12.30.2005

resolutions...


this was a page done about my resolutions last year. total scraplift from the designing with calendar! was trying to go thru and see what i did accomplish and what i didn't.

  • get organized: working on it. so i'll give that a yes!
  • spend more quality time with nick: i'm thinking this is a yes too. we've gone downtown for just us dates, watch more movies together after work, gone out to dinner just to talk. i think we have finally settled into a routine and that totally helps.
  • visit with friends and family more: yes but still room for improvement there!
  • start exercising: got this in under the wire!
  • make and use a budget: next topic please... :P
  • eat healthier: not so much. definitely need to work on this.
  • be true to myself. i think so. i spoke my mind and didn't waiver because someone else said i should.
  • keep my resolutions: more yays than nays. always a good thing.

i think 2005 was the first year in maybe forever that i've kept some of my resolutions. maybe i should do another for 2006 and see how that goes...

12.27.2005

our 5th week...

with the trainer. it should be six but we missed that week due to our crazy carnival vacation! i can't believe i'm still motivated. maybe it's the fact that i'm paying some guy $50/week whether i go or don't go. who ever said money wasn't a motivator?! i'm glad we are doing the whole excercise thing. i totally feel better about myself. mainly healthier, eventhough i haven't lost any weight. in fact, that pesky pound has been around for quite sometime!

took tomorrow off. need a day to recouperate from the holidays. totally kicked me in the bootay! also have to get some stuff done about the reimbursement for our luggage mishap.

so in the mood to organize and rearrange. i guess that is a good thing since our furniture should arrive within the next 4-6 weeks. they are sorta tiptoe-ing around the date due to the holidays. no worries. gives me more time. and in the spirit of organizing and updating, i'm going to try to upload more layouts to my free blogger gallery. :) two peas is great, but i also feel like i need to have comments posted. here kinda feels like my own little area. i know it's on the internet but i'm weird okay! and if i get brave enough can share this site and the gallery with more family and friends...easy access!

12.26.2005

holiday fun.


love, love, love this picture that nick's cousin crystale took of us. it's amazing! might have to be the holiday card next year. and i couldn't believe that i got more compliments on our photo card this year that my hand made ones. so i vow to never make another christmas card. well, except for a certain few who i know will appreciate it.

this is my favorite spontaneous picture of nick and myself. his little cousin, megan, got a digital camera for christmas and was enjoying playing with it. she did a pretty darn good job too.


my one hand is strategically placed over my cleavage. i didn't think of it when she took the first picture and it was pretty racy! totally love the fact that his family members all take digital photos and that i went home with a cd copy last night and received some more via email this morning! loves it.

the past few days were so darn hectic. scratch that. the last few weeks. today was the first day of down time. nick and i didn't leave the house. well, he did. just to take the garbage out tho!

christmas eve was great. my mom hosted as usual. and the regulars attended. tina even came at the last minute. it was very weird to not have bob around. i can't believe it has been 7 months. i'm so amazed at her strength. spent the night laughing and enjoying everyone's company. santa was good to us!

christmas day was crazy! started at nick's dad's in the morning to exchange gifts. came home and had to get ready for his aunt's. we totally ditched my aunt. bummer. but what can you do? immediate family wins and we hadn't been with his mom yet. watched the bears win! woohoo! and was it hilarious with nick's uncle, a giant bear fan! after celebrating with the entire family we headed to his mom's. so we could exchange gifts with just her. we already gave her a kitty, so we kinda just watched and received!

all in all, good times. got some super fun pictures and can't wait to start scrapping again...and maybe even use some of my new christmas paper! ;) and in case you were wondering, nick and i didn't exchange gifts again. we both got early gifts. him = xbox 360. her = i pod nano. he would love to add to that list but we will just leave it at that!

12.23.2005

janet jackson...

is my mail lady.... totally made me smile when i visited the mailbox today! also made me realize that i'm a twit. totally forgot to get her a little gift. i know they don't need a gift. but she does bring lots of packages to my door step every month. so i like to not be a total scrooge. must think something up quick. or can i wait and regift....hmmm. decisions, decisions! ;)

12.19.2005

a recap!

it's gonna be a long one! gonna recap day by day...

saturday. we woke up pretty early because we ran out of time on friday for packing...thanks to that lovely flat tire! we got everything done and ready and just had to wait for jason's mom to come pick us up. christy had to work and was running a wee bit late so this was gonna save us some time. mrs. cooper was nice enough to drive the four of us to ohare. not an easy feat. then it started to snow. we were hoping it would hold off until we left but with that didn't happen. our plane was delayed by more than an hour and they had to de-ice the wings twice. scared the crap out of me. i am so not a fan of flying but better safe than sorry. we finally took off, had a decent flight, and a kick arse landing when we made it to miami. that guy was amazing. we had to wait around and catch a shuttle to our hotel. got to the hotel and asked the check in guy about the shuttle service for the following day to the port. he spoke no english. couldn't answer our questions and was of no help. so we went to bennigans and drank. gotta pass the time somehow, right?

sunday. wake up late and miss the continental breakfast. bummer. call the front desk to ask for an extension on our check out time and to clarify the shuttle issues that were not resolved the night before. again, no english speaking workers. so frustrating. head to the front desk to see if we can better explain ourselves in person. no such luck. when asking about what time the shuttle left and what exactly we needed to do, the only answer we got was 'noon maybe.' what in sam's hill is that? so we waited, and waited. two shuttles and a few hours later we are still at the hotel. we decided to take a cab instead. finally made it to the port and got all of our luggage in order. then a porter comes up to us and asks for a tip before he takes our bags. he had to move them maybe two feet. seriously. then he had the balls to ask for another dollar. he said we had to tip one dollar a bag. we were sick and tired of everything so just handed the guy an extra dollar. however, when we were walking away we noticed that a lot of the luggage had victory tags. we were on the valor. so we walked back and asked the porter if this was the proper drop off area for the valor. he said yes told us we should have our luggage around 5pm and went back to work. we were still unsure. so jason went back yet again to double check. again, the guy said we were fine. off to the check in line. seriously, we had to spend at least 1/4 of our vacation in lines! two hours later we finally made it to the boat. it was amazing. i'm not really sure if i knew what to expect. but holy cow is it cool. we walked around checked out the decks. snapped some pictures and decided to find our rooms. we got to our room and no luggage. okay, fine. maybe we were one of the later flats to make it aboard the ship. rooms were interesting. small, not really sure what i was expecting tho! the balcony was cool. awesome to just sit there and watch nothing and hear the ocean. totally did not freak me out as expected. jason and christy's room reeked of smoke. horrible since all rooms are considered non smoking. they had a heck of a time getting that taken care of! we headed to the dining hall for dinner. that was fun. being adventurous. trying new foods. because if you didn't like it you could order something else...for free! our wait staff was nice and efficient. eric and alina. everyone on the boat was from a foreign country. they all had their origins on their name tags. i kid you not, not once did i see one with a united states under their name. so after dinner we went back to the room. where we had lovely messages waiting for us on our phones. christy called the pursar's office while nick and i just went there. come to find out they placed our luggage on the victory. and we wouldn't be able to recieve it until we went back to port the following sunday. i was livid. i couldn't stand there and hear their excuses i left. went to the room and was almost physically sick. our thought out vacation was ruined. yes, one week without our stuff. no underwear, no bathing suits, no shoes, no socks. no nothing. but carnival said that they would comp. us $175/person. that's crap. their stuff is overpriced and i so don't want to be a walking advertisement. but what else could we do. but their stores were closed for the evening so that was not an option at the moment. what does carnival give us? a crappy carnival tshirt that says we sailed with rusty wallace on 12/4/05. great a left over shirt and a crappy bag with deodorant and mouthwash that smells the same. all i have to say is thank goodness i keep our medicines in my carry on and kept them with me. i would have been uber mad with no birth control! jason called his mom who got in contact with our travel agent. hoping she could help us some more....

monday.
wake up mad, angry, upset, sad, devastated. argue with husband because he is mad that i'm in a bad mood. told me to get over it. there was nothing we could do. well, you know what. let me wallow for a bit. it is what i do. how i cope. deal with it. be supportive. grr. so we go shopping in their stupid stores. get some sweatshorts, a tank top, a shirt, suntan lotion, cameras, and nick gets swimsuits, boxers, and a few shirts. since we couldn't hang out and suntan nor do any activity that would get our clothes super stinky we went to lunch in the dining halls and sat around and played some games that i had in the carry on. pass the pigs was a blessing this past week! went to the formal shop to get our it's free because it's ugly formal wear. the boys looked fine. i mean a tux, is a tux. but they were upset that it was cumberbunds! christy and i had these awful black, velvet, long skirts and horrible gold sequined/lame sleeveless shirts. hideous! i tried to get the matching black top but i truly looked like i was wearing a garbage bag so we were going to be twinkies...groan. got dressed in our formal wear. i couldn't bring myself to wear the top. i put on a tank i had bought in their shop. if someone had a problem with it tough. bring it on. we only went for the prime rib. found out thru their $0.75/minute internet cafe that we were s.o.l. our hands were tied. nancy, our travel agent, was contacting corporate and was going to do her best...afterwards we just crashed. we had an early morning debarkation in hopes of finding our necessities for our excursions.


tuesday. get up at the butt crack of dawn to catch the early tender boat to grand cayman. once ashore, we find out that nothing is open. but we did find out that their was a sporting store we could walk to. so off we went. they opened a wee bit early for us since they saw us standing outside and were extremely helpful and nice. i'm sure they made a fortune off of us. we were able to find shoes and socks. so that was a relief. we still needed the other necessity...girl's bathing suits. shopping for suits is no fun. it because even less fun under pressure. thankfully, we came across a store that had semi decent suits! they had really cool reggae christmas music on the stereo. the lady lied to me and sold me the wrong cd. argh. oh well, it's still decent. after the whirlwind shopping spree we had to haul ass back to the dock to meet our guide for the excursion. we were going to swim with the sting rays. it was pretty freakin neat. our guide warned us that they would be like cats and just swim right up to us and rub our legs if they wanted to be petted. i'm not sure i believed him, but he wasn't kidding. it was unbelievable. and they felt like a weird, wet mushroom. very cool. don't have the good pictures from christy's underwater digital camera yet. when i do i promise to share! after the excursion we walked around for a while longer seeing if we could find any other odds and ends we might need. they we went to wait in the line for the tender boat. it was some line. down the street and around the corner. lucky for us it was near the rum factory and we got us some yummy rum cakes. since we really hadn't eaten, we were just a tiny bit buzzed by the time it was our turn for the boat ride. and can you say YUM! had a relaxing evening. saw the comedy show. absolutely hilarious. went back for the midnight R rated one too. he was that good. percy crews II i was having some problems with dizziness so i turned in early.


wednesday.
roatan honduras. had a really cool docking procedure. no ferrying back and forth. gotta like that. but the island itself was sad. such a poor country. went zip cording. wow, did i just make up a word or what? you can see the description here. was fun as heck. i thought it would scare the bejesus out of me. not so much. and funnily enough, the guide made me go first. yes, me. the giant chicken. it was so fun tho. zipping thru the jungle. listening to the wild animals. awesome. our second favorite excursion. jay and chris did the dolphin encounter. they loved it. reaffirmed christy's desire to train them and not just be a vet! after the excursions we met up on the boat later. nick wanted to go gambling, so we did. both nick and myself lost $20. jas and christy found some crazy sheep slot thingie and were trying their luck there. chris ended up winning $34 in nickels. had to restock the machine before she was done receiving her winnings! then we had some dinner. after dinner we went to catch another show. it was a stinker. some stupid, sucky magician who reminded us of chris kattan and a lousy comedian. horrible. both christy and myself fell asleep!

thursday. belize. amazing. such a beautiful place. we went cave tubing. it was a blast. took a tour bus for quite some time to get to the location but were filled in on some belize facts. pretty interesting. once we got to the tubing site, we had to get our gear and start hiking. we ran into a local with a tarantula the size of his hand. gross. i have pictures tho! then off we went hiking about 45 minutes into the rainforest. gorgeous views! finally got to the river entrance and had to acquaint ourselves with the water. it was muy frio! super duper cold! our guides were really into safety and were always shouting to one another in creole to update one another on the situations. we had sexy headlights to wear and everything. yes, i do have pictures of that! the caves were soo cool. the bats were bit frightening. the darkness was freaky as hell when everyone turned off their headlights. totally suggest giving this a whirl if you are ever in belize! we all got loaded back onto the buses and has some authentic belizen cuisine. yum-o! so good. our guide then told us that we passed an extrememly dangerous snake on the entrance to the cave. he said the locals call them 3 step snakes. step 1: you are bitten. step 2: you say a prayer. step 3: you're dead. egads. i just went down a river that had a very, very, very, very, very deadly snake in it? seriously made me wonder what was under me. then i decided i truly didn't want to know! jas and chris did the turneffe atoll dive. they said maui was better. i was truly glad we didn't do it. after dinner we watched red eye in their room. pretty good flick!

friday. costa maya. supposed to be cozumel but a hurricane did some serious damage. wilma, i believe, sat over cozumel for 36 hours with winds of 144 mph. totally damaged carnival's pier. they are only allowing four boats a week to dock there. sad. i hope they get it fixed soon! we biked and kayaked. our happy family of four reunited again! pretty neat. not sure if i would bike again in 80 degree weather with 97% humidity. the kayak part was fun. i love kayaking. i know, physically inactive shannon admitting to liking exercise. gasp! yes, have some fun pictures from that...but this whole typing this is taking a wee bit longer than expected. so maybe pictures tomorrow. we will see. friday was also the last formal night of the trip. we missed it. bummer. decided we couldn't bear to wear our it's free because it's ugly outfits again. spent some time on the upper deck enjoying the quiet playing pass the pigs! we did head down to see their main show. with their dancers. had some time to spare before it started so we played stinky bingo. {you had to get all the b's and all the o's} the jackpot was $750 but it was one game and you paid $20/3 cards. and i'll be darned. nick won. he had to split the pot three ways but hey, he still won! back to the show, it was horrible. maybe it was because i did dance all throughout high school that i'm used to watching and judging/critic-ing. it was bad. i know dancing on a wobbly boat can't be easy but it was bad. only a few good parts. it was a tribute to the 1980's..the janet jackson rhythm nation dance rocked and so did their break dancers. they were phenomenal. so how can someone spin upside down on their head when you can't even finish a turn? okay, catty shan aside. it was bad!


saturday.
fun day at sea number 2! and we actually had swim wear. i was determined to get some sun! and i succeeded. it was so relaxing. just laying on one of the upper decks, listening to the ocean, reading. awesome. took some naps and just vegged out. definitely needed that! turned in early after dinner since we had an early debarkation time to reclaim the luggage...

sunday. back to port. what a joke. we were told to meet in the lounge at 8:30, so we could leave early and beat the luggage rush. well, we stayed there until around 9 and then were let off. actually, lead in a giant line that snaked thru the darn boat. finally got off the boat and waited in more lines. over 2 hours worth. it was a total fiasco. apparently 5 cruise ships had docked that day. customs, immigration, and the port authority were used to dealing with 3 ships. so about 9,000 people. NOT 15,000 people. pure silliness. i felt terrible for those who had early flights. we were actually thankful that ours wasn't until 7:25! got out of the port by around 11ish and waited on a bus to drive us to the airport. since all these ships docked. the airports were also not used to dealing with the high traffic. so you guessed it.. more lines. got to our terminal about 4 and a half hours before our flight. something was up with the flight to costa rica and they kept paging butterworth and cadburry. cracked us up every time. apparently the syrup and the egg have some sort of steamy affair going on. we don't really know but it helped pass the time! so with all the hubaloo. the flight was changed to a different gate but no one mentioned that. so we had to hustle on down to the new gate and wait for a few moments before boarding. the flight was good. drove around chicago over lake michigan. saw awesome skyline and the bears game from 34,000 feet! super clear night. rough landing. had a couple of hops, skips, and jumps. not cool to walk out to zero degree temperatures after claiming our luggage. yes, it made it home! christy's dad was nice enough to pick us up and drive us home. had to call my mom immediately and fill her in on the details. i couldn't bear to tell her that our luggage was lost initially. although, it took so much for me not to call her. she would have worried and cried and been miserable the entire time. i so did not want her to worry. so we chatted until after midnight. it was good. hadn't talked in over a week. missed that.

today. slept in. caught up on mail, emails, bills, miscellaneous errands. made some smores bars for my cookie exchange. watched green bay get their behinds handed to them until i couldn't bear it any longer. did some christmas cards. still have to put everything away. hopefully, that won't take too long! i promise the pictures will arrive soon. i know everyone wants to see them! so thanks for asking and hopefully tomorrow!!

make it a double...


our vacation, ah...i honestly am at a loss of words to describe it! seriously. that never happens. i was talking to my mom last night and i couldn't express myself how i wanted...so frustrating and she said she knew it was bad if I was at a loss for words!

what i can express. right now, i hate miami and carnival. the two of them made for a terrible experience. miami was so not prepared to handle so many cruisers at one time and carnival just has stinky p.r.

so for those of you who don't know what happened... carnival put our luggage on the wrong effing boat. one that went to the eastern carribean while ours was going to western carribean. bad logistics. no way for us to get our luggage back until we docked at miami the following sunday. grrr. well, carnival won't take the blame. they state that they contract out the porters from the port of miami so they should be responsible. i'm sorry but if you contracted them, then they are under you. and the $175/person monetary compensation is crap. especially with your over priced novelty items on the boat. you lost my luggage. i really don't want to buy your clothing and advertise for you. and i most certainly don't want to think about cruising with you again, even if it is for 15% off next time. how about we worry about this time and get this straightened out first before you assume anything abot us returning.

so now the battle begins to get reimbursed for everything we had to buy on grand cayman. the bathing suits, the tennis shoes, the underwear, the shorts, the t-shirts, the socks, the deodorant, the sunscreen, the cameras. yes all $800 worth. and we want more than just being reimbursed. we should get something for our stress and inconvience....

alright. rant over {for now!} i have to bake my christmas exchange cookies but plan to do a longer, more detailed post with pictures sometime this evening. stay tuned! ;)

12.10.2005

ready, set, go!

yippee! everything is done. i think! i'm sure we will forget something but we have made our list and checked it a bagillion times! supposed to get 'snow showers' tonight. hope it doesn't interfere with our flight. that would suck.
so everyone have a lovely week. i'm going to celebrate feliz navidad a tad early! :D
oh and i have less luggage than nick! tee hee. who would have that could EVER happen!? still in my ginormous bag but there i took way less....

12.09.2005

nick and the...

terrible rotten no good day. what is the title of that book? i think it had to do with a tabitha! anyway....
nick had a stinker of a day. running back and forth between his two pharmacies. trying to get stuff situated with some of the changes his company is making. so dealing with traffic around here is pain enough and then to have to mix antibiotics and deal with corporate is an additional stressor. so he tries to get everything done and in order for his prn that is coming to cover. ends up being at work until about 7 p.m. then runs to meijer to pick up our 'just in case' prescriptions and notices a flat tire. yup. an effing flat tire. in subzero weather. on a day when we are on a bit of a timeline.
so i meet him at meijer and he can't get the nuts off. no one is open. it's friday after 7. no one at mitsubishi or any of the local auto places. grr. go to meijer gas station to use air pump. find out air pump is broken. double grr. go to mobile. finally get air for tire and drive it to my parent's. convince my brother and his friend to change the tire. hello, they do work at advance. they can totally do it. great. we leave the car at my parents and drive to the gym. work out crabbily {is that a word. if not, it should be. it so fits this situation.} and then head back to the house. we call on the way and we forgot to tell them which wheel. duh. can you say brain overload?! so they do switch it out. with the ghetto fabulous spare. seriously, the car is pimpin!! ;)
just now got home and are about two hours behind schedule. thank goodness we don't have an early flight. but now it looks like snow in the evening. it better hold off. because i seriously need to be in 80 degree weather with a tropical drink 24 hours from now or i might be stressing. and i KNOW nick needs it too...

making a list...

just trying to keep myself organized. and being the type a person that i am...i <3>
  • finish knk dt atc's.
  • upload music to ipod.
  • go to bank.
  • stop at target for misc. necessities.
  • buy cat food.
  • go to gym.
  • pack.
  • fold laundry.
  • do laundry.
  • make list for mom.
  • balance checkbook.
  • sketch for january newsletter.
  • get next week's mod challenge posted for the other mods.
  • organize travel documents.
  • so i think that is basically it. bold = finished. so we shall see!

    12.08.2005

    fall wonderland???

    do you think mother nature realizes it is still FALL????
    what the eff is up with this crazy weather? i honestly don't remember ever having so much snow before christmas. yes, we have some snowfall. but nothing like this. 6 inches at least. and the subzero temperatures. again, it's fall. i know it's close to winter but can't we just wait it out a wee bit longer?!
    honestly, this snow storm was incredible. such large, sparkly flakes. and man did they fall fast. at times we easily got two inches an hour.
    traffic was horrendous. nick and i stopped at the gym. we figured why not...rush hour might clear out by the time we were done and we had to go for time constraint issues! showing up made our trainer super proud! ;) the roads were nasty. not plowed and icy. thank goodness for all wheel drive. i'm still having a hard time getting used to it tho. feeling the car move all funkily and stuff. weird. but reassuring at the same time. i feel much safer than i did in the saturn.
    there was a crash at midway due to the weather. they closed the airport soon after for visibility and runway problems. i hope that there are no more fatalities. so sad.
    in happier news, we leave in less than two days. TWO DAYS! neither one of us has packed. i haven't gotten our traveler's checks. i haven't made my mom's to do list. {love that she house sits for us!} i haven't picked up the odds and ends we need from target. {love that it's so close now!} still patting myself on the back for having the forsight to take friday off! now, if only i don't procrastinate...well, i guess i don't really have much time for that!!! :)

    12.06.2005

    christmas trivia.

    so a random brainiac {ahem colleen} was rattling off all of the christmas trivia and it totally sparked my interest. imagine my excitement when i stumbled across this while christmas shopping!
    a trivial pursuit type christmas game. i love it! nick and i bought it and have been reading each other questions every night before we go to bed. romantic, i know! ;o) if only i could retain the information. like who knew the little drummer boy had a name? it was aaron or adam. i told you i have no retention or attention span! and the lemon drop kid. a christmas movie? never heard of it. going to put it onto my netflix queue.
    so thanks colleen for tipping me off that there is stuff out there like that! for inspiring my hunt for christmas knowledge!

    12.05.2005

    crunch time baby.

    cleaning, wrapping, shopping, tanning, packing, exercising, working, scrapping. toooo much! i think i need a vacation. crap, that could be what is causing my stress! ah, it will be worth it. and i only have 3 more work days left. so glad i took friday off! {maybe i can finally find time to do bills!} so glad i decided not to mess with the tree. so glad that we rocked our christmas shopping and are pretty much done.
    my big problem with vacations...packing. i suck at it. i always pack so much. because you just never know what you are going to need or what mood you are going to be in and dress accordingly...know what i mean? gosh, i'm such a girl. my girlfriend, christy, she's a packing champ. when we took a road trip out west in college, she had less luggage than the boys. me, i had the biggest freakin suitcase! was the joke of the trip. you should see the bag i took to hawaii...
    so i've been scouring the web trying to find packing tips for cruises. i still don't think that is going to help me with my problem!!
    i decided to share my silly, giant luggage pictures with you guys. maybe i should have a contest and see if anyone could guess how much that sucker weighed...i had to buy another bag to come home! gosh, did i just admit that...outloud!? so mine is the giant blue one. nick and i shared the luggage bag. and the two dinky suitcases next to the monstrous blue one...nick's. how do men pack like that?! and to think one was his carry on! okay the blue duffel was my carry on but i think my suitcase could totally beat his suitcase up in a fight. ;)



    12.04.2005

    phew...

    what a whirlwind of a weekend. got all of the shopping done {well, i still have to finish up five people but that is mostly gift certificates.}. and got all of the shopping wrapped and organized. it's sprawled across the dining room table. had to warn the cleaning lady. would have felt bad had she tried to clean around it! so that is such a relief.
    this week i can focus my time on the cruise and packing. oh and of course, working out. nick and i have turned into a bunch of crazy workout-aholics. we went last night after our marathon shopping spree at like 8:30. yes, we didn't get home until almost 11! felt good but insane. and we so have to stick to this schedule. so it becomes routine. however, i am NOT going to worry about working out on the cruise. nick thinks he's gonna go 3 days. um, i'm in a tropical environment. i want to lay down and soak up the sun. not run my arse off on the precor machine and sweat to death! ;o) <----- {that's for you nick. i know you bookmarked my blog! you lurker!}
    and can i just say...how bout dem bears? 8 in a row. who'da thunk!

    12.03.2005

    the study.

    why does buying expensive furniture seem like such a grown up decision to me? i mean, hello. nick and i have bought a house, new cars, appliances, and other furniture. but when the cost of the furniture could almost buy you a car it seems so outrageous?!
    maybe because it's sooo darn expensive. that we know it's something that we will have for the rest of our lives. that we can't just upgrade to something else because this is it. a custom built piece of furniture with real wood. not mdf or some other crazy material.
    so nick and i finally decided that we should go for it. this means we should have our custom built study within 6-8 weeks. it's awesome. black and maple wood combo. super cool. now we just have to get everything out of the study and paint before that happens. we're thinking charcoal walls. fun.
    nick's mom works at a really nice furniture store in the area...walter e smithe and they have a custom shoppe so that is what we did. probably totally boosted the heck out of her sales this month. oh well, maybe we'll get a nice christmas gift since she is comission only! ;) she did send us a really nice card thanking us....must get some big money now!
    this is the room's basic design. we have awesome hutches with recessed lighting and shelving and file folders. gonna be sooo awesome. i hope to become totally organized. even if it means i'm living in debt! ;o) and i'm just totally overreacting. i mean it is expensive. but we did get a good deal and it's zero payments and zero financing for 30 months. can't beat that!

    12.02.2005

    crazy reindeer game...

    thanks krystn!
    i am not responsible for any addictions formed from this game!

    ahhh!!!

    so much to do...so little time! i have piles, upon piles of stuff to get completed before we leave. T minus 8 days...
    so much on my mind. so many ideas, thoughts. can't wait to get them out. i hope i find time to do that before they run away!!! i hate when that happens.
    surprisingly, exercising is going well. that pound i lost. well, it's back and has brought a friend. what the heck is that about? i'm eating less and exercising more. you think that would equal pounds lost. oy. but i do notice a difference. maybe it's that darn muscle. you know it weighs more than fat. well, that is what i keep telling myself!
    work was open again today. no more gas leaks. click here to read about it... too bad it was pure chaos most of the morning trying to reschedule everyone! made the day go by quicker. after having yesterday afternoon off. i realized if we ever have children. i cannot be a stay at home mom. i was going nuts. weird considering i love my downtime. just felt wrong. like i knew i should have been at work. that or it was the fumes. they made me crazy. one of my coworkers, my boss actually, had some bouts of emesis on the way home due to the odor in her car. scary.
    before i have to run off to my grab bag gift exchange for work. i wanted to thank all those lurkers out there. thank you so much for taking the time to pm or email me. truly means a lot. i have changed some of the restrictions..so maybe some of you non bloggers can post now!

    12.01.2005

    gas leak...

    i have never smelled gas so strongly in my life. today we were at work and at about 9ish someone asked if anyone else smelled gas. well, everyone did. then a person from another office came in and told us that we had to evacuate the building. there was a definite gas leak and nipsco was on their way...
    we ran around unaccessing patients and helping them out of the office. they all sat in their cars and waited patiently. we were all on the phone: trying to reach our docs, to notify our main office. and then we were directing traffic. so we are all standing outside for an hour. in the snow!
    finally some firemen came around and told us it was safe to enter the building. that the leak was at the post office directly behind us. um, the post office is literally 10 feet behind us. just a wee gap between the buildings. not sure if it's the smartest thing to stay at the office. we have oxygen, compromised patients. not a good situation. so we send all the patients there home, reschedule all the patients, and notify our docs and main office.
    supposidly they have the entire back parking lot roped off. how scary. and you are gonna tell me it's safe to stay there? that you have to turn off the gas but no worries. freeze your doopah off in the office....
    so i'm home. glad to be here. have a boatload to do. have been sooo extremely busy. cannot wait for vacation! hopefully, i can finish up some projects, clean a little, maybe even christmas shop, and then meet nick at the gym later. oy, what a day! ;)