Politics

I have decided I am going to make a label specifically for politics. I think I am going to have a lot to say regarding the upcoming election over the next few months.
As I was channel flipping tonight, I ran across the live Democratic debate on CNN. For the first time, I can truly say I have faith the government will change if Hilary or Obama becomes our next president. Maybe my hopes will be crushed, but at the same time, maybe they won't be. These two candidates are so passionate about politics. Does that mean they're going to tell me what I want to hear, and then let me down once they're in the White House? I certainly hope not. I feel the scrutiny from the American public would be far too harsh. Obama stated that the percentage of voters turning out for the primaries has more than doubled during the current caucuses. I feel that if they're campaign is getting people motivated to become involved, then the American public will not tolerate another ridiculous presidency like we've had to endure the past seven years. Both Hilary and Obama were so civil with each other. It was almost as powerful as when they were close to tearing each others' throats out a couple of weeks ago. Hilary made a comment that had me laughing. She said it "took one Clinton to clean up after the first Bush administration, and it's going to take another Clinton to clean up after the second."
If you haven't been following the campaigns, I strongly encourage you to start. It's a long ride ahead for all of the candidates involved, but I am optimistic the country will finally get the comfort in knowing they will have a strong leader when the ride is over.

Whoops!

My laziness is preventing me from writing about things I think are brilliant. Last night, as I was lounging on my couch, relishing in the silence after little-man was in bed, I had an epiphany of something great to write about. This morning..I got nuttin.
The next time I think of something great to write about, I am going to pick myself up, and write...cuz having nuttin isn't as much fun as having sumptin!

I was reading the comments on a friend's blog, and I absolutely love what someone said "If you think so much about where your life is going, you'll miss where it is right now. :)" I totally feel like that is my life motto right now.

Fingerprints can be forever...mwhahaha

In an attempt to pull myself out of a funky mood, I have decided to blog again...for the second time today! (hehehe) Blogging is definitly theraputic to me, especially since I don't keep a written journal at home. Most of the time, I try and put a little bit of thought into what I write. Sometimes, my thoughts are so sporadic, that I start writing without thinking....but usually I think about the topic of the day for an average of five to ten minutes before I let myself go crazy with my words.
About two weeks ago, I was having a helluva time printing out labels for some sets of dividers I was making. It took me over three hours to get these labels to print correctly, and another solid hour to make sure the divider topics were in the right order (yeah, I know it sounds like it should have been easy..but it was extremely daunting!).
Today, I was asked to make new dividers using our company tabs, instead of the original white dividers I had worked so dilligently on. I felt like I had wasted a lot of time, but I have to remind myself that it was an excellent learning experience on many levels.
I collaborated with a coworker to get the appropriate template, typed up the labels, printed them on white paper to make sure they lined up (I learned the last time that this is an important step...especially when your labels are limited), and then proceeded to print the labels out successfully (even making an extra set in case I flubbed up a label or two).
As I was sitting at my desk, happily applying my labels, I started thinking about some crazy things. The main thing that keeps popping back into my head is the fact that we leave our fingerprints just about EVERYWHERE we go. I'm going to risk sounding like a psycho conspiracy theorist, but in this day in age, leaving personalized dna-type info makes me worry, but at the same times gives me a small sense of pride. I keep having weird flashbacks of episodes of CSI I used to watch late at night. Since we aren't on this earth forever, I smile at the fact that my fingerprint will be on this label until the demise of the label itself..and for all I know, that could be tomorrow, or it could be 100 years from now...it's pretty cool stuff!

If I could turn back time...

Lets rewind:
Six years ago. I met a boy in a class at a local college and became friends with him. He's a nice guy, the friendship was completely platonic.
Five years ago. We both went to different colleges, in different states. We kept in touch randomly over the internet (gotta love aim).
Four years ago. I decided to drive to his school to visit for a fun friday night. We went to the bars, spent less than 20 dollars between to two of us, and had the best time. I'd never experienced a great time quite like that before. We walked back to his place, and jumped in every single puddle on the way home (it was a warm november night, and yes, there was snow on the ground).
Three years ago. I ran into this boy at the state fair. He was with another girl, and I was with another guy. I could tell he wanted to talk (as did I), but the entire conversation was a bit awkward. We said hi and bye and went our separate ways.
Eight months ago. I ran into another old friend from high school. She gave me the current number of this boy who I hadn't talked with since our run-in at the fair. I called him, we talked, and I told him about how much my life had changed since our fun night out. He told me about how his life had changed too. We hadn't talked in such a long time, but it felt like it was just yesterday that we were gallavanting around town, having the best time.
Last night. I received an email from him about how he is busy. He is always busy. He has been busy since the eight months ago when we started talking again. I am hurt that he is always busy. I take it personal. I know I shouldn't, but I'm such a girl and extremely sensitive when I've been putting effort into getting together with him and all I hear is "We'll get together soon, I'm really busy right now." Maybe he's just not that into me as a friend. Maybe we had our chance at a friendship, and for whatever reason, things fizzled and I won't be able to bring us back to what could have been. This shouldn't hurt so much. Our friendship seems to have always functioned disfunctionally...but it saddens me.

Snooze

I've always wanted to have at least three children. After having little-man, I know I want to have one more with my (hopefully/cross your fingers) husband, and adopt one.
The past two nights little-man has been waking up around the 3-4am hour. Sunday night, he was feeling under the weather, and last night he woke up to play. I wouldn't have been woken up last night, but he had dropped his much needed blanket and was shouting at it in hopes it would magically float back into his crib. I went into his room, gave him his blanket, told him to lay down and go night-night (to which he replied "nigh-nigh"..only your own child could make you smile at 4am).
Hopefully, when it comes time for my family to expand, it will be a lot easier to deal with a newborn the second time around, right now, the thought of doing it alone again is dauting...
...I don't even know why I am thinking about this..Lets chalk this one up to lack-of-sleep-insanity!!!!!

Get a Room!

I don't know how to phrase this in a way where I don't come off as a total prude..but at this point, I don't care.
I live above a nympho....and he's not very quiet about it. He is the type of guy who overcompensates with what he doesn't have by always making sure he's driving a brand new car. He drives me up a wall! And what ticks me off even more is the fact that he always brings home these RANDOM girls and f@#ks them....loud....at 11pm....what an ass. I say F@#K because that is the only thing you can really label it as....these girls let out these fake ass screams, and it's right below my bed.
The worst part about it is I'll see him as I'm walking to my car, and tell him to keep it down...and all the asshole does is snicker. I really can't wait until he moves out, or until I do, because the live porno soundtrack is going to drive me nuts more sooner than later. I am restraining myself from banging on the floor, but I think that would only boost his ego, and I am NOT about to do that....grrrr

Detailed Weekend

Happy Monday Morning! (I will confess, I am writing this on sunday night, but I'm going to take a risk by skipping a little ahead of myself with the monday greeting).
I am having a major case of the "oh crap! I have to go to work tomorrow and I have so much to get done and it's already after 10pm!"
If you don't already know, I am the QUEEN of procrastination. If procrastination was an olympic sport, I'd be the reigning champion of the world, and have a trophy case full of gold medals to prove it. (please excuse my horrible comedic side...I just got done watching some hilarious Dane Cook stand-up, and I feel mislead that his wit has rubbed off on me)
ANYWAYS....I have been off of work since last thursday. Yeah, i've had a really looooong weekend. I had only planned to take Friday off, but ended up coming down with a nasty case of food poisoning to which I will spare everyone the details....in a nutshell, thursday was spent sleeping and trying to recover from my abrupt illness.
Friday was a bit productive. I got my license renewed, stopped at the library, had lunch with my dad, had every intention on going to see an early movie before I had to get little man (but I messed the time up and ended up partaking in an hour and half target trip), came home and put together the new shelves and organization thingy for little-man's room, picked up little-man, ran into two of my softball teammates at chipotle totally accidentally, and then called it a night. (I don't know why I felt the need to write out my ENTIRE day, but it's done now....sorry bout dat). Saturday, I took little-man to the children's museum with my niece and my niece's mom (no, for those of you who know me and the situation with my niece's mom, your eyes are not mistaking you...we actually did go to the museum together...hell must have frozen over!). After the kids were worn out, we went on an adventure together to figure out how we were going to redecorate the kids' room at my mom's house. It was quite the excursion. The day turned out to be busy, somewhat productive, and we both survived without getting into a fight with each other and maintaining our sanity....which leads me to today...
I haven't done a darn thing all day. I've thought about doing laundry. I've thought about going outside to enjoy the lovely weather. I've thought about a lot of things...but I honestly couldn't get myself to do ANYTHING....so, an hour ago (9:30) I decided I should kick it into high gear and clean some clothes. As I sit here, waiting for a load of clothes to dry, I cannot believe this day went by so quickly. It seems like the entire month of january has flown by at 100mph.
I am actually too tired to conform my current thoughts into anything intelligent right now...I know I had a reason for being so detailed about the past few days..but right now things just aren't clicking...stay tuned for updates....

Life

Everyone knows...Heath Ledger has passed away. Toxicology reports are being run, and my mom-gut (albeit a hefty one) tells me his death was most likely accidental. As I was sitting at work yesterday, just after hearing the news, a huge wave of sadness swept over me because I started to think about his poor baby girl who will never know her father. After sleeping on these thoughts, and trying to process the entire situation, I came to some clarifying conclusions.
I will go on record saying I understand tradgedies happen like this every day. I know, as sad as it may seem, people are accidentally taking the wrong meds, too much meds, or a combination of both (young and old). When someone so public, who has had no public media controversies, and has presented himself as a quiet family man, suddenly passes, it just feels more real to me (I really don't know if the previous thought makes any sense...I know it makes sense in my head..so bare with me).
In a small nutshell...I would have been less affected if it was Brittney Spears (don't I sound shallow?!).
I also think the issues covered on the news have a lot to do with what people feel affected by. For instance, when I hear someone was murdered in murderapolis, I think "that sucks" then I shrug it off...without thinking about how their families and friends have been hurt or saddened by the loss. If the media were to tell the stories of lives affected by tradgedy, the local news across the country would have to run 24-7.
I consider myself extremely lucky for not having to go through the loss of a friend, or someone I know well that was close to me in age. I have lost all of my grandparents, and remember how much it hurt, and still hurts sometimes.
In times when we are reminded how easy it is to lose someone close to us, I ask that everyone take a moment and be thankful for the present.

"I would rather have one rose and a kind word
From a friend while I'm here
Than a whole truck load when I'm gone "

-Totally cheesey...but totally true

Warning...Venting Ahead

I will continue to say this until I am blue in the face! Why do people in minnesota act like they are orginally from hawaii whenever it snows?! Last night, my commute was slow and extremely painful...I can understand this if the conditions were horrible, but there was only a mere dusting on the roads. Yes, we need to be more cautious after snow falls, but slamming on the breaks because a snowflake is blown in front of your car is outright rediculous!
This morning, I left my house twenty minutes early for fear of the rediculous traffic...and it was a good thing! I was surrounded by extremely heavy traffic (which hasn't been this bad in a loooong time)...Then, there was the bozo in his 4x4 Chevy truck who decided to cut across an exit lane. I wish I could write this down so people could understand how idiotic this guy was...If I had superpowers he would have been toast as far as I'm concerned!
I have heard that immediately venting about stresses can actually harm your health, so this morning, I waited a good half hour before writing this (and my thoughts had not changed in that time, so I felt it was appropriate to vent)

Dirrrrty

If you don't follow politics, I would suggest watching the current democratic debates. With the writers strike in full force, the democratic debates seem to have as much drama as desperate housewives! (ok..not really as much, but holy cow were they heated tonight!!)
I am very excited to see how the primaries end up in the months to come. I am not a very political person, but I do vote because I feel it gives me the right to voice my likes and dislikes about our political leaders. After little-man came into my life, I felt an even stronger urge to become interested in politics for the sake of my family and the future for little-man. I am still, like many of my friends, completely undecided about who I am rooting for in the democratic/presidential race...but I'm totally ready to sit back, relax, and enjoy some great old fashioned debating. I think it is fantastic to see two real people standing behind the podium, instead of robotic middle aged people who are afraid to get down and dirty. I really am excited...and that's the first time I can say that about American politics in my entire life!

Google It

I recently saw this on someone else's blog...and decided to steal the idea for myself. Granted, my blog is still fairly new, so this isn't as entertaining as I thought it would be...but it still gives me a chuckle or two. The idea is to post how you recieved random hits on your blog via google. Here are the only three google hits I've had since the start of this...in no particular order:

• "messy pants" diapers
• life is a cookie and a glass of milk
• life twists and turns questions

Like I said, kind of funny, but not as lengthy as it could be in the future.
For those of you working today...Happy MLK day!...and for those of you not working today (I have nothing nice to say so I'm gonna keep it to myself!)

Weekend Recap

My predictions for a slow weekend were pretty much spot on. I have been fighting the onset of a cold, and finally gave way to it by saturday. Friday night I watched When Harry Met Sally, and then a friend brought over Benchwarmers. I probably would not have seen the second movie, but actually found myself laughing at it.
All day Saturday I spent lounging around and avoiding going outside. I took some night time cold medicine at 11:30am (so I could nap while little-man was napping) and ended up sleeping over two hours. Either the meds were super strong, or I really needed my sleep (probably a combination of the two). Saturday night was very uneventful...which was nice for a change. The weekend prior I ran around rampant which makes me appreciate slow and mellow weekends even more!
I forgot to mention my Saturday breakfast. It was scrumptious...eggs, sausage and toast. I am usually a bacon kind of gal, so the sausage was a new venture. To toot my own horn, I make an awesome breakfast...
Sunday was another lounge day. I was cold medicine free, and enjoying my time with little-man. Keeping myself low-key presented a great opportunity to spend some quality time with little-man. With life being so busy and "go go go", it is very easy to overlook how much he has changed in the past few months. He is becoming more vocal as the days go by...it's quite entertaining. He is excellent at keeping himself busy too. He has a constant need to try and push mama's buttons, but I see the look of guilt when he knows he's gone too far. I also implemented a naughty spot this weekend. I was going to use a corner, but all of my corners have outlets near them (and I know that he would mess with them just to spite me) so instead I pulled a red hand towel out of the closet and set it against a wall (outlet free). He was placed on the naughty spot a couple of times. It is funny that he actually gets what timeout actually is, but at times, he tries to "sneak out" like he thinks I won't know...I get extremely frustrated, and the second he sees his plan is foiled he scurries back to the towel as if his life depends on it (it's pretty funny, and I find myself holding back my laughter and trying to put a serious face on). He reminds me of when I was little and thought I could pull a quick one on my parents. Those were the days...sigh...
Wow, what a random tangent that was!
Back to Sunday... We wrapped up the day with more lounging...and a hearty pot roast. Also to my surprise, little-man scarfed dinner down. I didn't think he would like pot roast, carrots and potatoes, but he actually loved it! It's a good thing too because we have enough of it leftover to have pot roast for the next three days!
I hope everyone stayed warm this weekend!

TGIF

Thank GOD it's friday! I think I was extremely spoiled over the holiday season with days off. The month of January is flying by fast, but the weeks just feel so long. In order to curb my negativity, I decided to take next friday off...only four days of waking up extremely early next week..YAHOOO! I don't have much planned for this weeked because it is supposed to be very cold. I guess you could say my only plans are to stay inside, and watch a few movies. I've been wanting to watch When Harry Met Sally, and perhaps Garden State...we'll see how that goes. If anyone wants to join in, feel free! :) I've also found that when you don't have plans for the weekend, crazy things end up coming up...so maybe I'll have some fun adventures to write about on monday...only time will tell!

Hello

When is the last time you said "Hi" to a stranger while walking down the hall? As I was returning from my daily walk, I decided I was going to smile and say hi to people as I walked towards my office. Not in a creepy way, but in a "I hope you're having a great day even though I don't know you" kind of way. I only passed two people. One said Hi, and was very kind. The other said Hi, but was very taken aback.
Remember back to when you were in high school and you would say hi to EVERYONE when you were passing between classes? Freshman year of college was fairly friendly too. Somewhere along the lines, people stopped saying hi, stopped being friendly and started averting eye contact. How and why does this happen? Saying a friendly hello is completely harmless, and actually gives you a nice feeling inside.
I challenge you to say hi to complete strangers....not just a smile and nod, but an actual "hi" or "hello". It gave me a great feeling today, and maybe it will do the same for you :)

Bitter Sweet

As I was making the morning coffee, this brilliant thought came into my head. Why do ground coffee beans smell so good before you brew them, and produce a super bitter tasting beverage? Have you ever noticed that? I think there are many things in life that seem sweet beforehand, and produce a bitter tasting result. Sometimes this happens when cooking, sometimes this happens at work and sometimes it happens in the personal choices we make regarding our everyday lives.
I don't quite know where I am going with all of this yet...but I am sure it will brew into something good (no pun intended).

=========

This morning, as I was deep in thought, I totally rolled an ankle and biffed it...in front of two "important people" visiting from our corporate offices. How embarrassing! (and in case you're worried, I wasn't physically hurt; just emotionally damaged!)

New Leaf

Sleep outweighs doing laundry by a long shot. As you can guess, I did not complete any laundry...my mission is a disaster, but I am alright with that. I feel I have turned over a new leaf in terms of my weekly evening activities. Up until this week, I had lived a sedimentary lifestyle on my couch. This week, there has not been a single night that I have plopped down and turned into a television zombie! I may not be getting laundry done, but I am doing more rewarding things, like reading, and going to sleep at an extremely reasonable time (9pm if you must know!). I can see this developing into a healthy habbit that I want to keep up.
With the implementation of my new "walk during lunch" program, and soon to be start of "light weights on the exercise ball" at home, I am foreseeing 2008 becoming a year of fitness for me. Up until last night, my exercise ball had been deflated in a box in my linen closet for over a year. I had every intention of starting my light weights on the ball last night, but instead spent a half hour pumping the ball up. It was a great workout. The pump couldn't have been smaller, but I am very proud of my big green ball, and will hopefully get many great exercises out of it!

Random Gabbing

Mission Get My Laundry Done has failed already. I was on little sleep, had a super busy day at work, and was verbally abused by little-man right up until he was in his bed. On a normal day, I would park myself on the couch and have some quiet tv time so my brain could unwind. I was not as forgiving with myself last night. Instead of turning the television on, I decided to continue my quest for successful dating by browsing through some more online ads (sorry, but that's how I roll these days). After deciding I had had enough, I cracked open a new book, and was soundly sleeping by the wee hours of 9:15.
Although my mission has already failed, and I told myself I wasn't going to make excuses, I am very happy with how I ended a rather chaotic day. Hopefully the rest of the week will fall into place as nicely as last night :)

++++++++++

I can't tell you how excited I am for the days becoming longer. I don't know about you, but the last month has been a bit dreary (which makes me wonder if the holidays were invented to keep our minds off of the fact that we had so few hours of daylight...yes, I know this is a stupid thought...forgive me!). Last night, as I was driving to get little-man, I actually was able to see the sunset. This morning, as I sit and type, the sun has almost risen before my 8am work day has begun. Before long, I will see the sun more. Before long, it will be my second favorite season..and before long, it will be hotter than a dog in the good ol' state-o-minnesota. Instead of stopping and smelling the roses, I am going to take some time today to stop and smell the snow (haha, that was a lame line! I love it when I laugh at myself this early!!). Hope everyone has a great day!

Excuses and Muses

I don't really know who I am. Yes, maybe I am contradicting myself...but I was thinking about some things last night, and came to the conclusion that I don't really know all of me. There are a few things I know, like how I love to hang out with my friends, I love being a mom, I love singing at the top of my lungs when I'm driving by myself (or when I am driving in general). I know I want to get married and have more children. I know I want to stay at my current company for many years. I know I want to be in a house by the time little-man is in kindergarten. I know I like to talk about anything and everything. Do these things make up who I am? For some reason, I don't feel complete.
Now onto the things I am trying to figure out. For some reason, ever since I was little, I have been more of a follower than a leader in most situations. When I am with a close group of friends, I have no issues stating my opinion. But lately, when hanging around new people, I have discovered that I think and conform to what others are saying and doing. I know I want to be more assertive, but I need to figure out how to make this happen. If you were to ask me my favorite color, I can't even respond (because I can't chose a favorite...I feel like all of the colors are good in their own respects). Sometimes, I worry that if I take responsibility for a situation and it flops, than I will be the one who has to take the blame. Most of the time, I think about how I should have done or said something better, to make myself more understood by others. How can I change my thought process so I can make quick decisions about things in the moment, instead of after the moment has completely passed. I think these issues are part in due to a lack of self esteem, and the need to want to fit in...but right now, I think that's a lame excuse. Another lame excuse as to why I don't like making initial decisions is I tend to change my mind a lot after further thinking. I feel like if people know how often I change my mind, than they will take me less seriously. Often times, I want to conform to others because I am a total and complete people pleaser. I feel when I conform to others' thoughts and opinions (as long as they are not whacky or completely out there...) than I will make them feel better about themselves. This is a weird trait to have, but I feel happy when others are happy, and this is a habbit I have formed. Meh...I'm just being stupid right now...but I really do want to begin an internal quest to find out more about who I am and who I want to be...
Last night, thoughts were racing through my head at a million miles a minute. This morning is no different. While I was cleaning I kept thinking of great ways to put my thoughts down in words...and of course I didn't pull myself away from the mass of laundry to do so. My brilliant way of wording my thoughts was lost..and this was the best I could do to come up with just a fractions of the chaos going on inside my head.

*****

I forgot to mention, I purchased the new Santana Cd. I love it! If you want a mix of up-beat and mellow tunes that you feel the constant urge to snap your fingers, bop your head, or mouth the words to...than this album is for you! The cd itself has 18 tracks, so you definitly get your money's worth, even if they aren't 18 new tracks...they're all classics! The music definitly made it more enjoyable for me to clean last night, and you know you're going to have a great day when you wake up to some great music :)

Urge to Purge Part Duece

Aside from spending some time at the local bullseye, I was fairly busy this weekend. Friday night was definitly a lazy one. The week was exhausting and all I felt like doing was laying low...At about 9:30 I was trying to decide whether to go to sleep or start some laundry...which is pretty pathetic for a Friday night! I ended up doing laundry and then proceeded to talk on the phone until the wee hours of the morning.
Saturday was also very low key mostly due to lack of sleep from gabbing all night long. I took care of little-man, and that was about all I had energy for during the day. I took a nice and long nap, and then went out that night. It was a lot of fun to go out to the bars, and in a way made me feel like my single parent "burdens" were lifted just for a moment. Nights like that are refreshing, but I also was very happy to come home to my smiling little monster.
It took me a while to get going on Sunday. I ran to the bullseye (which you can read about in the previous post) and also picked up a couple of rolls of quarters so I could continue "mission get my laundry squared away". When I got home little-man and I took a nap, and it was everything I needed and then some! I was only planning on sleeping for a half hour so I could start on my missions I had wanted to accomplish before the weekend was up. Instead, I ended up sleeping for about three hours, and so did little-man (I guess we were both pooped!). When we woke up I decided it was high time to take out the two bags of trash that had miraculously accumulated and to start "Mission Laundry." I don't know if I am the only person who has this issue...but I always seem to have about 12 loads of laundry to do! It drives me NUTS! It is so time consuming, and never ending. I feel like most of the clothes are mine, which is ironic in itself because I don't feel like I have a TON of clothes, but I honestly never fail to have piles of clothes to wash. Today I accomplished six loads, which brings my weekend total to 10 loads (with at least five more to go...). I am going to make a public to do list for the next few days to see if that makes myself more accountable for my daily chores. I don't feel like I've been extremely lazy lately, but I know I have been slacking with my daily mom-cleaning-duties.
The next three days I will:
Monday- Put away laundry from the weekend. Purge my drawers and closet of clothes I have no intention on wearing. Do 2 new loads of laundry, and put away. Unload and load the dishwasher. Pick up toys at night.
Tuesday- Do 2 loads of laundry. Put away any clothes that were drying from the night before. Pick up my bedroom. Pick up toys at night.
Wednesday- Do 2 loads of laundry. Put away any clothes from the night before. Do a run through of the kitchen. Pick up toys.
...Seriously! Am I five?! Why do I have issues doing everyday simple tasks? I am done making excuses up for myself. It's time for me to start a new chapter in my life, and I'm determined to have this chapter be clean, less stressful, and more productive! It feels so good to have a clean house too!
My thoughts are too scattered and random to wrap this post up with any sort of intelligence. I wish I could write all of the words down to clean out my head...but I don't think it's gonna happen tonight! I hope everybody had a fabuloso weekend!

Urge to Purge

Do you ever have one of those days where you just feel like spending money? Those kind of days happen to me all to often. Today I fulfilled my urge to purge dollars by walking around the red bullseye for about an hour. I couldn't decide what I wanted to buy, nor did I really NEED anything at home. (I had made a pretty large bullseye trip the weekend before, and probably didn't need to be shopping there for a long time...i just couldn't resist the urge!)
I wound up with new towels for my bathroom, and a new book that I'm very excited to read. My prized possession from this shopping trip was a new clock radio alarm clock. Lately, I have been having issues with my alarm not going off in the morning (I had been using my cell phone alarm because it didn't wake little-man up). It's not that there was really anything wrong with my old alarm clock...but all it had was a radio, and I was really wanting to have one that played cd's. I consider this purchase a total upgrade!!
As I'm wrapping this post up I am coming to the realization that this is super boring to most, and completely unimaginative....sorry, but I guess that's my life for right now!

Word of the Day

Fabuloso!
Last night I survived my first professional work holiday party! We ventured to downtown Mpls around 3, and had cocktails and food to start the evening out. We then traveled a block down to a gaming hotspot, where we were all able to shred our professional garb, and enjoy in some crazy-fun video games. I am not a HUGE gamer by any means, and I would rarely (if ever) go downtown just to play around, so it was great that the company was footing the bill!!
I am proud to say I beat my co-workers in a game of car racing! We also enjoyed some skeet-ball, air hockey, Deal or No Deal, and arctic snowmobile races. (the free drinks weren't a bad addition either!)
I am beginning to think I am not as young as I used to be. First off, I couldn't think of a solid drink to stick with last night. I was all across the board with my selections. First a vodka collins, then a vodka tonic, then a blue moon and I wrapped the night up with a sex on the beach (when I write it all down it sounds like a lot..but we were downtown for seven hours, so it's not as much as it seems). I think my indecision is from my lack of a nightlife since little-man (which isn't a bad thing, just something to take note of). As the night wrapped up (for me) I came down with a pretty massive headache. I think I was getting hungover or something, which was very weird to experience the night OF drinking.
I found out that a group of my co-workers were out at a piano bar until midnight. It would have been nice to join them, but my piilow was calling my name...and I rarely ignore my pillow's requests! ;) The entire night was fabuloso!

Leap of Faith

Dating is a world I am not familiar with. I have only been on two dates since little-man came into my life...both with different guys...and both leading to nowhere (fast). I have had many conversations with friends about wanting to get back into the dating scene, and have also had many brainstorming sessions about how I was going to accomplish this. Well, consider it accomplished.
I can't remember if I've written about this already, and if I have than just skip to the bottom. About two weeks ago, I was paroozing a dating website to see what was "out there" when I stumbled across a guy that I knew. I thought it would be funny to sign up so I could give him a hard time, and also to say hi. In the meantime, I messaged a random guy who caught my eye and we started talking.
A couple of days later I received an email from a different dating website where I had a profile posted, but had not signed up (yes, I am that pathetic that I was using two different dating websites...but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do!!). The email entailed a list of possible matches, and the random guy from Y.P was included (which i thought was funny since I wasn't the only person using multiple dating websites..hehe)
We finally talked on the phone, found out we had extremely random things in common, and decided to meet for dinner. I was nervous as all get-up, but it turned out to be a great evening.
I can proudly say that I am back in the dating world!

W.E.D.N.E.S.D.A.Y.

Here's to my un-originality...hahaha

Wacky
Enthusiastic
Dating
Nickelback's lead singer and Santana's new song collaboration is my FAVORITE
Entertaining
Smashing
Delectable
Awesome
Yippy!

Gracias

Yesterday, as I was walking to my car, I started to think about what I should write about...then my internal lightbulb went off. Often times, we only write about how much we appreciate things in life after something horrible happens (e.g. a death in the family, a world event like the tsunami, 911 or the 35W bridge collapse). Today, I have decided to write down my thoughts of appreciation for the people in my life.
I am not a super religious person, but I feel extremely blessed to have my friends so close, and my family even closer. They are my rock, and I need to do a better job of letting them know how good the are to me, and for me.
I would not trade my friends for anything. They are a solid, stand-up, morally sound group of people who all have their heads on straight. They are responsible, respectable, and great role models. I can truly say, from the bottom of my heart, I look up to each and every one of them with the highest respects.
My family has been so supportive of me over the years. When I was little, my parents would always cart me around to different sports practices without even flinching. Since I became a parent myself, I have grown to realize all of the sacrifices my parents made for me and my brother. They are the best parents a girl could ask for. Yes, we but-heads sometimes, but those conflicts are what keep me grounded. I am also greatful for their presence in little-man's life. He may not have an active father in his life, but my parents make up for that void and then some.
I am sitting at my desk trying to find all of the right words in order do justice to the importance these people have played in who I am today. I have given it my best shot, but words cannot encompass the gratitude I have for you..I find myself getting a bit emotional. I am so lucky and extremely blessed...Thank you!

Question

Food for thought:

Why are new rolls of toilet paper so fricken difficult to open? (ESPECIALLY the cheap toilet paper found in public restrooms...) The last thing I want to do is spend five minutes trying to pull apart the roll of toilet paper!

Date Night

Mama's goin on a date!
Without getting into too many boring details, I am going on date this week! How exciting :) I am actually a little nervous because it has been a very looooong time since I've gone on a formal date. My girlie nerves are starting to kick in (what should I wear, am I going to say something stupid, etc.)
I'm sure all will go well...and maybe I'll even get a funny or entertaining story out of the evening! I'll keep ya posted...

*****

On an extremely random tangent, I am going to admit my xmas tree is still up. I stand by this "so called act of laziness" with pride. The other day, on the radio, I heard it was considered a bad omen to take your tree down before the sixth of January....so I suppose the tree will come down sometime this week, but by golly I am determined to have a good 2008..and if keeping my tree up past today is the secret than I should be good to go!

I.AM.GENIUS

I have been receiving daily emails from WCCO entailing a "watercooler" subject (which is just a random news story that is work appropriate to talk about) and also about the "Good Question" they are covering on the 10pm news. Today, the Good Question is one that I actually submitted. If you look back to my post from November 29 you will see that I was ranting about not getting a response to why songs get stuck in your head.....Well I'll be darned...Today, the good question is "Why do songs get stuck in our heads?" I should get royalties from this story! It was all my idea...ALL MINE ;)

Oh $hit!

I thought about posting last night...but I was trying to go to sleep by 9, so I put my thoughts off until today.
I read an article this morning about the Iowa Caucus, and I still don't understand what or how the thing works...or why it is the determining factor leading to the whitehouse?
I don't know about you, but an evangelical baptist minister being a front runner scares me to death! Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that where our country went wrong with Baby Bush? I know Huckabee has Chuck Norris on his side...but he also states that Jesus is the reason why he'll be elected (Oh Crap!). Another fact that disappoints and frustrates me is feeling like the MN vote doesn't count for president. MN has repeatedly been a blue state, but in the past two presidential elections that hasn't mattered. PLEASE AMERICA, I AM BEGGING YOU...DO NOT VOTE ANOTHER EXTREMELY RELIGIOUS FIGURE INTO THE OVAL OFFICE!
In terms of the O'bama/Clinton race, I am completely torn. I really don't know enough about the candidates policies, even after watching a couple of debates on CNN. Hopefully, these confusing caucuses will sort out the right person for the job...hopeully, our country will finally get a good and strong leader...Hopefully

Mini Reflection

I want to take a moment and reflect on 2007 (in no particular order...)

In 2007 I...
~worked in a horrible environment, only to leave with much discord, have a few rough months off in the summer, and land a GREAT job that I continue to love.
~celebrated little-man's first birthday.
~sprained my ankle playing softball.
~went on my first train ride.
~began my blog.
~let myself sign up for a credit card (which is the first credit card i've allowed myself to have in a loooooooong time...).
~took little-man on his first play-date.
~introduced little-man to the big swimming pool.
~tried Indian food for the first time.

(I know more happened in 2007...but those are the main highlights of the year...If I think of more, I will try to update the list)

Update

Resolution update:
This year is not starting out as hoped! (I'm going to talk myself into believing that it will only get better from here...)
I had my clothes put out, the living room cleared, the workout dvd cued, the correct time I wanted to wake up was set on my alarm, little-man's clothes and a diaper picked out...and this was all at 9:00pm on 1/1/08.
The next morning I arose to daylight....oh shit! I had forgotten to turn my alarm ON!
As far as I am concerned....2008 will start tomorrow, because the first two days cannot count...they have not gone as planned!

In the year 2000...and eight

Looking back at years past, I have come to the realization that I have never truly committed to a new years resolution. I have been asked what I was going to choose as my resolution, and I would always "say" I was going to stop swearing or some other well-sounding good intention that I had no desire to commit to. This year is going to be a little different.
I actually started thinking where this whole idea of trying to set a goal that most people end up not achieving came from...and found this fine article. I am going to put myself out on a limb, and decide to make 2008 a bit better than 2007 by committing to a solid, hopefully positive, resolution. Instead of making a huge goal to last the entire year I am going to start small and work my way up.
The first thing I am going to publicly admit to is working out every morning that I have to work. This is going to entail getting to bed at a very decent time, waking up early and exercising to a 20 minute tape. Hopefully, it will help me shift my way of life to one that is more healthy and energetic. My goal is to not miss a work day from now until early February. Hopefully by the time I reach my goal I will have made this resolution an awesome habit!
I am also going to commit to being a better mom. I am nervous about what trials and tribulations having a 2yo is going to bring in 08..and after sleeping next to little-man last night I am scared I won't have the patience to handle his toddler brain without having many "mom melt-downs." (we were ringing in the new year at a friends house, and decided to spend the night instead of gambling with drunks on the road)
I will keep myself honest with these resolutions..and most likely will be blogging about my struggles and successes...WISH ME LUCK...I think I'm gonna need it!
I hope y'all have a great 2008 :o)