From Russia with Love...

I had to go to Tampa last week for work. A trade show to be more specific. I am not a traveler, let's just say. I HATE FLYING! But, if I have my friend Zanex, I can somewhat manage. It just keeps me from getting hysterical, but I am still scared. Anyway, I don't think anything else could have gone wrong on our way to Tampa. They lost our most important bag (but luckily found it), we got lost on the 17 freeway changes we were supposed to take (thank you cell phone GPS system for telling us where to go about 2 minutes after the fact), and we got to our hotel at around 2am. And here is the best part...

Mike (my boss) and I got checked in and headed up to our separate rooms. We actually had the rooms right next to each other. Mike went in his room, and I went in mine. Well, I flipped on the light and started walking down the small hallway past the bathroom and to the bed. This is where I found a man, who was obviously startled out of his sleep, standing in front of me in his boxers and a t-shirt. That's right! To make things more fun, he had a very thick accent. I like to think he was Russian or German or something. Anyway, he said "This is my room 6-1-3." And I said "Apparently it is mine as well." And then I started laughing so hard I could barely breathe. I went out into the main hallway and knocked on Mike's door. He opened it to find tears streaming down my face, and laughter beyond control. He seemed concerned, and I was able to get out the words "there's a man in my room."

I went down to the front desk and told the girl there what had happened. She said "well according to my computer that room is vacant." I responded "Apparently not, unless you want to go tell that to the poor man upstairs that I just scared the living daylights out of!" She apologized and told me they had no rooms for me. So I walked next door and stayed in the only vacant room that hotel had for the night. Thank heavens they had one!

Marriott was very apologetic about the whole thing, they bought me dinner, breakfast, and comped my room at the other hotel for the first night. They also sent me away with a free night at any Marriott anytime. So there you have it. My best story from the trip. Sorry for waking you up that way sir, but maybe you should set the latch in all of your hotel rooms from now on to save from having this happen again... Hopefully you got a free room out of it as well. That's all I have to say about that.

Dear Peanut M&Ms,

How I love you so my friends. I don't buy the personal bags very often. It's family size or nothing for me. That should show you the level of commitment I have for you Peanut. Plain is just not the way to go.

I come to you today to tell you of my utter disappointment. I purchased a large bag from Costco and have found myself with "teaser" peanuts instead of the real thing. Imagine the sheer disappointment of biting into something that still mysteriously LOOKS like it contains a peanut inside, when in fact it does not! And to tell you the truth, the absence of the peanut makes you taste burnt. I personally do not enjoy the tast of candy coated burnt.

So I eat another and another from this giant bag, and at this point it very well could be a nearly 50/50 peanut to non. I don't enjoy this trickery. So, I am highly considering dumping you and seeing your cousin Peanut Butter instead. He never leaves me guessing, he is ALWAYS there. So thank you Peanut Butter. Here I come...

A Little Paint Here and There....

Ashley just bought a new condo. It is the greatest place, other than they painted everything tan. I mean EVERYTHING! The ceilings, the molding, the doors, everything. So Ash and I spent Sunday painting the ceilings white throughout the entire place. Then Monday and Tuesday night were spent painting doors and molding white. I also taped my little heart out last night so we would be ready to paint the actual colors on Thursday night. That is the fun part, so I am SO excited about that. I love how quickly paint can change any space. I love that it is instant gratification. I am definitely a spur of the moment kind of person, not a sit back and see where this takes us kind of gal. Like I've said in post after post, patience and content are not two attributes I have been blessed with. But painting is, and so I will spread that talent anywhere I can... Literally anywhere. You need a room painted? I'm your woman...

If You Want To Talk Berry...

There are two little ladies that have changed my life forever. I like to call them my hussies, because that is how they live their lives. This post probably won't make any sense to most of you, but I felt like writing it for record sake.

I was blessed to be given the opportunity to be a twin. I don't know what I did to deserve such a gift, but I am eternally grateful I did it. I can't imagine life without my Chels Lyn. To call her my best friend just doesn't seem enough. My soul mate more like it, but people think that is supposed to be a significant other, so I'm stuck there too. So "my twin" seems to cover it the best. That word just means you were born at the same time as someone else to most people, but not to me. Whenever people ask "Is that your sister." I reply "She's my twin." Which sometimes follows with "Well then she is your sister, right?" Yes people, that does technically make her my sister, but she is my twin which makes it even better.

When Chels and I turned 18 we were given the greatest gift of all time. Yes, I did say that being a twin was the greatest gift of all time, and it is, but this ties for first. Chels was at a doctor's appointment, but the rest of us in Vocal Ensemble were setting up for the Renaissance Feast. My friend Jodi Nicholson said "Come with me." While beaming the entire way. She held my hand and pulled me up the stairs to the back of the choir room where a light blue pet carrier was sitting. I took a step back and gasped. I had been begging for a cat for YEARS and this was finally the moment... I looked in to see the most beautiful mess I had ever seen. Yes, mess. I didn't know what a torti was at the time, or the fact that blue torti's were so incredibly rare. But there she was! My eyes filled with tears, and I hugged all of my friends who contributed to this amazing gift. Chels got to school a few minutes later, so we did the same to her, and she was excited and nervous. Chels has this thing where she has an anxiety attack anytime we get a new pet. It lasts for about 12 hours and then she is good to go.

So I sent Chels and Valentine home to take a nap (since they weren't doing well after their doctor's appointment). I was giddy the whole rest of the day. I finally got home to my girls. We ended up hiding her in our room for 1 week, but then she slipped out of our room one day and bumped into Lynn in the hallway (way to go Val). There was no getting around our secret then... :)

Valentine ended up being the missing link to Chels and I that we never knew we had. When I look back at our time together it seems like a dream. We were always together. Whether it be laughing our heads off, eating like pigs, or napping for hours on end, it was PERFECT. Absolutely perfect. We didn't get to have our little Valentine for very long, and most days it doesn't seem like that period of time was actually real, but I am certainly grateful for it either way. Dream or not.

I hope this didn't freak anyone out too much. I just love my Chels and Val so much, and am so eternally grateful that they are mine. They are my very berry best friends. They make my dreams come true, calm me down, and just plain make me content. There is no way to describe my gift, but I hope this post did it some sort of justice. LOVE YOU HUSSIES!

So Be It...

I happened to tile my kitchen last February. Thanks to a Christmas gift of tile from my cutest mom (the year before was a brand spankin new toilet, yes I asked for it). My laundry room is joined to my kitchen, but when it came time to tile into the laundry room I didn't have anywhere to put the washer and dryer. So it was decided that we would wait a week or two and I would then tackle the laundry room.

Well, one entire year later, I decided it was about time I finish tiling. I have had a stack of tile boxes in my spare bedroom that have been calling my name everytime I walk by or go in the room. I needed Quenten's help to move the washer and dryer, so we had to do this project on a Saturday that he actually had off of work. Which happened to be this last Saturday.

We woke up and started cleaning out the landry room. Once everything was cleared out except for the washer and dryer, Quenten looked over at our water heater. It was happily sitting in an inch of water. THAT'S RIGHT! Does that seem normal to anyone else? I didn't think so. So we called Quenten's dad to get his opinion. He told us to find the location of the leak, so we did so. And it turns out that it is not good news. We have to get a new water heater. It will be installed on Wednesday.

The funny thing is (not funny "HA HA" but funny ironically) that everytime I go and choose the laminate wood flooring for our condo, and have all of the money saved up, something like this happens. And the first thing I said I was going to change when we bought the place was the flooring. Now, almost three years later, we still have the same old carpet. But we have a brand new furnace and soon-to-be water heater. Oh, and fridge and dish washer. All new. Let's hope flooring is actually the next project....

(This is not the flooring in my condo currently, just what I dream about at night. Yes, I dream about home improvements in my sleep.)

The good news is I tackled cleaning out the three closets in my house. Three garbage bags full of stuff to go to DI, and one garbage bag for the trash. I felt very productive, so it ended up to be a good day. Plus I got to see my hustband for once, which is a rarity. Thanks for helpin me my little Quentony!

Longest 2 Hours...

So this last week my stupid right side was hurting again. And some other symptoms were accompanying the problem. I have endometreosis, and had a laperoscopy back in May of 2008 to remove scar tissue. This is only a solution for 12-18 months for most people. So I hoped that I was in the miraculous boat of it lasting forever, but alas, I am not. The last two months I have been having some serious abdominal pain off and on again.

Anywho, back to my story. After 2 days of pain and trash like that, I called my friend Dr. Labrum and told him what was going on. His answer was that I needed to go to the hospital and get a blood pregnancy test to make sure I wasn't pregnant. I cried on my way to the hospital but composed myself and walked in.

The girl who drew my blood was EXTREMELY good, which I thanked her for. And she was rockin some seriously cool tatoos. Props to her on that as well. Then I asked when I could find out the answer and she said "It takes about 2 hours, so call this number and give them this id number." I went home and watched Gilmore Girls and tried to convince myself to calm down, it was only 2 hours. But man did that creep on by.

Promptly at 6pm I called the number I was given and gave this fellow on the phone the pertinant info. He then said "It's negative." And I screamed and told the guy he was now officially my favorite person of the day.

I celebrated with a bag of purple skittles.

Good Cause...

I ran across the article below and thought I would share. You all know I am nuts about animals, and I'd like to think an animal activist of sorts as well. I have had the opportunity of rescuing my cute Sushi and Kansas from a life in a shelter, and I have also fostered several kittens over the last few years as well. So, if any of you are looking for a kitty or puppy, take a look at this shelter. It doesn't mean that they are bad dogs or cats if they end up in a shelter, some of the greatest pets are taken to shelters for ridiculous reasons. And, last but not least, spay and neuter your pets people! Have you learned nothing from Bob Barker?!

ksl.com - S. Utah animal shelter faces overcrowding