Dammit the Cat

This is Dammit. She is my cat from when I lived in Chattanooga. I adopted her from the Humane Society on a whim. I went with a friend of mine who was looking for a cat and I ended up getting one while she went home empty handed.

People always ask me, "You named your cat 'Dammit?!'" (usually while they are lauging.)

"Yep." I answer waiting for the inevitable next question.

"Why?" they ask, laughing.

"Because," I say matter-of-factly, " For the first two weeks I had her, I would come home to a bathroom strewn with toilet paper. Or, everything knocked off the top of my dresser or countertop. Usually she would choose to mess up stuff that would take me a bit to clean up. So I would usually come home and say, 'Dammit!' at what I found. After a few times of saying this, I would get a response of "Mew." Almost like "You called?"

So it just kinda worked out.

What's with all the doggy cocaine?

We had our first big snow fall of the winter last Saturday. We got up to a foot of snow, with the dreaded ice underneath it. There are different reactions to the snow within our house. For this southern girl, it's always a mixed feeling when I am surrounded by piles of the "white flaky stuff." Part of me reverts back to a little kid hoping that school will be cancelled and I won't have to go anywhere today and go out and make a snowman! But then I get in the mood to just cuddle on the couch under a blanket watching movies all day. One member of our household gets a case of "wiggle butt" over snow. And no, it's not Dammit the Cat.

For Rocky, snow is like cocaine. He gets what I call "the zooms," not to be confused with "the runs." He just runs and runs and runs until he physically can't anymore. Just like a little kid. He will run until he just drops down and falls asleep. He rolls and digs. He rubs his face in it. He eats it. He pees in it (but he doesnt eat the yellow snow). He can't get enough. Eventually he will want to come inside and warm up, but not for long!

The snowy front of our house.

Our blanketed neighborhood. There's a street under there somewhere.

The zooms.

The glass from our back door kind of hides it, but Rocky has snow over his mouth and nose and even around his eyes. I'm telling you, he looks like a coke addict! It's hilarious!

I can't leave out my big strong man. Snow becomes a mission. It must be excavated from the driveway and adjoining sidewalks...immediately. He is in charge of shoveling the driveway. Apparently this is something that requires a plan and strategy. First, you shovel a path in the middle of the driveway to the street. The you shovel one side at a time into the yard on either side. It can be a dangerous task. Here is a picture of him after he slipped in the driveway while shoveling.

He escaped without injury.

That's my big strong man! Isn't he awesome?! :)

I've had many requests to show the inflatables infront of our house. They are really quite funny. Santa doesn't seem to want to stand up straight (he must be hungover), but other than that...Frosty is still holdin' strong even with the melting snow.

Prophet Linus?

My favorite part of A Charlie Brown Christmas ever. It's a great reminder of what Christmas truly is.

ClickHere

Fa la la

Get out the Pepto!! Santa has officially thrown up in our neighborhood. There are lights everywhere. So of course, not to be out done, Ryan and I headed to Wally-world (Walmart) to get our Christmas arsenal of lights, stockings, a tree, and other decorative staples. Being our first Christmas in the new house we only had two small 3 foot trees, a couple strands of lights, a few ornaments, my stocking, and a partridge in a pear tree.

I knew I was in for it when Ryan walked into the Christmas decoration "wing" of Wally-world and just stared all wide-eyed like it was...Christmas. So we began navigating our way through the aisles, not really knowing what to get first. We decided to start with the pinnacle of all Christmas decorations: the tree. At first we wanted a real tree. Neither one of us has had a real tree for Christmas since we were little children, but because we would be gone so much it would probably die within the first week. Plus Rocky would probably lift his leg to it a few times and then we would have soggy presents. Nobody wants soggy presents.

It's amazing at how many different types of artificial trees there are! There's 3 foot, 4 foot, 6 foot, 6.5 foot, 7 foot, and 10 foot. There's the kind that look like they are made out of green pipe cleaners and the kind that almost look real. There's green trees and white trees...WHITE TREES!!! There's unlit and prelit. Prelit with white lights and prelit with color lights. Blinking and non-blinking. There's even fiber optically lit trees!! We immediately disqualified the white trees for obvious reasons. Who wants a white tree? No offense to those who have them, but really? Fiber optics and Christmas trees I dont think mix well and plus then you can totally tell it is fake. We settled on a 6.5 foot tree that looked the least like pipe cleaners. We were going to buy lights to put around it but laziness took over and we got a prelit one. I then went and picked out a tree skirt to put around the bottom.

After the tree we went looking for a stocking for Ryan. The selection was small. There were plain ones and tacky ones and ridiculously decorated ones. Ryan settled for one that was green with red letters stating, "Touch Down!" complete with a fake football on top of it. It was perfect. He's so cute, isn't he? We even got Rocky a stocking that had a dog on it that barks Christmas carols when you squeeze his ear. Somehow, Rocky's stocking ended up being bigger than both of ours. I guess I better get Dammit a stocking too (that's my cat). After the stockings Ryan grabbed about three boxes of lights to put up around the outside of the house. I figured that's pretty harmless and would look pretty.
"What about icecicle lights?" I ask.
"No." Ryan said.
"Why not?" I ask.
"Honey, because I'm in charge. This is a man's job."
Ooooohhhhhh-kaaaaay. I didn't argue cuz if he wants to stand out in the cold and string lights up, that's fine with me. I'll stay inside. Passing through some of the lights, Ryan saw the inflatable characters that you put up in your yard. I could see the wheels working as he headed towards an 8 foot Santa complete with reindeer band that apparently plays music somehow.
"No way." I said shaking my head.
"Why?" he asked.
"It's 50 bucks. That's more than the tree!"I said.
"Well...well...what about the smaller ones?"
He points to the 4ft inflatable Frosty the Snowman and another Santa. They were considerably cheaper and probably a lot quieter. I could see inflatable characters in our lawn ment a lot to him so I nodded my approval. He grabbed one of each and a $4 sign that lights up stating "Merry Christmas."

Of course you can't decorate without some Christmas tunes. Ryan was adamant about getting a Frank Sinatra Christmas CD and I wanted Nat King Cole. Atleast we both agree on the classic Christmas songs. So we each got a $5 Christmas CD. That was it. It was time to go home and deck the halls and all that stuff.
With Frank and Nat wailing away on the stereo, we assembled our prelit tree and decked it out with ornaments, garland (which Ryan did cuz I apparently do it wrong, but that's okay cuz I tell him he does laundry wrong), and tree skirt. To top it all off I pulled out my tacky twinkling star to put on top of the tree. Ryan wanted to get an angel or something but I put my foot down. My family has always had a terrific tacky twinkling star on top of our trees and I would have nothing else on mine. He conceded quickly. I guess he could tell I was serious.
Ryan set up the inflatable characters and the sign outside and I watched from the window (it was about 10:30 at night...it's freakin' cold out at that time). Rocky of course wanted to pull off the ornaments cuz they are ball shaped so I was having to shoo him away from the tree every 5 minutes. But there was no leg lifting so our loot should be safe for now. The stockings were hung over our fireplace with Rocky's in the middle. Ryan hung up all the lights the next night and we surveyed our Christmas infected house. It's perfect.

Thanksgiving and on

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone! Or, as I like to call it "see how much food you can pack onto your plate and not have to go up for seconds for atleast 20 mintues" or better yet "eat until you feel like your food stops in your throat and you slowly slip into a diabetic coma on the couch while watching football." Any of these descriptions will do. This year, much like the last, I had to work. I went to Flagstaff, Arizona with my team to play in a tournament. It was a really good trip. Before I left, Ryan went with his team to Anchorage, Alaska and did really well at their tournament. So, Sunday night was the first time I had seen him in a week.
Flagstaff was awesome. We got there Wednesday and ate at a coach's uncle's house. They had traditional Thanksgiving grub along with some authentic southwestern cuisine. Nothing like turkey, stuffing, and tamales! When they said they had tamales I thought of stuffed peppers, or something hot like that, but actually it's meat prepared, wrapped in a tortilla, which is then wrapped in a corn shell. We all had to get specific instructions on how to eat the tamales. "Take the corn husks off first! Please dont try to eat them!", was repeated to us ignorant non-southwestern residents that poured the beans and hot sauce topping on the husks. Good thing we didnt break a tooth.
The next day, we drove about 2 hours to the Grand Canyon. I've never been before and felt a lot like Clark Griswold on his way to WallyWorld. "Who's the moosiest moose you know? Wally Moose!" Calling it the Grand Canyon really doesnt do it justice. I was amazing. No words can describe the magnitude of this wonder of the world. It just kept going and going and going. It's hard to believe one river and a couple of tributaries created this massive structure over millions of years! Well, I guess the Ice Age helped.
We went to the south rim of the canyon which is about 1000 feet lower than the northern rim, but it was still freezing. Everyone was wearing multiple layers and jackets. But you forgot the cold the minute you got to the edge of the canyon. Just looking down made you dizzy. I got a little nervous when I noticed that much of the path along the edge has no railing. I guess it would be hard to put railing along the entire 277 miles (in length) of canyon.
We wandered and took pictures for over an hour and some of us even became brave enough to stand out on some ledges to take pictures.

This is me and my student, Amber, standing on a cliff over looking the rim of the canyon. When I get more pictures uploaded, I will put them up.

Oh yeah, thanks to everyone who called, emailed, sent cards, etc. for my birthday yesterday. I'm still wondering how I got to be 29? Wasn't I 10 just yesterday? Many thanks!

Expanding cultural boundaries through Youtube

Tuesday was much like how I expected it to be. The day before a holiday break therefore, nothing to do. Some of the people I work with were in the office with me and we were talking about music. My friend Lainie started talking about the Soldierboy dance that apparently is sweeping the country. I, of course, announced my ignorance: "The what dance?"

You would have thought I had lobsters crawling out of my ears with the way they looked at me.

"Are you kidding me?!" Lainie exclaims.

"No." I say, slightly offended because apparently I am showing my age. The generation gap begins. I kind of feel like my dad on the day back in college when I told him that my friends thought he was "the bomb."

"Oh good!" He says. He hesitates for a breath and then asks, "What's that?"

So Lainie and Jackie proceed to look up videos of this Soldierboy dance on Youtube.com. There were thousands of these videos. One was of a very young ballet class doing this dance. There were cheerleaders, average joes, and other dancers all over the country. It's everywhere.

We continued to talk about music of our youth when Lainie then shows me this video of a bridal party dancing to Michael Jackson's Thriller. I mean they were doing the actual moves from the video! These are my kind of people! I used to dance in the backseat of our van (when I was 5 or so) to that song everytime it came on. So obviously I was interested. After that video, I happened to see a listing for "Indian Thriller." I told Lainie to click on it because I had to see if it was up to par with the original. Little did I know.

Words cannot describe the hilarity that ensued due to "Indian Thriller." Tears were streaming out of my eyes, I was laughing so hard. I highly recommend this video. You have to see it!! The dancing alone is enough.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LbvP7dT3Dx0

Officially old

Well, it's official. I'm old. Last night (that would be Friday night) I fell asleep in front of the t.v. at 10:00pm. I was in my pjs at 8:30.

Watch out!! Party animal comin' through!!! It's tough keepin' up with me!!!!

Some of my favorites

Ryan in Key West..."Yeah!"

Sunset at Mallory Square in Key West

Us in upper deck at U.S. Cellular in Chicago

My boss, Neal. He has 7 kids. We are rooting him on for 8 in '08.

I smell food!

The house where Ryan and I live

Me and Mom in summer of '06...apparently doing a Bud Light ad?

Me, Ian McGriff, and Sara McGriff (my BFF)

Key West 2006

Mama J and I... or Mama J and me? (whatever)

Discuss amongst yourselves

So, here's the deal...
Ryan and I were lying on the couch the other day watching t.v. and talking. Anyone who has tried to cuddle on the couch with their boy/girl-friend knows the complexity that can occur with trying to fit two on the couch, escpecially laying down. There are a few positions that I find work best:
#1: Lying head-to-toe with one of the each person's legs lying on the other person.
#2: Both on their side facing the same direction with boy in the back of the couch with arm under girl's pillow. Girl's back pressed up against boy's front with arm also under own head.
#3: Boy on his back with girl wedged over his side next to back of couch with arm and leg draped over him.


That day, we were in position #3 on the couch (everybody get your mind out of the gutter!) when I decided I wanted something to drink and attempted to un-wedge myself from between Ryan and the couch. I gingerly tried to crawl over him when my foot GRAZES Ryan's...area. You would have thought I had run from across the room, jumped up, and stomped on them! He rolled off the couch and cupped himself for about two minutes breathing like he was in lamaze class. I apologized to him but half-heartedly because I knew I didn't hit them very hard at all. I was trying to be careful not to knee him or kick him anywhere!

So in the millisecond it takes me to realize how not hard I touched his...area, I begin to think, "It can't hurt that badly! I barely touched him!" Then it hits me, "This is a conspiracy! Men everywhere are in this together. How can barely touching him create that much agony?! I call bullsh*t!" So, of course, me being the caring girlfriend that I am, I tell him, "This is bullsh*t. Come on! It can't hurt that bad!"
And then he gives me the typical guy answer, "You have no idea." Maybe not. I don't see how men can walk with those things, much less what they would feel like!
I said, "All right. Since I can't refute that, explain it to me."

Now, (according to him) when they are hit hard it is the pain that makes men practically paralyzed and then the nausea comes on like a tidal wave. This I can agree with since anything hit hard enough can cause pain and nausea. I tell him about the time I pinched the tip of my finger under a 100lbs plate in the weight room and how everyone said I went white in my face (which is usually beet-red when I workout) and I had to sit down because of how painful it was, then I became extremely nauseated. "So how is that any different?" I asked. "I wasn't moaning or crying out in agony. I would think the finger tips have just as many nerve endings as your genitalia. And besides I didnt kick you! So why did it hurt so bad now?"
Well, this got Ryan thinking and the only answer he could come up with was, "Well your fingers aren't the same thing. They can't be. You just don't understand. And it's not the actual pain from what just happened. A lot of times it's the fear of what pain could suddenly appear, or the sudden panic of the nausea maybe hitting you like a ton of bricks."
"A-ha!!!" I exclaimed. "So you are saying that a lot of the time men are faking it when they aren't kicked or crushed but only grazed on accident!! I knew there was a conspiracy! You should try getting elbowed in the boob!!! That freakin' hurts! But you don't see women rolling on the floor in agony when it happens. Therefore, we win!!"

All I got in response to that was, "You are so weird."
I can't argue that.

IDK...My BFF Max?

This is Rocky's best friend, Max. Max belongs to my friend Kirk and we get the dogs together whenever we can so that they can play. Rocky freakin' loves it. He and Max will wrestle and play until they can no longer move. It is hysterical. They can get so tangled up in their leashes that they literally cannot pull apart from each other! Usually Max will get tired first and try to escape the constant mauling by Rocky. This usually done one of two ways: 1) Max will climb up onto the couch or chair you are sitting in and either sit on you or behind you, or 2) Hide under a table (kitchen table, end table, doesnt matter.) Usually after an afternoon of playing together the two pups are down for the count from fatigue for atleast one whole day. It's awesome!

What is even funnier is that Max is the complete opposite of Rocky in looks and in demeanor. He is the most laid-back, mellow dog. He loves to just lay around inbetween playing. Rocky on the other hand...

Ryan and I love to keep Max whenever we can for Rocky to have someone to play with. Maybe we will get another dog one day. Maybe.

Too cute!

Here are some photos of a coach's son dressed as Nemo that Ryan sent to me. Absolutely precious!!

I think the butt shot is the best!!! Ha ha!

Man down!

Apparently Ryan and I left early (1:00am) before the real fun began. As a result of all the fun, there were a few men down at the Halloween Party.

If you look closely, you will see that his helmet is on backwards...men.

Meet the Flintstones

Yep, Ryan and I went to a Halloween party last night at some friends' house. We had a lot of fun. The party was Hollywood themed so you could go as a person or character. Ryan and I went back and forth as to what we would be. I was going to be Britney Spears with a bad wig and get a couple baby dolls that I would carry around with me while I would wear "faux-Chanel bug eye sunglasses," as I like to describe them. Every once in a while I would drop one of the babies and say, "Oops. I did it again." However, I figure that was in bad taste so I scratched that. Ryan is obsessed with the puppet used in the Saw movies and was determined to be that (we watched Saw 4 Friday night.) He wanted to get a tricycle from Goodwill and ride around with a tape recorder that would play one of the famous lines, "Oh yes. There will be blood." However, with no time left to make the costume he found a full outfit with mask for $130. Scratch that idea. So, we happened upon a pair of costumes that I thought would be hilarious.

We tried them on in a dressing room and when we saw each other, laughed our butts off. Done deal. I felt like a deranged Lucille Ball. We even thought of spray painting Rocky to be Dino, but then we would have to wash him later so we didnt. Would have been cute though.

There were a lot of great costumes there. It was a blast.

This is Ryan and his best friend, Kyle. It was Kyle's party at his house two blocks from ours.

I didnt know Indiana Jones was married to Jane Jetson?

That night, Nick Fletcher won the costume contest as Maverick from Top Gun. He made the entire costume by himself. His wife Anne was Holly Golightly and she said he worked on it for atleast one week. Way to go Fletch!

I cant remember this guy's name but he would crack me up by just looking at him. Cartoon characters were definitely represented at this party. His wife was Daphne.

It started as a pretty low key night and it definitely got a little crazier with certain "bartenders" that decided hard liquor was the way to go. Everyone had a great time. Here is a picture of me (after I tossed the wig cuz it itched my head) and Stacey, Kyle's wife. She was a Spartan cheerleader from SNL.

Halloween Tradition

Who doesn't love the Charlie Brown seasonal specials? I remember watching this one and Merry Christmas Charlie Brown vividly as a child. They truly marked the coming of the holiday!!

Believe it or not you can watch the whole thing online! Sometimes technology has it's advantages.

GreatPumpkin!!

Halloween

I love Halloween!! I think this is one of the most fun holidays of the year! I love the decorations and the costumes and the whole vibe of it. It's so exciting. An added bonus is the freedom to eat candy...a lot of candy, relatively guilt free.
This year should be extra great cuz I now live in a neighborhood not dominated by college students, but by young families with kids. I can't wait to see all of the costumes and welcome back the flood of memories from my own childhood. I remember certain costumes that I wore through the years. One year (or maybe two) I was Wonder Woman. It was your typical little kid's costume: a garbage bag consistency plastic outfit that came in a bag and a plastic mask with microscopic eye and nose holes to breathe out of. You were guaranteed to either suffocate or run into a tree or streetlight if you didnt pull the mask up every two minutes. Another year I was She-Ra. Remember her? She was He-Man's cousin or something. Apparently I was in a phase of wanting to be dominating amazon women. I dunno. One year I particularly remember was being a "moon maiden." This was a costume picked out by my brother. I dont know if he designed it or got it out of a book. I do remember my parents making two very elaborate costumes that year. My brother was a spaceman of some sort and I was the dreaded "moon maiden" that would spark controversy for the next ten years, at least.
Here's the story:

My parents made these costumes and they were so proud. My brother had a giant paper-mache head and costume and I had a cardboard mask that looked a lot like a frog with a larger mouth to me, and a vest. On my head I particularly remember wearing a shower cap (yep just like grandma used to wear) and on my hands the yellow rubber gloves used to wash our dishes. The problem with these two items was that I was about five or so, and they were made for adults. So the shower cap would constantly fall in my eyes and the rubber gloves made it impossible for me to carry anything. Plus, all that rubber made me sweat like crazy.
That year my grandmother (Mama J) took me, my brother, and my 3 cousins to our church for their Halloween festival. One of the events was a costume contest full of Raggedy Anns, Luke Skywalkers, ghosts, vampires, etc. Then you had the Chambers kids: a spaceman with a giant head that my 7 year old brother kept bumping it into everything and a moon maiden that couldn't see or have any function in her hands. Well, I remember little bits of that night. I remember trying figure out how to bob for an apple but gave up and grabbed one with my hand instead. I remember throwing darts at balloons (unsuccessfully, remember I had no use of my hands) but getting some candy anyway for my trouble. I remember being scared of a grown-up that was dressed a little too realistically like Dracula. Then I remember someone on a microphone calling out my name. Mama J grabbed my hand and was pulling me up to the front of the gymnasium, but halfway across my shower cap fell over my eyes again and I was blinded. I don't know who I went up to see but I remember Mama J telling me to hold out my rubber gloved hand and something was placed in it. I pushed up my cap with my other semifunctioning hand and saw a shiny silver dollar.
"What's this?" I asked.
"You won the costume competition!" Mama J exclaimed.
"I did?!" I asked.
"Yes!" she said patting me on my head.

So, I won the costume competition that year. No big deal right? Wrong. You forget that my brother came up with that costume (or something like that). So, naturally he felt the silver dollar should be his. "But I wore it!" I would shout at him. "But I thought of it!" he would shout back. So, the silver dollar was taken from me and not given to Sam either. To keep the peace, my mother took it. She said it was still mine since I technically won, but that I would get it when I was older. So, it's place was now in my mother's jewelry box. It stayed there until high school.
Every so often though, my brother would bring it all back up again. "Well, I should have gotten that silver dollar!" He would state forcefully at the most random moments of an argument that had nothing to do with that Halloween so many years ago. I think he is still a little bitter about it.

Sympathy doesn't live here anymore

I told Ryan yesterday that I got a ticket right outside our subdivision. When I left the house yesterday morning he was out the door with me but hung back in his car for a few minutes (doing what, I don't know...maybe trying to find "Mike & Mike" on the radio). He asked where I was pulled over and I told him.

"That was you?!" he asked.
"Yep."
"I saw a policeman pulled over and all I saw was the fact that he was driving a Dodge Charger, and I thought, 'He's driving a Dodge Charger!' (He's so astute) I didn't pay attention to who it was he pulled over!"
"Well...that was me."
"How much is the ticket?" he asked.
I told him and he whistled, apparently taken back by the amount.
"Yeah," I said, "and it's my first ticket ever."
"WHAT?!" he exclaimed. "Oh, well I dont feel sorry for you then. I've had, like...8."
Just when I started to not feel so bad about my measly one, he adds: "But never in a school zone."

Ouch. Thanks hon.

When It Rains It Pours

Karma...it'll get you. I dont know what I did but I'm sorry. Really I am! The past two days I haven't been able to do anything right...NOTHING. Day before yesterday I tripped myself up 8 times (I counted). 8!! Two of the times I completely fell on my face, but only when I was in front of other people, of course. Yesterday I woke up, rolled out of bed and immediately stubbed my toe. Then, I spilled my coffee on me on the way to work. Not bad, but enough to make it look like I can't feed myself without help. I got through my day relatively unscathed by only tripping 4 times during the day with no major face plants. At 5:30pm I realized I could go home...early for me (usually I get out between 6 and 6:30pm). "Woo-hoo!" I said in a very Homer Simpson way, grabbed my stuff, and left.

Now, it takes me about a half hour or so to get home from work, and it is all interstate. No big deal. Well, that is until they shut down the interstate and make me get off at an exit I have never used before...crap. So I figure I should follow the flow of traffic, but just to be sure I called Ryan to see if he knew the way. What a bust. "As long as you are going South you should come across some main roads you know." Okay, I am headed South on a main highway...sounds good to me. Surely I will find a crossroad that is familiar and I know this highway runs right into Indianapolis anyway so I should get close to home. Now, I got off the interstate 4 miles from the exit I needed so I knew it should not take long to get into my area of town. Boy was I mistaken. 25 minutes later I was still on the same highway with no familiar roads to be seen. Dang it.

I called Ryan again. I tried to tell him where I was but he had no idea. So he went to mapquest to try and find me...no luck. Apparently mapquest doesnt believe the road I was on existed. Figures.

20 minutes later I found my way to the main road that runs by my subdivision. Thank God! At this point I was pretty pissed off. It goes to show that I was not meant to leave work early. When I pulled into my driveway at 8:00pm, I was angry and frustrated. But, of course when I walked in the house, Ryan was there and he had cooked dinner and had the table set. He poured me some milk (because he knows I like milk with dinner...I know, it's like I am 5) and told me to dig in. It was really good and I was starving. He then rubbed my shoulders after dinner while we watched Monday Night Football to help me relax and I felt much better. I thought, "Can't get any worse!"

I was wrong. This morning I got in my car (prior to coffee) and headed toward the interstate. I was going down the main road infront of my subdivision when I see blinking lights behind me. I pull over to the right hand lane to let him pass me...but he doesnt pass me. "Crap!" (I editted what I really said). "You've got to be kidding me!" So, I was pulled over by a Fishers police seargent and was told I was going 50 in a 30. To top it all off, I was in a school zone. I am scum. I honestly was not paying attention to anything at that point cuz I didn't have any coffee yet from my mug beside me. However, it was about 8:30am and no school busses or children were in sight. School had all ready started. But apparently the hours for this school zone go straight through from 7:30am to 4:30pm. No break inbetween like I was used to with every other school zone I have driven through (not speeding I would like to add). So the long arm of the law nabbed me and my wicked ways and slapped my in the face with a $165 ticket. I'm not angry. I deserved it. I should have been paying attention. And so, here I sit thinking that it really can't get much worse...hopefully. I'm going for a run in a few minutes, so maybe I will get lucky and not get hit by a car. Wish me luck!!! I'm gonna need it.

Never Give Up!!!!

My new hero for the next couple days...way to go Wes! I almost peed in my pants, but that's beside the point...WAR DAMN EAGLE!

Auburn 20

#4 Florida 17

Who knew?

This was sent to me by a friend...it's actually a decent picture of me AND Ryan where one of us isnt making a weird face (on purpose or accidental). This was taken at a barbecue with some people I work with.

Go Dawgs, Sick 'Em!!!

Even though my Tigers are not doing so hot this year, I can't forget about my Georgia Dawgs! I am so proud of the game this past Saturday!

A) It was a great game!

B) They beat Bama!

Who can ask for anything more?!

I guess Auburn could, but the thing is that Auburn fans consider it a winning season as long as they beat Alabama in November. Even if we lose every other game on our schedule, we would be happy (probably vice versa).

BUT, one out of my two teams beating Bama is a step in the right direction. Go Dawgs Sick 'Em and War Eagle!!!!!!!

Another Early Breakfast

On today's menu: a box of tampons

Damn dog.

Early Breakfast

The other night, I drove the half hour drive to my new place. If you don't know anything about Fishers, IN, let me explain. Fishers is the type of town where- stereotypically- you have high end professionals and well-to-do families living. The moms are dressed all cutesy and make-upped just to go run errands. Everyone knows the type of town I am talking about. However, intermingled among the "Fishers type" you have people such as me. We just dont give a shit. There goes the neighborhood!

When I got close to the house I turned into Kroger and went to get essentials: peanut butter, jelly, bread, milk, cereal. Here I was walking among the Fisher's moms all done up while I am in an untucked BSU polo and khaki shorts, tired as hell with bags under my eyes and my hair in a wind blown pony tail. I got my stuff and went home to resume the unpacking of the house and a wonderful gourmet dinner of PB&J.

I woke up yesterday morning (late) and was rubbing my eyes when Rocky comes running in and jumps on the bed. He drops something on my lap. I look at it (up close cuz I'm not wearing my contacts) and realize that it is the butt-end piece of a loaf of bread. "Oh crap," I said and jumped up and went downstairs. In my mind's eye I saw pieces of bread scattered throughout the house that I would have to pick up piece by piece. When I got down the stairs I walked into the dining room...nothing. I walked into the living room...and I saw it. All that was left of that loaf of bread was the other butt-end piece of the loaf and a completely decimated wrapper. I just stared at it while Rocky panted beside me. "Are you freakin' kiddin' me?!" I asked the droopy dog face. "You ate the whole loaf!!!!!! I just bought that last night!" Ryan came down after me, saw the wrapper and the other butt-end piece of the loaf and started laughing. I told him it wasnt funny and immediately started to laugh too.

Moral of the story: Dogs don't like the butt-end pieces of bread either! Who knew?

Steve Carell

I didn't watch the Emmy's Sunday night but I saw this on the Today Show Monday morning and laughed all day about it.

SteveCarell

I think Steve Carell is one of the funniest people on the planet!!! This cracks me up!

The move

Sunday was the big day. Ryan and I moved in together. We are in a house in Fishers, IN. It's freakin' huge and in a really nice neighborhood. I'm actually very intimidated by the house and the neighborhood, but apparently we can afford it. There are some monster houses in this neighborhood. I just hope no one catches on that we are actually poor. I'm serious! This neighborhood is friggin' nice! We are renting for now with the option to buy (probably not anytime soon). I will post pictures up when we get it in some sort of order.

It took us the entire day to move our stuff from my old place in Muncie. The main reason being, as Ryan put it, "you have a lot of crap." Yes, yes I do. While we were packing up my crap I have found out that Ryan is apparently in disguise the majority of time from his alternate identity: "Super Packer." He is all about making everything fit, come hell or high water. And of course, I "have no idea what it takes or what I am doing." So the theme of the day for me was "get out of the way."
I would try to help him move a piece of furniture or adjust something and if I didn't do this to his exact specifications (that I was supposed to know through my telepathic abilities) I was told to "get out of the way." Talk about a power trip. But to give him credit he (with my obviously poor packing ability) managed to get all of our crap onto a 17 foot U-Haul. It was packed to the brim.

So far everything is kind of foreign to me in this new place but I think it is going to work out really well. Rocky freakin' loves it with all the space to run around. Dammit is slowly adjusting. More on the house as it happens....

For laughs

I dont know why but this makes me laugh!!!

SingingHippo

Birthday Boy #2!!!!

My dad's birthday was on August 30th. He is 57 years young. Sorry I didnt get a post up on the day but here is your "shout-out." Happy birthday Daddy-o!


Pay no attention to the REALLY bad picture of the two of us...it looks like I have a double chin.

WAR EAGLE!!!!

3 DAYS UNTIL THE FIRST KICK OFF!!! WAR EAGLE BABY!!!

AUFootball video!!!

What a crazy time!!

I'M SO SORRY for those of you who have been checking in and I have had nothing posted. These days things are a little crazy. School is back in full force and I have been slammed with work. I have new athletes needing physicals that missed their window to have them done before practices start. I have returning athletes that need to fill out more paper work. I have new and returning athletes coming in and checking up with me about old and new injuries. I have graduate assistants that have added to their responsibilities that need guidance. I have my team starting 6 a.m. conditioning 2-3x/week. I am trying to cram as much information about my new athletes into my brain so I know who needs what. I have coaches emailing and calling me every 5 minutes. Our ice machine is broken so we have no ice for practices (really great timing for the hottest week of the year here- above 98 with 94% humidity). I have made appointments with doctors for atleast 8 athletes in the last 12 hours and now I can't remember who goes in when and at what time. My desk looks like a paper bomb blew up on it. I have new student athletic trainers that I have to "break-in" and I had a lab to teach today that I almost forgot about and only half of my class actually showed up!! To top it all off...I havent spoken to Ryan for more than 2 minutes in the past week. Why? He's just as busy as me and when we do have time to actually call each other...we're too freakin' tired!! Wooo! Got that out of my system.


It's just that time of year. The first two weeks of school are usually the craziest. Getting everyone and everything started on the same page. It can get pretty stressful. But, like everything it begins to subside and ease up a little.


Things are changing here for me. The big news is that Ryan and I are moving in together. Yep. I'm taking a chance and living with a boy for the first time since I was 18...and that boy was my brother. We found a house in a suburb of Indianapolis called Fishers. It's a really nice area and has a lot of people moving into it. It is a little bigger than what we were looking for but the rent was in our range and the location is right inbetween my work and his. The house is four bedroom and 2.5 bath. I know. I know. Its big, but thats okay. We're only renting for now and if we play our cards right we have the option to buy further down the road. Plus, we've all ready decided what each room should be. Master bedroom, guest bedroom, office, and..."a man room."

What is in this so called "man room" I have no idea. Infact most of our rooms will probably only have one piece of furniture in it besides the living room and our bedroom. Ryan has a vision though of this den of testosterone. He wants to be able to play poker with his buddies, play his x-box and watch sports at any time with his recliner and a microfridge filled with beer. I have a feeling he wants to be able to accomplish all of this while in his underwear, grunting, and eating raw meat. He also made the fatal mistake of saying the following:
"Yeah, I can invite the guys over to play cards and we can drink beer and smoke cigars." WHOAH THERE KILLER!!! I put the kabosh on the cigar smoking inside the house. Absolutely not. He tried to put up a good argument but he failed.
"But...we'll open a window!"
"No."
"And put a fan in there to push the smoke out!?"
"No."
"We'll stuff towels under the door so none of the smoke comes into the rest of the house!"
"No."
"Come on babe!!!"
"No."

We move in on Sept. 15th...well, Ryan does and I will slowly move my stuff down as my lease winds down in another month. I'll definitely take a bunch of pictures and post them when I can.
It won't be all settled in until probably late fall/spring because of our crazy schedules right now, but it'll get there.

I definitely feel like I'm growing up now!

The Type of Day I'm Having

'Nuff said.

I weep for the future!

Kids.

That's right....kids. I'm not talking about young children that many people my age have or are having. Stop freaking out...I'm not pregnant. I'm talking about these people walking into my work fresh from high school. This week at work I, and my fellow coworkers, are getting ready for the massive onslaught of returning students and athletes that will fill our beloved athletic training rooms with questions and complaints for a full school year. A part of me is excited and ready to begin. The other part of me is crying over the fact that summer is gone.

I have to admit that certain things shock me into the realization that yes...I am getting older. I have talked with many of the athletes here and certain things I bring up from my childhood are mysteriously absent from theirs! WHAT?! I'm not that much older than they are right? I mean just look at their birthdays...the incoming freshmen: 1989. WHAT?! I was 11!!!! Holy crap.

The generation gap between myself and these...children, is startlingly huge for me. The reason being that these kids are obviously deprived of character building, quality television that I enjoyed when I was younger. I mean, little kids today have no Saturday Morning Cartoons!!!! WHAT?! I remember waking up at 6a.m. and turning on the television and being able to scroll through multiple channels with different cartoons that lasted until noon! Now, nothing. Maybe one channel with japanimation and cartoon network with cartoons that make no freakin sense!

And these poor individuals are living in an obvious ignorance as to what a real quality cartoon is. What a deprived childhood they have had! It makes me cry a little on the inside....

I remember certain cartoons that still pop into my speech on a weekly basis.

"And now you know....and knowing is half the battle!"

"What's up, doc?" or "Rackin-frackin-brrprpgnrprpr-rabbit."

"Captain Caaaaaaaaavemaaaaaaaan!" (Yeah USA Cartoon Express!)

Okay, so maybe not this one so much but you get the idea. And when I do say something like this...I get nothin'. No recognition or response. I'm so freakin' old....

Here's a website that has a bunch of 80's t.v. shows on it that help bring back memories. Enjoy!
"Thundercats....HO!"
http://www.cracked.com/index.php?name=News&sid=1970