When Puppy Love Drives You Crazy

I'll be the first to admit that being a fur mom is not always easy - I've definitely learned that in the past few months. 

But the love that pets bring to a household is more than enough to make up for it. I'll go into detail about it with Christine later this month, but I wanted to share this video today. 

I'm grateful for the love that my little pooch brings to me. 

You gotta love the way this still looks! 

Linking up with Emily and Ember Gray...

Hubby's Conversation With A Nurse

As I mentioned on here last week my husband had his tonsils removed as well as his deviated septum fixed on Thursday. I had my camera ready when he came out of sedation. 

As you guys have probably figured out by now my husband is a character... so I wasn't really surprised at what I caught on video.

Although this wasn't MY conversation, I knew I needed to share it with you guys! 

Enjoy!

If you can't see the video click here!

My Grateful Heart today is for my mother-in-law. She came to the hospital and waited with me and then did grocery shopping for Thomas and spent Friday with him while I was at work. I love my husband... but I knew that I needed the day at work. My mother-in-law is great at helping out when we need her and doing it willingly. She rocks! No evil in-law stories in my marriage! 

'

 

Grateful for Friends and Family

I recently discovered a hiking trail near my house that I hadn't realized was there. It's a gorgeous area with a lot of history. I'm a goner for local history! My work is doing a Biggest Loser challenge and so a hike is organized for every weekend. This past Saturday we headed to the local trail near me. 

A couple of my co-workers brought their small babies and strollers so, unfortunately, we weren't able to do as long a hike as I wanted to (but I'm planning on doing it next week!). 

The story behind this area is that there were American Indians that lived here. There is a point (further from where we went on Saturday) where there are grooves in the rock where the stagecoaches were lowered by the horses. 

A couple of months ago we went on a guided tour of the area that gave us a lot of information on the area - I hope to go on another one soon!

In this next picture you can see an old truck that has basically melted into the ground. Since it's been there for more than 50 years they are unable to release it under state law (the area is a state park and is also designated as a historical area).

Nonetheless it was a nice 2 miles hike. Afterwards a coworker, my husband, and the kids headed to another local park where there are grapefruit and orange trees. They were having and open house of sorts where we could go and pick fruit for a small free ($5 for a big bag). I was a bad blogger and didn't get pictures (but my friend took a few).

After we were done picking fruit I went to see the Spongebob movie with the kids, their dad and my dad. We stopped for frozen yogurt afterward. 

My Saturday ended with a nice dinner out with Thomas...

On Sunday I did my usual weekend morning shopping trip with my mom and Nikki (my brother joined us this week). We went to Ralphs (Kroger), Wal*Mart, Big Lots, Costco, and Bed, Bath & Beyond and were home by 1:30pm! (This definitely helped me on the step goal, as of my writing of this on Sunday night, I have 15,811 steps for the day!). 

Then I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up my house. It's not a dump, but things gets left in places week after week. My husbands' cousin and his wife (and 2 kids) were coming to dinner on Sunday night so I wanted to make sure to have the house cleaned up (and it was also an excuse to get Thomas to help me get things in order). I should take pictures now that the house is all clean! 

We had a great time with the his family. Thomas grilled steaks, I made broccoli, and they brought some mashed potatoes. After dinner we played a round of Quirkle before they headed out for the night. 

So this Monday I am thankful for my family, Thomas' family and for our friends. I had a great busy weekend and I wouldn't have it any other way! 

Gratefully A Year Old - Him & Me's Anniversary

   No, not our wedding anniversary, but this here blog’s anniversary!

I started this blog a year ago because I was stressing out so badly over the upcoming wedding. I was doing everything myself (mostly because I was (am) very anal about how I want things done) and it was driving me nuts. Writing has always been an outlet for it, so why not re-start my blogging ways?

It’s been an amazing year! I’ve made some great friends and am getting to know more and more people daily.

I’m so grateful for the connections I’ve made in the last 12 months. I know that I’ve met some life-long friends. Who said our friends have to live in the same town, right?

I’m linking up today to thank all of you for your support, love, and so many kind words. Please know that I appreciate every comment and thought that you have all sent my way!

To celebrate my 1^st year I am having a giveaway (what a surprise, right?)

It’s going to be a good one! Cash! Gift Cards! Even a free blog design by the amazing Amanda!

Stay tuned – I’ll be making it live!

Grateful Monday - Coworker Edition

Some of you may not find this to be a grateful post, an I understand that. But I need to vent and maybe even get some of your opinions on the matter. 

My gratefulness is that I think I am not this type of person, or I hope I'm not. And I'm also grateful to have this place to come to, vent, and get feedback from all of you lovely gals. 

With that said....

At my job we have supervisors, deputies and directors. That is the chain of command. On Thursday my supervisor was out and in the afternoon our deputy came over to where my friend and I sit. He asked her to go see him right before the end of her day and told me to go right before the end of my day (I get off 30 minutes after she does). 

My friend comes back after her meeting and warns me that the reason is that an accusation has been made. The deputy hadn't said the accusation was made against my friend... which meant it was probably against me. The person making the accusation is a known trouble maker. She is the type of person who very few people like. She is rude to people and acts as though she is God's gift to the planet. She brags about how great she is at everything she does and that she is the most knowledgable person around. She used to be in our unit, but they re-did the units almost a year ago and she was put in a different unit - however she didn't change cubicles. 

Guess where her cubicle is. Next to mine. We share a wall - a high one, so we don't see each other, but we can definitely hear each other. She is particularly loud so most people within 100 feet or so can hear her. She likes to get into other people's business. 

When I go into the deputy's office he tells me that this lady, let's call her V, accused me of "talking about bra sizes and breast feeding" as well as "making faces at her" which made her feel as she was being harassed. 

It was hard not to laugh when he told me this. I didn't though. I told him that it never happened. That I as not 5 and therefore did not make faces at people. I do smile, at everyone, at work - even the people I don't like. I told him that the last interaction I had was back in June when I got back from my honeymoon - I gave her a keychain from Argentina. 

He wanted me to sign something, but I refused without a Union Rep being with me. 

Apparently Internal Affairs will be involved and I will be interviewed regarding this. 

I plan on filing a complaint about her. This is not the first time that she has made a complaint against me. An unfounded ridiculous complaint. While I had not done anything after the first one - because I figured if she kept to herself I would, too - I feel that if I let this go it will just let her know that she can do whatever she wants and she'll get away with it. 

It amazes me how she can lie and make things up so easily. How she can try to put people down and make them out to be something they are not. How she can try and get people in trouble just because. 

So I'm thankful that I am not like her. That I don't go around trying to be mean to other people. Trying to ruin people's days. That's a good thing to be grateful for, right?

Grateful Heart Monday - Camila's Birthday!

Today is my youngest nieces’ 10^th Birthday!

TEN?

How did the time go by so fast? I still remember her pudgy little legs wiggling around in my arms.

Camila is a very sweet girl who is always looking for a way to be helpful to anyone around her. That’s not to say that she doesn’t have an attitude sometimes (she’s 10 after all) but she will bring you something if you’re too lazy to get up, and she’ll cook you dinner if you ask nicely.

So I dedicate today’s Grateful Heart to her:

I was lucky enough to be able to fly up to spend the weekend with her, her older sister Mika, and my sister and brother in law (and my dad, he came too).

I can always count on Camila to send me sweet messages on Facebook telling me she loves me and misses me or asking when we’ll see each other again (it’s an hour flight but a 5-6 hour drive from my house to hers).

When she was younger I got to spend more time with her. I had summer vacations that allowed me to go visit. I also spent 8 of 10 Christmases with her (and the family).

I am so grateful for having her in my life. She makes me a better person by showing me her love and kindness.

Grateful Heart Monday

First off.... I am so grateful that I met Amanda last spring! She has been such a great friend, mentor, and ear to vent to. She has helped me through some difficult times and I am forever grateful! 

Now she has created another amazing design for my blog and is helping to guide me further into this blogging world. I am not very bright when it comes to all the things blogging related (installing Disqus? So hard for me!) and Amanda has been an amazing help.
So today's Grateful Heart is dedicated to her. I mean, look at this layout! How amazing is it? Wouldn't you agree? 
I am also grateful that I had the opportunity to spend time with my family this weekend. It had been a while since I went bowling and so after looking up and comparing prices for a few different bowling alleys (there are about 4 or 5 within a 20 minutes drive) I got my husband, his parents, and my brother along with his wife and kids to come bowling on Saturday night. 
They had an offer of $25 for up to 5 people for 2 hours of bowling and shoe rental was included. We got 2 lanes (one for the kids, with bumpers) and another for myself, Thomas, and his mom and my brother. We ended up bowling almost 3 full games in that time. 

During the first game I did pretty well and scored 90 (only 3 points below the winner - my mother in law). I wasn't horrible in the other 2 games (I think I actually got a strike during each game!), but I never got as high as 90 and I ended up losing the last game.

Next weekend I'll be going up to my sisters' house is Northern California (any of you from that area?) for a visit along with my dad. It's my youngest nieces' 10th birthday on the 19th. I'm excited to get to see them and eat some yummy Ethiopian food (a fav of mine, but no one here likes it!).  

Happy Grateful Heart Monday!

Jonathan The Smarty Pants

All the conversations posts I've linked up with Amanda (from Knock on Wood) have been about Jonathan. Why? Because he is a character. Unique some might say. He is very expressive and playful so he tends to be my favorite person to talk about. 

Anyone with school-age kids knows that most states (I think it's 45) are adopting Common Core as their math instruction methods. This has been an issue here because it is quite different from what we all grew up with and so the change is difficult as parents/aunts/etc. 

The concept is using base-10. Something that I did to some extent (And still do). 

One morning last week I was helping Jonathan with some of his math homework in which he had to write out fact families (ie: 2+1=3, 1+2=3, 3-2=1, 3-1=2). I had helped him with the first two problems and then for the third I got distracted. When I looked back he had already done it. 

The fact family was 6, 8 and 14 but there were 2 other numbers so he had to pick which 3 were part of the family. 

Me: How'd you do that so fast?

Jonathan: Easy! 6 + 4 = 10, so 6 + 8 equals 14. 

That showed me that this math could really work and the problem is more so us as adults trying to help them do it the way they are being taught now. And to be honest I would have probably done it in a similar way (maybe more like 8+2=10 and the 14). 

I know it's blurry, but look how much fun he is having! 

I guess this isn't much as far as conversations go, but I was just so proud of him I wanted to make sure I shared it! 

I wanted to participate in Ember Grey's Grateful Heart Monday today. I am so very grateful to have Jonathan and Nikki around. I know my life would be a lot different if they didn't live near me. It definitely would be very boring. They keep me on my toes and I'm so happy to be around them on an almost daily basis. 

Tired Monday Tales

I am tired. Maybe I'm getting sick? I spent most of Saturday organizing our office. I also unpacked some more boxes/bins that I had just brought over from my mom's house. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it took most of the day. I hate that the things that used to be so easy to do and that wouldn't leave me in pain, now do. 

On Sunday I knew I had to do some grocery shopping for the week. I received my amazing meal planner book on Friday (post AND GIVEAWAY coming soon! You can win your own meal planner!) and so I had to start using it right away. 

My mom and I left to go do grocery shopping at 9:45am and got back at about 12:45pm. My body couldn't take it any more. We had also done a walk in the morning (about 1.7 miles). Normally this isn't a problem for me... so that's why I'm wondering if I'm getting sick. But I'm so grateful that I was able to spend hours with my mommy doing things we both love to do - shopping!

The other reason it could be is that I've been in a lot of pain this weekend. I've been taking a medicine that might be causing hot flashes, so my doctor told me to be off of it this weekend to see if I kept having hot flashes - which I didn't. BUT not taking the medicine did leave me in excruciating pain and with all the lifting and working I did... it didn't help. But I'm grateful that I can move around and that I can be back on my medication plus some new lidocaine patches in the morning! 

Saturday was my parent's 46th Wedding Anniversary! We weren't able to be available on Saturday we (my parents, brother and his family, Thomas and I) went to the Olive Garden on Sunday (and of course no pictures were taken ;( - but I was very much not feeling well at that point and I just wanted to go home). As we were heading to the restaurant I had to make a left onto a busy street. There was a car that needed to make a left onto the street I was on. The nice lady waved me through so I could turn ahead of her. 

Which made me think of all the things we can be doing to PAY I FORWARD. I don't mean financially, although that would work as well. We live our daily lives, most of the time worrying about ourselves. Will I get to work on time? What will I have for lunch? Why is that car going so slow? Did I do the laundry? On and on. 

If we can stop once a day and do something nice for someone else... how great would that be? A smile for someone having a bad day or letting someone get in front of you in traffic because they have to make that turn. 

I found this link today off my Facebook which I thought was appropriate to my feelings this weekend. Check it out!

Let's be grateful for the things we can do for others to make them happy even if it just means saying good morning! Try that today!

In the meantime I'm linking up with...