THE CARD

With Love Chartreuse Christmas Card

Customize your Christmas cards with Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Ugh. I need help. Like, professional help. Damn.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My poor neglected blog (AKA Blogger=Epic Fail)

Epilogue: I decided to create Blog Deux using blogger so I it would be easier to update and I'd have more access to fun layouts and backgrounds. On this my 3rd or 4th post (which are daunting enough to pull together) this effing thing decides to freak out and deletes half of my post right as I click publish. So this is my best attempt to re-create what was, a pretty clever...maybe even inspiring post. Epic fail much?


I had every intention of updating this often, which for me means at least once a week. But then the enevitable happens...

Making dinner, house projects, crying babies, bills to pay/checkbooks to balance, calendars to update, you get the idea.So I guess I'll do a little update on what's new in my world.

We had Josh's first birthday party on the 23rd. I had been looking forward to doing a winter One-derland party for quite some time. But when you live in Texas you don't really get much of a Winter... much less a wonderland. And of course finding a location to have the party was no easy task either. Finally we settled on Grady's barbeque.

Oh yeah, you heard right.

Barbeque.

Winter one-derland.

First Birthday.

It's Texas, remember?

*sigh*

So, interspersed amongst the frontier flare were sparkly little snowflakes, crepe paper streamers in blue and white, and a birthday banner crafted by yours truly. Yeah, is that image coming in clear enough? I'll have to find some of the pictures so you can see just how awesomely bad this all was.

*****I had originally typed this whole post yesterday but when I went to publish the post it was all erased up to this point. So everything below I had to re-write so that I could post today!*****

But, the food was good (hope it was for everyone else), and he was adorable as always, and I think everyone had a pretty good time so I guess it was a success.

Hmmm...trying to remember everything I had written yesterday before.

Tangent: I use ellipses too much, often incorrectly. What can I say, I write like I talk. Don't know what ellipses are? Google it.

Yeah. I'm in that kind of mood.

Anyway. /Randomness

Well, I joined Weight Watchers last Tuesday. It's been a year since Josh was born and I weigh a whopping 14 pounds lighter than I did when I was full term.

Four-frickin-teen.

Seriously. Wtf is that?!?

So yeah, a flyer was circulated at work that they were starting a "WW-at-Work" meeting. I took it as a sign, so I joined. I had a lot of "well duh" revelations during my first week. One of the biggest was portion control. Good golly, miss Molly. Before starting WW I probably ate double the points I've been alloted without even realizing through snacking and the "clean your plate" mentality.

So by just cutting my portion sizes, that has helped a lot. And you know what, I've been less hungry...its like my body's getting trained to feel more full on less. Not that I was a super pig or anything before but again, clean the plate mentality.

Another killer was snacking at work. I have a lame-o desk job but hey it pays the bills. But its soooo easy to just graze alllll day long. One of the things I've started doing is filling up my 32oz cup with ice from the cafe. It's awesome! The soft, crunchy ice like sonic has. And munching on that throughout the day has really helped to curb my cravings.

A lot of if it too was just saying "No. I'm done" and that's it. I don't need to go back for seconds or have a post-meal snack. And learning that you don't have to give up everything you love but instead of having a big slice of cheesecake, have half a slice. I'm sure there were some other "well duh" revelations I had but I cant remember them now.

With all that said, I had my first weigh-in since starting the program and I lost ...

Six pounds! And that was with eating out three times over the weekend! I thought for sure the scale was wrong and made them re-weigh me and sure enough, six pounds. Can you tell I'm a little excited? So, pretty good start I just hope I keep up the momentum. Yep, everything was going great until yesterday.

Yesterday, I went to Texas Medclinic to get the stitches removed from my ear.

Wait, what? Stiches? Earlobe?

Oh yeah. Last wednesday while driving to work my I realized my earlobe had split. Yeah, split. As in I could my earlobe could be a stuntman for Mr PacMan. If you follow me on twitter than you may have seen the pictures.

So I went to Texas Medclinic because a) it was open after I got off work and b) there was no way in hell I was going to let my doctor (who I haven't seen since before I was pregnant) anywhere near my earlobes with a needle. Seriously, he's pretty old and I really just need to find a new one.

Anyway, back at the clinic...the doctor did a few shots in my ear to numb it and then the worst part happened. You know when you go to the dentist and he cleans your teeth and you can kinda hear him scrape your teeth. Well that's what I heard only it was magnified a million times because he was SCRAPING MY EAR! He was trying to expose some of the underlying tissue to help the two sides fuse together.So I had the stiches in for a week and then it was time to see if it worked.

So last night, I went back to the doctor to have the stitches removed.

And it didn't take.

So now, I have an appointment with a plastic surgeon to see if they can reconstuct it.

Oh and did I mention its considered cosmetic? Yeah. Peachy.

Yep, life has been all kinds of fun lately but I keep trying to tell myself to count my blessing and not my burdens. With all thats going on in the world and with some of my friends and family members, having to deal with a severed earlobe is pretty trivial.

And as if this hasn't been long enough...

The latest adventure in my life is I'm finally pulling together my photography portfolio in hopes of launching a small side business in the summer.

Baby steps, baby steps.

So, anywho. Yes. Pulling together some of my work from the past and hoping to do some more shoots between now and the summer to beef it up a little bit so if you know anyone who might need some pictures taken send them my way...I'd be forever grateful!. Now I should add, by no means do I think I'm some super amazing photographer on the verge of pulling down thousands or even hundreds of dollars. Its just something I love to do.

So there you have it, in not quite a nutshell. My life. Oh the humanity.

;o)

30 by 30 list

Earlier this month, I turned 25. Quarter of a century. 5 years ago I couldn't even legally consume alchol. Five years from now....who knows? So in the spirit of the "New Year, New You" theme of January, here is my list of 30 "to-do's" by the time I'm turn thirty. Thirty, flirty, and thriving. Hee.

I'm starting to think my list is pretty lame so I may have to revamp it....but until then, here's what I've got.

Me/Personal
1) From January through May research grants and scholarships so that I can do #2
2) Go back to school for Master’s Degree- have to make a decision on what I want to get degree in...currently deciding between three fields.
3) Take some photo classes and add to portfolio…ultimately opening side business
4) Open Etsy store (more on that another time)
5) Read all of Baum’s Oz books and all of Maguire’s books in the Wicked Series
6) Become totally credit card debt free and make sure to pay off future purchases quickly (should happen summer 2010!)
7) Get back to a healthy weight (starting WW @ work tomorrow!)
8) One date night with Greg per month for just us
9) Two new recipes per month
10) Update blog at least once per week

House
11) Landscape front yard
12) Flagstone patio with covering for backyard
13) Replace sliding door with French doors
14) Replace all interior doors
15) Build garden/bed for backyard
16) Build privacy fence for backyard
17) Upgrade cabinets in kitchen
18) Finish Painting Rooms
19) Get TV Mounted (and larger size, possibly)
20) Sell House and move to larger one

Faith
21) Pray Rosary at least once per week
22) Go to Adoration at least once per month
23) Join a bible study
24) Help with youth group
25) Say Morning and Evening prayers EVERYDAY…must get in habit to teach Josh.

Miscellaneous
26) Take a trip to Europe….possibly a cruise, but undecided
27) One vacation per year for just Greg & I and one family trip
28) See at least one Musical/Play per year
29) Have dinner/outing with brother once a month
30) Have baby #2….hopefully a girl! (this will more than likely happen closer to 30)

So, there it is. Room for modification but I think its a good starting point. What do you think? What goals do you have for the next year, 5 years, etc?

Happy Barfday to me!

Actually, I pretty proud of myself for not totally ralphing all over the Denny's bathroom. I know, TMI.



Sorry.



So, my actual birthday was on Monday but I was still recovering from the hectic holidays and I had to work the next day so celebrating was postponed until last night. I picked up Kate around 5:30 and headed to Greg's work to pick him up since he works downtown. We got to Howl at the Moon at 6 to find Greg's brother Jon and Joseph, James, and David already there. Joseph I knew from college and James and David I met through Jon. That table affectionately was dubbed the Holy Rollers as 3 of them are seminarians and one is a priest.



Yes, that's right. I party with the clergy.

Anywho.

My BIL & SIL are also there. And while, they have seen me drink before they have never seen me drunk. Much less drop it like its hot. Oh yes. Just wait.

So we partake of the taco/nacho buffet (because it was free and because I hadn't eaten all day and I figured it would probably be wise to put something in my stomach before my mass consumption of alcohol) and get our $1 drinks with out little coupons and blah blah blah. By 7:20, I've had two margaritas, two glasses of wine, and a shot....buttery nipple I think. We've been there for less than an hour and a half. It's about to get interesting.

I put in a request for Proud Mary and of course I'm singing along like I wrote the damn song. And that's when the lovely lady piano player decided this is when my birthday "call down" should be. See, when you have your birthday party at Howl part of the deal is that at some point in the evening they call you on to the stage.

And basically set you up for humiliation.

Only, I was oh so eager to help them along.

So, I'm standing up there singing and not really able to see much of anything because the lights are blinding the hell out of me. Which is probably a good thing because if I saw all those people looking back at me I'm probably would have peed my pants right there.

Peed. My. Pants.

But I can't see them, so we're cool.

So I'm up there and the song is playing and I immediately think of this:






So I'm going with it and I'm thinking, shoot, what would Gracie Hart do?

And then they kick it in to high gear.

And I'm busting it out. Think me at 2:09 on that video up there from Miss Congeniality 2.

Only....its more like this 2:56 on this video:






Hair was flyin', ya'll.


All the while I feel like I'm *this close* to falling off the stage. Funny, alcohol will do that.

Well eventually, the song is over and I descend to the cheers of friends who I'm sure have just laughed enough to burn off a least one of their drinks. And then I'm greeted with a "Hello, sorry we're late."

It's my male co-worker, Dean.

Dean, who said he would be there at 6:30 didn't show up until just before my lovely performance, so I assummed he wasn't going to make it.

Oh no. He's here.

And he'll be at work on Monday.

Fab.

But I figure. What the hell, what's done is done.

So the night goes on. Pretty typical...few more drinks few more singalongs. Making friends with stranger's because its their birthday too.

Fun times.

And then, the only song we all know by Sir Mix a lot comes chiming on those ivory keys.

Totally my cue, right?

So, forget the fact that the Holy Rollers, my BIL & SIL, and my COWORKER are in the audience....Imma shake what my momma gave me!

So I'm up there and the piano guy decides there will be a champion and goes down the line and has the audience cheer for each of us individually. I think there's five of us. So he goes down the line one by one and ends with me.

And what do I do?

I drop to the floor, give it a good smack with my hand, stick my butt in the air and slide on up....you know what I'm talking about.

And thus I am dubbed "the stripper".

So its the Booty-Shakin' finals and its "the stripper" vs. Monica Lewinski.

And I DQ'd for doing the boobie shake.

But....

I still win a happy hour party.

The next day, Dean, facebooks me and tells me I totally earned the party.

Awkard.

More songs, more drinky, people start leaving.

I think we leave around 12:30 and Greg, Kate, Julie and I all head to Denny's. I'm in and out of sleep but managed to eat some hashbrowns. And, for the most part, keep them down.

I don't even remember dropping Kate off.

So there you have it, my birthday bash.

I think I was trying to cram 3 months of partying in to one night (last time I really went out was for Julie's bachelorette back in October).

Mental note: Bad idea.

Umm, can I have 2009 back?

Last year was a pretty good year for us. We have much to be thankful for and with the exception of a few typical lows it was mostly positive.

Today marks day 5 of the new year and so far its been...well...crappy.

This may sound stupid to you and with out getting into all the who's wrong/who's right, I was really bummed and upset when I found out that the coach from my college alma mater was fired. Yes, I'm a red raider and I'm pretty proud of it. Again, I'm not going to argue for or against but I do think the situation was handled horribly on all sides. Talk about a PR nightmare. It just made the program and the school look really bad and that saddens me more than anything.

My family has also been having some health issues. My mom hurt her back pretty bad this week and I'm really concerned about it, especially because she's so stubborn. My grandmother has had multiple health problems for years now and takes more medication than anyone I know. Seriously, I think she takes 21 pills. EVERYDAY. Lately things have been getting worse and it makes me feel really bad for my grandfather having to deal with us.

This next part is hard for me to write because it means its actually real. As one might expect, bringing a baby into the world really changes the dynamic of a family and obviously can and will cause stress. My relationship with my husband has become increasingly strained over the past year. Its gotten to the point where we're really going to have to do something other than talking and rehashing the same arguements over and over. I don't know what that will be just yet....maybe one of those couples retreats or counseling or something I don't know....but it's gotta happen.

And finally...the issue that sparked me to finally create my own personal blog. A few months ago I was promoted to a new position at my work. With this new position brought new coworkers. Some pleasant, others quite the opposite. The first day I started my new job I brought some muffins to kinda....I dunno...break the ice? Just trying to be friendly. I've done this numerous times on other occassions. I say good morning/afternoon if someone passes me. If someone brings up something I'm interested in then I might offer my opinion. I'm a pretty civil person I think.

But apparently some people weren't exactly thrilled I was working with them. Maybe it's because I haven't spent 5-10 years with this company. Maybe it's because I'm the "newbie". I have no idea. But for one reason or another some people felt the need to go out of there way to be rude....in really immature ways.

Today was a rough....I'll try to keep it as short as possible. I put in a request to have tomorrow off so that I could spend the day with my son on his birthday but my manager denied it. I had also put in a request on Monday to work through my lunch breaks this week so I could leave early on Friday but she still hadn't approved it so I sent her an email asking about the two issues. She apparently took that to mean I was mad at her and proceeded to discuss it with the group of coirkers I have the issues with!

Believe me I wish I was making this shit up. Its like highschool all over again (although, my hs years were actually pretty good....I'm just trying to imply the typical teenage angst and issues). I don't expect everyone to like me. But do expect to be respected. Especially if I haven't done anything to deserve the rudeness. I wish I would just stop caring.

So now I feel really awkward at work. There's this weird tension with my manager because she thinks I'm mad at her and while I'm not mad about the time-off situation I am upset that she decided to talk about it with other coworkers. And I've learned she does this a lot. And then there's the ongoing tension with the troublesome coirkers.

I was talking to a friend who works in a different department but who's had similar issues and she brought up a good point. She told me whenever she would get upset or when there was drama in the workplace she would just remind herself that they don't sign her paycheck. Duh. How smart is that? At the end of the day, I can't control what anyone else does or says I can only be me. I'll just focus on the job at hand and try to tune everything else out.

And listen to a lot of Pandora.

Finally, a new home....

When I got pregnant in 2008 my blogging become consumed with all things pregnancy. When he was born in 2009, it was all things baby, and while I love to blog about him (when I can find the time) I need to have a personal space where I can let it all hang out. So welcome to Half Baked and Fully Loaded...

I have no idea what will come of this. I hope for it to be a little mix of cooking, maybe some DIY, a smidge of ranting (though I'll try to keep it to a minimum), with a dash of sarcasm. Expect a lot of randomness.

I'm not sure how you may have stumbled across me and this little blog, but please, pull up a chair and stay while. Who knows maybe you'll learn something. Or maybe I'll learn something from you. All I know is its cheaper than therapy.

And hopefully, a little more entertaining.