauling me around! Well, scratch that... it will do it still, but not without protesting heavily and sending sharp shooting pains down to the tippy top of my toes. I'm not entirely sure what I could have done to upset my leg/hip/back so much, but it seems to be quite angry with me since yesterday. So once again, I'm gimping around, and taking lots of pills to keep myself semi-comfortable. Pethaps this has something to do with an old injury I sustained back in 2001 when I broke my hip... it really never has been the same since, but who knows. For now I suppose I'll just have to wait until Monday when I can go get it checked out. Odds are physical therapists will once more be making lots of $$$ off of me and my retarded right side... yippy.

The Blubbers

So, its been a while since I last posted a picture of my adorable pup, so here you go... another one! I've decided that about 75% of this blog is dedicated to him anyway, so I might as well just share at least 1 picture a week while I'm at it! Some day I'll have a kid to photograph, but for now... my furrbaby will have to do, enjoy! ;)

UH OH (Part 2)

K, so my beloved ticker is back up top, front and center... whew! Now you can all go back to enjoying watching the days, hours, and minutes tick away until OOTP and DH are released!!! ;)

UH OH...

Woops... I just had to go and mess with a good thing... so I was bored and decided to look at some new templates, see if maybe I could change up the look of my blog a bit. Well, this dumb blogger thing *said* that I could always switch back to my original template... so I decided to trust it. Bad idea, I should have listened to Mr.Weasley when he said, "Never trust something that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain!" :( So now I'm stuck with a blog that looks *kinda* like my old one, but that for some reason can't be tweaked with HTML. What does this mean? Well, remember my lovely countown ticker? Yeah, where did it go?!?! Scroll down...down... alllll the way down. See it? Yeah, ok, I guess thats its new home b/c I can't place it anywhere else. Looks like its going to be a while b4 I can get this blog looking like I want it to, grrrrrrrrrrr.

Hooray!

Its finally here, the artwork for the Deathly Hallows cover!

Hmm, I know this isn't on purpose or anything, but I'm finding this strangely reminiscent of the scene in Eragon, where Arya is holding up Saphira's egg and sending it to the Spine!

Dang it!

So in preperation for this wonderful summer of HP goodiness, I've been re-reading Half-Blood Prince and now that I'm done, I'm sad to say... Dumbledore is still dead...*sigh* :(

I looked out the window and what did I see?

So, its not quite officially spring yet, but storm season has started a tad bit earlier than we'd expected. Nothing huge of course, but its coming. Good thing we are nice and prepared with our trusty new NOAA weather radio, huh? Anyway, I've been waiting for this time of year to roll around so I could share with you all my very own version of a much beloved Primary Song... (leave it to me to ruin it for ya, huh?) Ready? Please, feel free to sing along!

I looked out the window and what did I see?

Great big tornados coming to destroy me!

Spring has brought me such a bad surprise,

Great big tornados right before my eyes!

I can go and hide in my "safe" bathroom,

But if its an F5 I'll be dead soon!

I wish it weren't so, but it seems to me,

Great big tornados coming to destroy me!

Creative, huh? Interesting, the things you come up with while watching the weather channel...

WOOPS!

So for the year and 1/2 that we have had Sirius, we've always been suspicious as to whether or not he was a 100% pureblood JRT. Since we got him from someone who had gotten him from someone else etc., he came with no papers. As he grew we noticed little features here and there that just didn't quite mesh with the classic JRT standards... like his semi-pricked ears, his face shape (long and pointy, rather than short and blunt) and how much thicker his coat is compared to other JRT's we know. For a long time we just dismissed it to be little quirks that just meant he wouldn't make for much of a show dog, until a few days ago... Lucy, our little neighbor is a Rat Terrier, the breed that everyone always confused Sirius with. Time and time again we would emphatically assure the person that they were mistaken and that he was a Jack Russell, NOT a Rat. Sure they look similar, but Sirius could not possibly be a Rattie b/c his ears weren't fully pricked (meaning up all the time) so no, definitely not a Rat. Well, Lucy has been coming over to play a lot and I have recently become good pals with her and as we've been spending time playing together, I started realizing... gee, Sirius is looking more and more like a Rat to me every day. Last night we had to go to PetCo ("Where the pets go!") to get a new PooperScooper and I saw this book on Rat Terriers... Intrigued, I flipped through it and to my horror, saw picture after picture, after picture of what could have easily been mistaken to be my Sirius! What the??? So I turned to the Standards section and lo and behold... Ratties have 3 kinds of ears: button (flopped down like a JRT), pricked (100% erect all the time) and semi-pricked( 1/2 up 1/2 down)!!! We got the book and spent much of last night reading about this breed and coming to the realization that it explains all of Sirius's non-JRT excentricities!!! Finally, it makes sense! So yeah... we stand corrected... our Sirius is most definitely a Rattie.

Behold, the Rat Terrier. (Picture brought to you by Wikipedia) Spitting image of Sirius, huh? It only took us 18 months, sheesh...

Not to toot my own horn or anything...

BUT man, I made one mean batch of garbanzo beans Monday night! We had some leftovers and decided to have something else last night and then finish up the leftovers tonight. However, all I've been thinking of since Monday night was those garbanzos... yesterday it was a struggle to not go in the fridge and eat them all up. This morning I just couldn't handle it anymore... they were calling out to me! I tried to just eat cereal, but to no avail, my tummy would not be appeased... and so, I did the unthinkable... cold garbanzo beans... for breakfast.... yuuuuuuuum! ;)

She has a name

Lucy, that is. You know, the Little Temptress? I went over and met her momma the other day to make sure that it was ok that they were all playing together and digging into eachother's backyards. Here is a picture of this adorable little Rat Terrier that is keeping my pups oh so happy and active! (good thing too, b/c they are on strict orders from Dr.Mauldin to LOSE WEIGHT!!!)

The Little Temptress

We have a neighbor that owns a cute little female Rat Terrier. She is teeny tiny and probably weighs all of 5 pounds. Now that the weather is nice and we're leaving Sirius and the Minsters outside, they have taken to digging tunnels for this little neighbor dog so she can come over and play. Its actually quite cute, they've become the best of friends. Every day we come home and find her in our backyard running around, pouncing on my Sirius. Lately though, he's decided that having her over just isn't enough... He's been going to visit HER and boy do we have a heck of a time trying to get him back. Not to mention that he gets filthy crawling under the fence, ugh. Last night he got a bath because today he is going to see the Vet and oh he was so sparkling clean... then I let him outside this morning to do his business for a few minutes and when I went to get him... gone, vanished. Sure enough, The Temptress had lured him over there. Thats what I'm calling her now, because I have no idea what her name really is and because she's like crack to my dog. When we make him come in, he sits by the door moaning and groaning like he's in withdrawl and NEEDS to get back out there to her! Good thing he's neutered, otherwise we'd have some Rat/Jacks here pretty soon!

Hooray!

He did it! Ben updated his blog for the first time in weeks! And quite the harrowing tale, at that! He is my hero. ;)

My New Best Friend!

Well, storm season has begun here in Oklahoma... a bit early, but nevertheless, it is here. Thanks to Rick Mitchell on KOCO5, all of Oklahoma City was scared stiff this week because of the upcoming severe storms and thus there are no more NOAA weather radios to be found anywhere in the metro area... all sold out! (Ben actually bumped into a member of our Bishopric while out hunting for one earlier this week!) So, after some doctor appointments yesterday, Ben and I decided to go on a road trip in search of these little devices... (and we got one for our 2nd Counselor as well!)

Ahh, here it is. We went all the way to Tulsa to get it, but alas, we have one now! This nifty little device can be programmed to alert any specific county/counties of severe weather and is especially useful when there is a threat of night-time tornadoes b/c they tend to happen when everyone is asleep. (Like what happened in FL and LA this month) Last night was such a night and as you can see, we were under a Tornado Watch for most of the evening and overnight hours. Besides that little light, it is capable of blasting an alarm of 90 decibels that can be heard anywhere in the house... thats quite loud, let me assure you.

Here is a shot of what we were driving back into on our way home from Tulsa. This was at about 3pm-ish... quite the storm a-brewing! Fortunately nothing terrible happened later on that night or early this morning. But had it, we would have been safe thanks to our new little gadget!

Best In Show

So last night Ben and I were watching the Westminster Dog Show, oohing and aahing at all the beautiful breeds. This did not set well with our Sirius, I don't think, because about 1/2 way through he busted out this HUGE groan, shook his head, and then let out the most pitiful sigh! I daresay he was jealous of all the attention being given to these fluffly, overly groomed dogs and was insulted that he had not been invited to such a prestigious event! So... to appease our pup, here is our Best in Show... the magnificent Jack Russel Terrier, Sirius Trouble Young! (... please excuse his immodesty!)

Go Figure...

Leave it to the idiot liberals in Seattle to come up with this latest attack on marriage just to prove a point. Good thing Ben and I don't reside in Washington, otherwise we might just find ourselves single again shortly... after all, our 3 year time limit is up and apparently we remain ever so childless... by choice? HA!
http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/us/2007/02/13/rowlands.childless.couples.cnn

No wonder!

So I just realized that today is Tuseday the 13th... that probably doesn't mean anything to you, my friend, but to those of us whose familes are from a Latin country, today is a bad day. Much like we in the States dread Friday the 13th, those in my parents' countries dread Martes 13 (Tuesday the 13th). Baaaad things are said to happen that day. And what stench of bad luck befell Alex today? See post below...

C is for cookie...

A terrible thing has happened to me today... I've lost my cookies. (Lost, people, NOT tossed... thanks to Shannon, I now know the importance of stating that clearly, heehee...) When I packed my lunch there was a bag of cookies present... when I walked out to the car, there was a bag of cookies present... but alas, when I arrived at work and reached over to pick up the said cookies... they were gone.
Somehow, somewhere between home and work my delectable little morsels of chocolatey yumminess vanished! How? When? Who took them? I have no idea... I even checked under the seats... no cookies. I think I have an invisable Cookie Monster living in my car... *sigh*

Happy Birrrrrrrrrrthday tooooo...

ME! I am 26 today... wow, I'm closer to 30 than I am to 20... thats scary! ;) Oh and Happy b-day to Bon-Jovi, Elmo, and Frederick Mendelsson as well!

What a way to go...

Ok, so I'm just amazed at the random and ridiculousness of some websites. Just now I came upon one that "predicts" your death! You type in some info and push a button... here's how we get to die!

Alex: At age 74 you will fall into a vat of neutral shoe polish, and your body will never be recovered.

Ben: At age 72 you will perish under strange circumstances involving a gallon of lotion, two nine volt batteries, and a photograph of a bicycle.


So... how will YOU go? ;)
http://evil.berzerker.net/death_predictions.php

Serves me right!

So you know how I was whining about how puny this ice storm was and how anticlimatic it felt? Well... I spoke too soon. On my way home from work on Monday I lost control of my car, spun a full 180º and ended up 1/2 way in a ditch! NOT cool. It all happened really quickly and I while I didn't really enjoy spinning out(and ending up in oncoming traffic), I was very blessed to have done so (since there were no cars coming), rather than having rolled head first down a 6 foot drop-off on my side of the road! That would have been BAD and I could have rolled the car over on its top and been seriously injured.
I ended up calling Ben on my cell and he and his brother came to my rescue. While I was waiting for them, I saw the same thing happen to pickup, a few hundred feet in front of me. I decided to walk over and see if the driver was ok and needed a cell to call someone... he was alright and had a phone so I walked back to my car I must've been stopped by 5 ot 6 people in cars asking if I was ok and needed a ride/help. Oklahomans are very nice. I reassured them that I was ok and that help was on its way, got back in my car and munched on some Goldfish crackers. (The weatherman said to make sure you keep a blanket, and some food in the car just in case you are stuck for a while... good thing I listened!) About an hour later I was safe and warm and glad to be off the road!
It is now Wednesday and I'm back to work. The roads are still horrendous and Ben is driving me. It is snowing today and we're supposed to get hit with another 6" of snow/sleet this weekend. Considering that it hasn't gotten above 25º all week and nothing has melted, this could make for another rough weekend... So much for complaining about the puny storm, huh?

Hmm...

So the storm is over and as always, it was far more hype than anything else. Sure, we got some ice and yeah there are a few inches of sleet on the ground, but thats about it. At least here in OKC... other places got hammered, but not us. So after alllllllll this talk about being prepared for the worst ice storm since 2002 (the BIG one), yadda yadda yadda, I find this all very anticlimatic. As you can see we are still enjoying the comforts of electricity so I decided to spend some time sewing this afternoon. While doing so, I looked out the window and saw this:

I guess they were bored too! Not too sure how far this guy is going to get. In the 5 minutes I've been watching him, he's spent more time on the ground than upright. Despite the fact that it looks like fluffy white snow, it really isn't. That stuff is packed sleet/ice and you'd probably ice skate on it better than anything else!

And so it begins...

Oklahoma has declared State of Emergency... A 3 day ice storm has begun and we are hunckered down waiting for mother nature to unleash her worst. So far there is a nice 1" layer of ice over everything and on top rests a few inches of sleet. This morning we got up and decided to do some damage control on our front steps, lest we slip and crack our heads open the next time we ventured out of the house for whatever reason. Here we can see Ben shoveling the sleet away and trying to break up the layer of ice underneath. All that white stuff is NOT snow... its firmly packed sleet/ice. Brrrr.... SO cold!

My Husband the Tabloid...

Contrary to popular belief (due to a recent blog by my dear dear hubby) I am NOT a pothead, nor was I EVER a pothead. Truth be told, I was probably the most goody-two-shoe teen in my entire school! You can ask my friends... always boring, predictable, and by-the-rules Alex. I take pride in my good behavior and although it may sound stupid, LOVED that my parents always boasted to their friends (parents of troubled teens) that I never gave them a day of grief their whole lives! Granted, I may have had a day or two in which I had a momentary lapse of judgement (I can seriously count them on 1 hand) but the worst grief I made my parents go through was telling me to clean my room... repeatedly... woops! I take so much pride in this, because unlike me, I know my dear hubby to have been quite the mischief maker during his formative years... and I hold to the comfort that if we have "troubled teens" it will be all his fault b/c thats what happens. Its the Mother's Curse... you've all heard it, "You just wait until you have kids and they do this to YOU! Blah, blah, blah..." So there... now you all know and my reputation can go back to its unscathed, impecable form. Hmph! ;)

10 = 10... NOT 32!

Ok, so I was doing some shopping after work at the local supermarket and only needed a few things. Once I was done I made my way to the 10 Items Or Less checkout lane because I had just that, 10 items or less (5 to be exact). As I'm approaching that lane this lady with quite a bit of stuff in her cart cuts me off (she was practically running) and gets in front of me. NOT nice. Then I realize that there is NO way she has 10 or less in there, so I started counting. 1,2,3... 10, 11,12... 20, 21,22...all the way to a whopping 32 items! Now, I'm not saying that its an unpardonable sin to squeeze in an extra few items every once in a while, but 22 over the limit? She had 3 times as much as that lane was designated for!!! I think she saw me counting because she moved right in front of the cart so that she was blocking my view. I don't know is it was "karma" coming back to bite her in her obviously illiterate butt, or if another cashier saw me staring daggers at her... but all of a sudden this lady (an employee) came up to me and ushered me to another lane that had just opened. This other lady looked up and pulled this face like, "Hey, I was here first!" but to no avail, she had to sit there and wait while I (and my FIVE items) got scooted through before her cashier even started scanning her 32... oh well, too bad, SO sad! HMPH!

SiriusThe Snow Nosed Doggy...

For weeks now Sirius's nose has been turning a lighter shade in the front. It has always been jet black but now its turned a decidedly pink color... Never having owned a dog before, I began to worry... could this be a symptom of some weird doggy-disease? Or maybe its just dirt? I tried scrubbing (gently, mind you) but to no avail... his nose would not turn black again. Concerned, but not wanting to get laughed at by the vet (I've taken him in so many times that they see me coming and go, "Oh dear, what is it this time?") I googled "nose discoloration in dogs" and found that my fears were indeed unfounded. Sirius has what is commonly known as "snow nose," a harmless condition that affects dogs (mostly in the winter) and turns their black noses pink. Now that I'm not worrying about my poor pup dying of doggy nose cancer, I actually think its rather cute. Odds are though, that by the summer, his nose will be all black again!

Edible Heaven

Behold... the alfajor! Here is my favorite version of it, the merengue covered kind. Tonight I ate my last one and now I am in a state of mourning... who knows when will be the next time I have the pleasure of biting into this scrumptious treat... *sigh*

Miracles DO happen!

So today something has happened that I never thought would ever happen again... Ben updated his blog! WOW, I know... who'd thunk it? I'm so proud of my Booboo.
Ok, so as you all know, I am a Harry Potter freak. However, a new series of books has caught my attention as of late (never to replace my beloved HP, though!) the first of which just had a movie made about it. Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Trilogy: Eragon (book 1), Eldest (book 2) and the future E_____ (book 3). Yes, Eragon the movie was released last month and yes, I went to see it. No, it wasn't my favorite movie ever, but thats another day's blog... Anyway, for those of you that have had the pleasure of READING Eragon (if you only saw the movie, SHAME... you don't count!) and then gone to see the movie, I'm sure you regretably noticed the absense of The Twins, those malicious, evil, nasty, vilest of characters (well, besides Galbatorix and Durza, of course). I wonder perhaps if it was due to the inability to find some actors that might do the roles justice... Going back to Ben's blog, if you read it you will find a link to Jarek and Derek, the two men who I think would have undoubtedly done us proud, had they been given the chance to play those roles. Perhaps we should contact someone and nominate them for the part... who knows, maybe they can somehow work them into Eldest.

Awww...

Here is our "family picture" for the year. Since we have no kids yet, we must use the dogs as an excuse to put up stockings... I think they made out with the most goodies this past Christmas!

Happy New Year!

So the holidays are over and here we are at the start of a new year. Today I had my first (of many, I'm sure) "ah crud" moments when you write out the date and realize the year is wrong because its no longer 200_, its now 200_+1! January is quite annoying because of that every year! Maybe I'll start writing 2008 on everything next December to prepare me for the switch next year... oh wait, that won't work- dang it!
My mom was down here for Christmas and New Years and it was quite fun! The house had to be *perfect* and so the days leading up to this momentous visit were full of last minute cleaning, organizing, and panicking! But alas, all turned out well and we had a grand ol' time! Along with presents (ooh!ooh! I have a creme brulee set now, ramekins, blowtorch and all!) she also brought some tasty treats that I can't find anywhere here. Sad thing about Oklahoma is that its not very diverse... well, unless you're Mexican. Lots of shops and international markets here for those of that heritage and culture, but nothing-zip-nada if you're of any other decent. Uruguayan and Colombian cuisines are absolutely NOTHING like Mexican so I am forced to rely on my mom to bring/send me yummy treats and condiments to cook with.
One such treat were my Alfajores! They are traditional Uruguayan cookie things that have Dulce De Leche (caramel) in the middle and are dipped in chocolate or merengue powder... mmm mmm gooooooood! Ben hates them (too sweet for him) which means more for ME! She also brought me my favorite Italian cookies! No, I'm not Italian, but Uruguay's cuisine and culture is very much Italian influenced b/c thats where pretty much everyones' ancestors are from, if not from Spain. And living in NYC there are scrumpdidlyumptious Italian bakeries everywhere and oh my gosh, I love their food!!! By the way, Shannon, did you read my comment on your Chimichurri entry? Its good stuff, very common in Uruguay too!
Now my mom is gone and although I miss her, I am glad to have life go back to normal. Its nice not to have to play hostess all the time and well, I know we're boring, so I'm sure she's glad to be home too. Sirius misses her quite a bit and goes to the guest room and lays on her bed and cries every morning, its quite a sad site to behold.