Misbehavior and mishaps

I LOVE my puppy. She has been an enormous blessing to me. I don't think I could have coped with this past year without her. As much as I love her, she can be quite the little pistol. Rudi gets very VERY upset when Ben or/and I leave.

I am still working on putting our apartment together and feel much better leaving her in the bathroom. Typically when I shut the door, she starts crying. That doesn't bother me. It's when I start hearing pounding noises that I have an issue. She kicks her food dishes across the room. (They rest in a wooden frame that sits off the ground.) The other day I came home to find an article of clothing that was on one side of the room in her water bowl on the opposite side of the room. There were also little paw prints all over the tub. What is she thinking???

Here is a clip of one of her favorite tricks... Watch out, she's sneaky!!!

(Okay, you will have to come back for this one... It is taking way too long and I am way too lazy to wait... I'll try again!!!)

Thankfully, our new apartment does not have those kind of door handles, but I do not doubt her ability to figure these out as well. Stinker...

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Just for your humor...

I totally locked my keys in my car today, right before I started babysitting. Genius, I know. I'm so thankful for AAA! The guy came and knocked on the door and I just started laughing, told him I was stupid, and he chuckled as well. Then he reassured me that I was not the only one. Thank you for confirming and affirming my stupidity mister locksmith man! I appreciate that! No really, I don't mind.

Back to it!

I joined Curves before Ben left for Iraq thinking it would be this wonderful experience where I would be motivated and in shape, plus lose a few pounds before he returned. The first 3 months were fabulous. I was dropping weight like crazy and toning up really fast. Then I started missing days. I was too tired or didn't feel like it... There is ALWAYS an excuse.

When I had my surgery, they did not charge me for a few months as the doc said I could not do physical activity. Hooray! A way out! Or so I thought. That time has officially expired and tomorrow I will begin working out at the Curves that is much closer to my new apartment. On top of that, crazy me signed up for the 7 a.m. slot knowing full well that if I do not go first thing in the morning, there will be more excuses.

Curves is one of the few exercise/diet program type deals that has worked for me. I drank lots of water, ate normal, and worked out at Curves and lost inches so fast! So I'm hoping and praying that it will work again. I don't hate my body but being in shape and losing some weight would be fabulous, especially with being in Stacie's wedding and having my wedding...

I'd also like some motivation...for anything, really. My current motivation level is almost as low as it could be with most aspects of my life.

The SCARY part is that I have to get weighed and measured tomorrow and its not going to be pretty. AT ALL!!!

I'll let you know how that goes... Well, not how much I weigh, but how the getting back in the grove of it part! ;)

Children and 18 Children...

So let's face it, Ben and I have been married for 20 months and at this point it is natural for the "kids" conversations to come up. I go through phases where I want nothing else but to be a mother and other phases where I want to wait for a LONG time. We're planning to wait a little longer, of course. Not being with each other for the majority of our marriage puts us behind most couples.

Anyway, the point is that today we had the "how many kids do you want" conversation. Normally, Ben says "I want 2 boys" and I say "I want 3 or more with at least one girl." Well today, Ben said "I want to have as MANY kids as you want to have." So naturally, I said "I want 10." He seemed excited and acted like it would be fun to have 10 kids! I proceeded to clarify saying, "no hunny, not 10." Ben, "I really wouldn't mind having 10 kids."

Because he will probably not recall that conversation tomorrow, I had to put it in writing.

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On another note....
Have you heard about the family that has 17 children, with another on the way? They have been featured on the discovery channel and are about to have their own series. Here is an article if you are not familiar with them, http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24537885/

Let me preface by saying I have no problem with someone choosing to have that many children. They must be incredibly patient and energetic! However, I have a few issues with the first paragraph of their "about us" page, http://www.duggarfamily.com/aboutus.html.

Again, this may not truly reflect the family and what really happened, but it sure does make a statement.

"They were grieved! They were Christians! They were pro-life! They realized that their selfish actions had taken the life of their child."

I am a Christian and I am pro-life, but I have a hard time accepting the fact that they or everyone in the nation who is married and takes birth control, of any form, is selfish because of a miscarriage that may or may not have occurred due to the pill. Some people should not have children or are not ready for children. Whose place is it to judge a motive? Plus some take the pill for other reasons and not having a child happens to be an effect of the situation. I also know people who have had babies, no problem, while on the pill and people who have miscarried without the pill.

The paragraph then goes on to say that because they felt the miscarriage was their fault, they were making up for it by having lots of babies. Unfortunately these things happen. I don't believe a miscarriage is someone's "fault" but something very horrible and sad that can happen. My heart breaks for my friends and loved ones that have gone through a miscarriage or many miscarriages. My heart breaks for those I don't know who have had to deal with one or more. I can not begin to imagine...

I just hope they realize the messages that paragraph is sending.

I think that's all I have to say about that for now.

Married

So although I have technically been married for a year and 2/3, I really only felt married, like the real kind, a few weeks ago. Probably because we were apart for 15 months. At some point you have to realize that your soulmate is not the most perfect human being in the world. They may be the most wonderful to you, but they are just that, human, and because they are human they will undoubtedly mess up. Just as you/I will mess up from time to time. That's really all I have to say about that at this point. 

Speaking of marriage, we changed the wedding date again... I know I know, its like the third time. My mom had a job offer she couldn't refuse that ties her up the weekend of our anniversary/wedding. So we are now planning the wedding for next May in NY. I am slightly hesitant about announcing a specific date because of the way that has gone thus far so when we have set it in stone, I will announce it. K? But I promise we are having one and it will be a huge celebration and a lot of fun! I want to give something back to those who have supported us and loved us through so much.

The joys of working from home

Thus far, I love it! 

Pros:

1. I am on my own schedule. 

2. I can take my lunch whenever I want. (Which I usually just eat and work)

3. I don't have to worry about driving to and from work or gas money.

4. I don't really have any distractions... aka- people in and out of my office all day.

5. I really feel like I'm more productive. Tasks that may usually take weeks, I accomplish in a day. 

6. I still get to run errands every now and then.

7. I can work from Panera, Starbucks, Coffee Beanery, the lounge... Anywhere that has internet really. 

8. I can work in my pjs (shhh) I mean uh...

9. I don't have to purchase my lunch thus spending much of my hard earned pay.

10. I don't have to "bring" my lunch, thus avoiding food spoilage or eating whatever I could scrounge up before running out the door. 

11. Because I don't have to drive to and from work, I get more sleep.

Okay... so there are definitely pros to going to work too and part of me misses it, but this is really nice for now! Plus, I get to work which I haven't really done for a couple months and I missed it. 

Current Predicament

If you don't know, I'm back to the job search game. Yeah, it is basically a game. I don't really feel like elaborating right now other than the fact that I have found something to tie me over which will be fun! I'm assisting a good friend/mentor with some of his business ventures.

Check out our client... George Bush Impersonator, John Morgan. (I've worked with him quite a bit over the past year, and I think you'll like his material.)
He was on Family Feud, Next Best Thing (top finalist), and much more!!!

www.georgebushimpersonator.com

Be sure to check it out at the end of the month when we hope to launch his new website!!!

My fourth...

Ben and I got invited to go out on a house boat with some friends for the fourth. So, naturally, we went. After all, seeing the Nashville fireworks display from a boat on the Cumberland away from the 10s of thousands of people that would be crowded on land sounded fabulous. Ok so it didn't work out as planned but I am confident that we had more fun than we would have had if we were able to see the fireworks.

The boat was from 1974, 34 years old. The engine worked great but the rest, not so much.

So we finally get off the dock and are cruising along when all the sudden the boat shut off. Yep, that's right folks, we were out of gas. Apparently the owner spent $500 on gas the last time they went out and thought there was more left, naturally. $500 is a lot of money for one boat trip! We made calls and couldn't get ahold of ANYONE to help. So we were stuck and we decided to make the best of it... We were all hanging out, eating chips and such, when I look out and see a barge coming directly at us.

Our friend, formerly a marine, came to the rescue and pulled the boat, with a rope, to the "shore." Of course the shore happened to be a cliff with a steep pathway. He managed to climb far enough to tie the boat off to a tree. We anchored the other side and were saved from the barge. 4 hours later we got a call from the guy who was going to bail us out after the fireworks show. He told us we would be better off having the guard come out. Yep, if you didn't know there is a coast guard active on the Cumberland River in the middle of TN. Funny, huh? So the guy called them and we waited... while it began to storm... The coast guard got there and after 30 minutes or more of convening they decided to side tow the house boat. Although we should have gotten like 15 fines, we managed to get out of them all with the promise to fix them.

Moral of the story: you can be stranded in the middle of the Cumberland and have a lot of stuff go wrong and still have a blast!!!

P.S. I decided to spare you all from the bathroom stories that came out of that boat trip. Hehe.