99 things and a bitch ain't one

I never do these when they come to me in emails, but I'm a sucker for putting them on my blog. This one is called, Things I've done and I found it here. So you're supposed to copy the list of 99 random things and then cross off all the things that you've done. Hmm maybe it'll spark some potential scrapbook pages or stories to share here. Here goes:

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
   
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables (Well I helped my dad when I little)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt in person
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (it was snorkeling)
    
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie - This is an interesting one, what's the definition of movie here. LOL..
    
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Interesting list. There are a lot of things on this list I want to do and some things I would not wish to do (kill and prepare an animal for eating). Wonder what the list will look like in 5 or 10 years from now?

10 TV guys, I secretly love

I read this post this morning about the hottest hunks on TV, does anyone even use that word anymore, and I thought it would be fun to make my own list. Here are the 10 guys on TV I secretly, or not so secretly LOVE:

10. Bryan Datillo

I've been watching him on Days Of Our Lives on and off for a very long time. He plays Lucas Roberts and there is just something about him that I really like. He is funny and seems very down to Earth.

9. Seth Meyers

I love comedians. The way to my heart is definately through laughter. If you can make me laugh, you've got a great shot. He's such a funny guy and he's great on Weekend Update all by himself.

8. James Lafferty

He plays Nathan Scott on One Tree Hill. The show was created for Chad Michael Murray, and don't get me wrong, he's pretty nice looking too, but there is something about James that I just like more. He's athletic. He loves basketball and is good at it too. His character is a bad boy turned good. I think that's what drew me to him. I love the bad boys, but he's one with a great heart. Nathan's flaw though is he's a Duke fan. That's really a deal breaker for me, even if he makes up for it by loving Michael Jordan.

7. Michael Trucco

I first saw Michael as Hot Uncle Cooper on One Tree Hill and then he turned up as Sam Anders on Battlestar Gallactica. Another Badass with a good heart. You don't mess with him or anyone he cares about. He'll take you down.

6. Zachary Levi

Another funny guy. I really didn't know him before Chuck, but I love him. He plays a funny, hot nerd who can be a badass in his own way sometimes. That's the best combination. He's perfect!

5. Jensen Ackles/Jared Padaleki

I just couldn't separate these two. I liked Jared on Gilmore Girls, and I liked Jensen on Days Of Our Lives, but neither were really a standout to me in those roles. Put the two together and you get the Winchester Brothers from Supernatural. I love these two together. They are HOT, they kick evil butt, they make me laugh, and they are super loyal to each other.

4. Joshua Jackson

I loved him as Pacey on Dawson's Creek and I have a really hard time seeing him as any other character, but he recently returned to TV as Peter on Fringe and he's great on that show. As Pacey, he as always trying to do the right thing, but getting in trouble. Everyone thought he was a bad guy, but he was just misunderstood. As Peter, he is a mysterious genius, so much we haven't learned about him yet. I love Josh!

3. Derek Hough

I always talk about Maks from Dancing with the Stars, but secretly, I love Derek more. The all american boy. He's funny, hot, and wow can that boy dance. He's great at all the ballroom and latin, but a couple weeks ago I saw him in the group hip hop routine. Heaven help me, he was amazing. He's a singer too, his band just signed a record deal. He can do it all. I love his style. He's hard working and always very gracious. Some genes in that Hough family, man!

2. Brian Austin Green

What is there to say about Brian Austin Green, my David Silver. I grew up with him. He was always my favorite on 90210, even when he was young and dorky looking. I've stuck by him through the awkward growing years, the bad rap album, dropping off the grid, and then reappearing stronger than ever as Derek on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Cronicles. This is the best character he's ever played. He will kick your ass and not think twice about it. He's a shoot first ask questions later kind of guy. He's loyal. He's been through alot and I think there's alot still to learn about him. He brings a great dynamic to the show, but he needs more screen time, PLEASE!

1. Jason Momoa

It was hard picking a number one, and hard placing Jason in front of Brian just because of how long I've liked Brian, but Jason Momoa as Ronan Dex on Stargate: Atlantis. If you watch him on that show for just a few minutes you'll instantly see why he's my number one. I didn't even watch that show until he showed up on it. He caught my eye immediately. You don't mess with Ronan. He's a man of little words, but he gets his point across. He's a shoot first, NEVER ask questions kind of guy. He's extremely loyal, and if you mess with the people he loves, you're done. He kicks major butt on that show, he makes me laugh, and that's why I love him, plus look at him, he's ridiculously HOT!


So there it is my version of the 10 ten hotties, I secretly love on TV. It was hard to pick just ten. These guys almost made the cut, and it was hard to leave them off Adrien Grenier as Vincent Chase on Entourage, Maksim Chmerkovskiy on Dancing with the Stars, Chad Michael Murray as Lucas Scott on One Tree Hill (liked him better as Charlie on Dawson's Creek though, he's a bit of a whiner on OTH), and Jason Lee as Earl on My Name is Earl.

I Will Not!

I'll warn you before I get started that parts of this story maybe too much information for you.

Sunday didn't start out so well. Riley woke up at about 8:45am, came into my room to let me know she was awake and would be playing in her room. I got up to go to the bathroom, I was feeling gas pains. It all went downhill from there. I started to get more intensified pains, began to lose control of my bowels, then I got very cold and started sweating like crazy. I had no idea what was going on, but I felt terrible. So I'm in the batroom trying to deal with this when Riley walks in and states she has to go potty. I tell her that it's going to be awhile and remind her that there are 2 other bathrooms in the house. She insists on waiting. So she's just standing there in my face staring at me not saying a word. That starts to drive me nuts. Then all the sudden I start to feel sick to my stomach. I think I'm going to throw up. I don't know what to do, I can't risk moving for fear of what might come out the other end. I call out a couple times for Doug to come and help me and also get Riley out of there and to a different bathroom, but of course he's sleeping on his good ear and can't hear me. I say to Riley,

"Riley, can you please go and get daddy for me?"
To which she replies, "I will not"

I will not, are you f'in kidding me! She must be kidding. I try again.

"Riley, please go get daddy for me, I really need him"
To which she replies again, "I will not"

What the F#@! Is this kid serious? I will not? What am I going to do? As I'm quickly surveying the bathroom trying to make a game plan, I hear Nyssa russling around on her bed. Nyssa, my saviour. I call out to her.

"Nyssa, Nyssa come!" She immediately complies.

"Nyssa, get daddy. Nyssa, get daddy." To which she very obediently complies. I'm thinking, thank god I trained her to do that. Who knew what was something funny and playful would actually be so handy? I hear Doug's voice and I call for him. He manages to get Riley out of the bathroom, but never comes through with an alternative location for my puke. His answer was "get off the pot" which as I stated really wasn't an option. Luckily, the urge to throw up subsided.

I'm still trying to deal with what's happening to me. When I hear Riley break into one hell of a diva tantrum. This was unlike any other she's had. She went into her room, slammed the door, and stood pushing on the door, trying desperately not to allow her father into the room, all the while crying and screaming. I was able to get my bowels and cold sweats under control long enough to go to her room and try to go in. (Doug was standing outside it, playing with his iPhone). Riley yells, "No don't come in" and I can feel her pushing on the door. I say, "Riley it's mommy!" and she lets me in. Now she's crying even harder. I pick her up and ask what's wrong? She doesn't have an answer. It turns out she was scared because something was wrong with me. She wanted to play in her room, and she wanted to use the bathroom of her choice which was occupied, and she wasn't going to budge on any of those things. I tell her I'm just not feeling well, but I'll be okay. She's able to stop crying long enough to say, "Are you done in the bathroom, now?" To which I reply, "for a few minutes I think" She goes in to go potty and I go lay down. As soon as she's done, she runs back into her room, slams her door, and is refusing to let Doug in and crying again.

I tell Doug, "She's upset because something's wrong with me and she wanted me to tend to all her needs this morning. You'll need to console her." He replies with, "I know". Then there is a few minutes of silence. All I can hear is her crying though the baby monitor. Next thing I know I hear:

Daddy: "Riley if you come out, I'll take you to Mcdonald's to get french fry thingys(breakfast hashbrowns). It's still early and they are serving them."
Riley: "Yeah!!! (stops crying and opens the door). YES! I'm happy now! Can I get two?"

Nice bribe Doug!

I had one more round of uncontrollable bowels, cold sweats, and almost puking and then I slept until 12:30. My stomach was off all day, but I was fine. I have no idea what was wrong with me?

Squiggly Ears

We had a fun Saturday.

First up was swimming lessons in the morning. Last week, Riley swam all by herself with just 2 swimming noodles. She was very excited about it, so she convinced her Daddy to come to swimming lessons this morning so she could show him. It was safety day today though, so she barely got to go in the water. They spent all class reading pool safety books and walking around the pool reading all the rules. The only actually pool time they got was when they were trying the life jackets. They got to jump in and see how the life jackets helped them float. Both Riley and Daddy were bummed. Daddy said, "Pool safety is important, but not very fun, huh?"

After swimming lessons, we came home and relaxed for just a few minutes and then headed out to the movie theater to see Madagascar 2. Riley loved it. Doug and I thought it was good, but no where near the level of the first movie. There were 10 times as many monkeys in this one though, so Riley was happy!

After the movie, Doug took a nap and Riley and I had a fun project afternoon. We made squiggly eyed monsters and turkeys. Then Riley showed me how to color her Dora coloring pages and then roll them up together her.

After our projects were done, we had a little photo shoot with them, and when Roo was taking my photo she said, "Mommy, say squiggly ears!" and then she said the same when I took her photo. Together, we laughed about it.









And Riley's Xmas list looks like this so far:

1. Scooby Doo movies
2. Alvin and the Chipmunk movies
3. Tag reader
4. Piano
5. Singer microphone
6. Kung Fu Panda tag reader book
7. More art supplies (white glue, paint, dora coloring pages, paper)

This was supposed to be a longer post but I got distracted

A commercial on the radio this morning said that Dwight Howard's vertical leap is 5 ft. His vertical leap is as high as I am tall.

How you Compare

I already know who I'm voting for, but I thought this quiz at Glassbooth would be interesting to take. First you have 20 points to weight the issues that are most important to you and then it asks you questions about those issues. The more points you give a particular issue, the more questions it asks you about that topic. The one thing that was disappointing was that there was no widget to add your results to your blog like many other quizzes out on the web. It does allow you take take the quiz on Facebook and share with friends, but that's it.

So I took the quiz and it told me that I had the most similarity with Barack Obama, 89% similarity. The breakdown looked like this for me (the issues are in no particular order):

Taxes and Budget	75%
Science	81%
Civil Liberties and Domestic Security	100%
Iraq and Foreign Policy	75%
Internet and Media	88%
Environment and Energy	88%
Health Care	100%
Education	88%
Abortion and Birth Control	100%

For the most part on the issues we didn't agree on 100% (it only asked me 1 question on Health Care and Civil Liberties and Domestic Security), I was a stronger supporter. There were no issues that we just had completely opposite beliefs on. Unlike McCain, were there were several where we were completely at opposite ends on. I had the least amount of similarity with McCain, but I was surprised at the number, 50%. I thought it would have been lower. I wish it also had a quiz for the Vice Presidential candidates as well.

Above Average, Thank you Mrs. Bloomfield

I'm sure this is really old, but I came across this while wandering around some blogs today and as I looked through the list of books all I could think of is, Thank You Mrs. Bloomfield. She was my highschool english teacher and if it weren't for her I wouldn't have read most of the books I've read on this list. It's pretty sad that it was highschool when I read most of these. I have memories of sitting on the couch in my parent's living room trying to finish up A Tale of Two Cities before the test the next day. I'm almost positive I read the whole thing in one night. I actually loved it, but when it came to reading I was a terrible procratinator in high school. I also remember writing a paper about John Steinbeck and also a term paper about two JD Salinger books, Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zoe, both of which I loved. No memory is as strong though as my attempt to read Moby Dick. I just could not read that book. I hated it. I really struggled, so much in fact my dad felt bad for me and actually bought me the Cliff's Notes, so I could get through the test.

The list also reminded me that I really need to pick out a book to read while Riley is at gymnastics. Right now I just waste the 45 minutes doing nothing, I could be reading a really great book.

Here is the Meme:

“The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books on the list.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Colorize (RED) the books you love.
4) Asterisk (*) the books you have no intention of ever reading, or were forced to read at school and hated"

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte*
4 The Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy*
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy*
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
37 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
38 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
39 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
40 Animal Farm - George Orwell
41 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
42 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
43 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
44 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
45 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
46 Far From the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
47 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
48 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
49 Atonement - Ian McEwan
50 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert*
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
60 Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On the Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jone's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville*****
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce*
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo*

13 for the 13th

It's already October 13th and I haven't made a single blog posting for October yet. I'm such a slacker. A list of random things in my head:

• Went to Jimmy Fallon at RIT on Saturday night. He was hillarious. Our tickets were printed with the wrong start time, but it worked out to our advantage. The four of us were there very early and we ended up with second row center seats for the show. I just wish I was more prepared to hide my camera. I didn't think cameras would be a big deal, so I didn't make much effort to hide it. I ended up not bringing it in. Luckily, Deb's friend was able to bring hers in. I'm dying to see the photos and videos from the show. The minute Fallon walked out on stage, I immediately had this feeling come over me which reminded me why he was in my top 5 for so long. He's been off my top 5 for sometime, but seeing him live reminded me why he was there. He's awesome! Love the RIT hoodie! Photo from Rochester Metro Mix

• Andy took Riley to a haunted hayride which she loved! As soon as she woke up on Sunday she started telling me all about it. She ended her story with, "I like Andy. (pause) he doesn't have any hair on his head" :)
• We had planned to go pumpkin picking yesterday, but it was 80 degrees outside. Pumpkin picking is supposed to be a fall thing with cooler weather, so we decided to hold off until next Sunday when its supposed to be 57 and sunny. Seems more like fall to us. So instead we just hung out at home, resisting turning on the air conditioning for as long as possible. We did end up turning it on for a few hours. We played Mario Kart and were trying to figure out how to unlock content with no luck.
• I somehow got motivated on Sunday to sort through my clothes, organize my closet and get all my clothes off the floor in our bedroom. I packed up 4 bags of clothes to give away. I came to a couple realizations during this process. 1. Doug's clothes take up 3/4th of the floor space in our bedroom. Now that my clothes are cleaned up you can see the rug in a small square near the bedroom door.
• 2. I have a WAY better maternity clothes wardrobe than I do regular wardrobe. If I were pregnant right now I'd had way more clothes to wear and more stuff that I actually liked. I have a pretty crappy, small regular wardrobe. I need to work on that :)
• While cleaning up my clothes I found $20 which we immediately turned around and used to get Macaroni Grill take out that night. Basically free money, not counted in our budget.
• I also found several scrapbooking sticker purchases that I had forgotten about and 4 concert ticket stubs (INXS Foxwoods, Justin Timberlake Buffalo and New Hampshire, and Fall out Boy Rochester)
• I ended up with one bag full of old Riley clothes that somehow found their way into our room.
• Now if I can only get Doug to organize and purge his clothing.
• Riley had her second swim class this weekend. She loved it. The first day she was super scared and I didn't she'd get in the water. This time she jumped right in and was kicking and playing around.
• Love that according to Riley, "Mommy's Ipod is better than Andy's"
• Wishing it wasn't Monday.
• Looking forward to RIT hockey starting this weekend.

Digital Layout #4: Favorite Show

Another digital layout. After I asked Riley the other day what her favorite shows is, I started thinking how I would answer that question. Thinking about that along with being frustrated over how many shows I like are on Mondays led me to this layout. I watch too much tv, yeah I said it. I like TV, I just do, but I have to say this fall tv season is a bit crazy. Like I said before thank god for DVR and internet tv. I can watch the shows on my own time and I really don't feel like I'm spending an insane amount of time in front of the TV. I'm pretty sure this is the most amount of shows I've watched in any tv season. Some of it is related to the writer's strike, like for example, Entourage is usually a summer series. Stargate is also usually on mid season break during fall season, but because this is the final season they decided to play it out straight through and not take a break. I only picked up three new series this season.

This was a fun layout to do digitally. I grabbed all the images off Google. I think this one will be a fun one to look back on years from now. It was a template that came with week 6 of the digital class. I rearranged the template a little. I chose all solid color papers since there's so much going on in the photos. I also added the text path around the outside just cause they came with the class and I wanted to play with them. I can't create text paths with Photoshop Elements, its one of the things that you can only get with the professional version, but I can edit text paths, so as part of this class we were given a pretty decent amount of precreated text paths. One of the many cool things about this class.

Tuesday so far

When I woke up this morning I was wondering why I even started this whole capture a week in my life thing. I was planning to quit, but here I am sticking with it. I didn't take a single photo yesterday, so I don't know how that will work out. I did take a few today though. I was really in no mood to go into work today, so I decided to work from home. Riley stayed home with me today too. Doug had to go in early, so I would have had to take Riley to school. Also, she's been complaining that her lower back itches alot and we found some bumps on her back and were worried she had some kind of rash, so I decided to call the Doctor and see if I should take her in. They found an opening for us at 2pm. During the morning, Riley watched Scooby and Curious George while I worked. She got pretty bored though so I had to stop work and entertain her for a bit. We read books, and played with legos. Then we had lunch (leftover dinner from last night), did some art projects, and then got ready for the doctor visit. Turns out she just has some dry skin. I paid a $25 co-pay to have them tell me its just dry skin. Don't I feel retarded. Oh well, better safe then sorry I guess. Riley is napping now and I'm enjoying the quiet of the house. Guess I better get back to that working thing.

The rest of Monday

I picked Riley up from school. She was drawing a picture of circles when I got there. She was excited to have found a pen to draw with. We headed over to gymnastics as we do ever Monday. Riley changed and went into class. We're not allowed to watch because they say it's distracting to the kids, but I've been curious about what they do in class, so I went out to the car which I parked in front of the big window to the building and was able to watch Riley from there for most of class. After class, I picked Riley up. She had a ton of energy and kept running away from me all over the gym. I got pretty annoyed. She ended up losing her Scooby Doo TV privileges because of it. She cried all the way home and they even more once we got home. She tried to use the sympathy card on her daddy, but luckily for me he stayed strong and we were a united front. Doug started dinner and Nyssa and I went for a run. The run was hard last night. I hadn't run in 4 days, but I made it through. We ate dinner, watched Chuck, put Riley to bed, watched Terminator and Heroes and the second half of Dancing with the Stars and then went to bed.

Told ya it was gonna be boring...LOL...

A week in my life: Monday

So I came across this blog post about documenting a week in your life and making a scrapbook about it. I thought it would be fun and figured I'd put it on my to-do someday list, but this blogger is doing it this week and I figured, I might as well play along. We'll see how long it lasts :) I just decided to do this at about 2:3pm today, so I didn't photograph any of my morning routine, but that is okay. I consider my life to be quite boring. My weekday routine is pretty much the same everyday. I spend most of my day at work, I also spend a lot of time during the fall season watching TV. I think it'll be interesting to see what the finished project looks like.

Thoughts in my head today:

• Thinking about another scrapbook page I'm considering doing about my excessive TV watching, I counted 16 TV shows that I'm currently invested in this Fall TV season, yeah I said that, 16. That doesn't even count the random things I watch, that's just the shows I'm invested in, and watch on a weekly basis. Thank god for DVR and internet TV though, best inventions ever. I can record and watch the shows on my own time which often means I'm watching a show that aired at 8pm at 11pm the next day. What wonderful things DVR and internet TV are.
• So my Monday is pretty typical so far. I woke up showered, made Riley's and my lunch, and then spent a few minutes eating my cereal and browsing the internet. Then it was time for Riley and Daddy to wake up and me to get ready and go to work. Every Monday morning I have a team meeting. It's about the only day during the week that I HAVE to be to work at a certain time. The rest of the week I take full advantage of my flex time.
• I spent some time this morning reading the blogs in my Google Reader as I always do and wound up off on a tangent looking at fitness related stuff. I wandered into a couple blogs about people training for marathons and a couple about people documenting their weight loss journey. That lead me to think about my own fitness and the weight loss journey I should start. I've been trying to add running back into my life, I loved it in high school. It's been a hard road so far. I am doing the couch to 5K program, and am repeating week 4 this week because I had an extremely hard time with it last week. I suffer from shin splits or I suppose weak shin muscles. I'm just hoping as the program goes on my legs get stronger and the pain goes away. I'm realizing to reach my goals, I'll need to do more than just running 3 times a week. I discover a few things on my blog reading journey today:

This fitness DVD which is supposed to be awesome.

Jillian Michael's Wii Fit game comes out in October.

• I'm thinking of getting both and starting up a stricter fitness routine. I was inspired by the blogs I read. I want to be one of the success stories.
• As I have been for quite some time now, I'm concerned about my job and what will happen now that my company has been bought out and specifically what will happen with the account I'm working on. Wondering if I'll be looking for a new job in the next few months or in the next year. Wondering if I'll find a job if it comes to that and will it be one I like. It's always better to change jobs on your own terms when you can be picky. Not so fun when it's urgent and you have to take what you can get. Very uncertain times for me and it stresses me out alot.
• I watched the HBO special, Chris Rock: Kill the Messenger over the weekend and it was hillarious. I highly recommend it.
• I really want to sign up for a scrapbooking class called Scrap your Travel and Vacation that starts today, but I have no more money in my scrapbooking budget for this month. October is almost here so maybe it'll be part of my October budget. Although the class is $25 and that is almost my entire monthly scrapbooking budget, so I'll have to think about it some more.
• A few weeks ago Doug and I for I think the first time ever developed and actual budget. I was motivated to do this when I realized that we EAT way to much of our income. My bank website has a reporting and budgeting feature that lets you categorize your spending and create a budget. We spent something like $500 eating out in August and then another $600 ish on groceries. I'm embarrased to even admit this. It's absolutely insane. Nobody needs to spend that much on food. So we sat down one night and categorized everything, made a very realistic budget, something that I know we can easily stick to with the least amount of lifestyle change. I mean hell if all we did was eat at home all the time think how much money we'd save. The budget is going well and we are staying within our limits for the most part. After a few months go by I'm sure we'll need to make adjustments in some areas, but one I know we won't be adjusting is our food budget. We're sticking to that, believe me!
• Doug doesn't believe I can stick to the budget.
• Someone commented on the My Jam scrapbook page I created and said that Riley has eclectic music tastes. I took that as a compliment on my music tastes. What she listens to is in direct relation to what I like. That felt good.
• I think we'll soon be adding In the Ayer by Flo Rida to Riley's playlist. I've been singing it alot lately and last night at dinner (All three of us sat at the kitchen table and ate, pretty cool huh?), she busts out with, "This is my jam. Don't understand. hands in the air" while waving her hands in the air. It was quite cute.
• I was in a really crappy mood on Friday and I'm thinking Deb might have noticed when we were talking on the phone Friday evening. I hope she knows that I was just in a crappy mood. I don't even know why. It had nothing to do with her.
• Need to get my camera and make sure to capture my boring week.
• This blog post killed a good amount of time, yeah! Just one more hour until the work day is over.

Hey Sharon, Me Too!

My Liberal Identity:

You are a Reality-Based Intellectualist, also known as the liberal elite. You are a proud member of what’s known as the reality-based community, where science, reason, and non-Jesus-based thought reign supreme.

Take the quiz at www.FightConservatives.com

Looking to waste some time, google image search meme

Another one of those Google image search Meme's. I like doing these because image surfing on google if fun and I like posting photos on my blog. I got this one from a scrapbooking blog I read.

The rules:

a) Answer the question below, do a Google Image search with your answer, take a picture from the 1st page of results, do it with minimal words of explanation; and
b) Tag 5 people to do the same once you’ve finished answering every question. Just like where I got it from I won't be tagging anyone to do it, but feel free to join in the fun.

When I do these I always go with the first thing that pops in my mind, I don't put a ton of thought into them, so here it goes:

1. The age you will be on your next birthday.


2. Place you want to travel to

Always wanted to vacation at the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas. It looks fun.

3. Your favorite place
Favorite place was actually very hard for me to pick. Nothing came to mind right away, so I actually had to think about this one which is something I don't like to do with this. I like to just got with the first thing that pops into my head. I ended up searching for ocean. I love the water, so any place on the water big or small is perfect for me.

4. Your favorite food


Or so everyone tells me. :) I've decided to accept it. I do order them ALOT.

5. Your favorite pet.
So cool that this photo showed up on the first page of the image search for Nyssa since she was actually named after a vampire from Blade 2. We were watching the movie and after we both said, "Wouldn't Nyssa be a cool name for a dog?"


6. Favorite color combination

Guess this comes from my days at CSH.

7. Favorite piece of clothing

Can't go wrong with a good pair of jeans.

8. Your all time favorite song


Asking me to pick an all time favorite song, so not fair.


9. Favorite T.V. Show

Asking me to pick a favorite TV show, even more not fair than picking my favorite song. I love so many shows, new and old, picking one is just too hard, so I went with one that I'm most excited about at this very moment.

10. First name of your significant other/crush
I went with crush on this one. Later on it asks about your husband, so why have 2 of the same answers. Besides, I like working Justin into these. :)



11. Which town do you live in?

12. Your screename/nickname

Searched on a couple different ones, but ended up with carinh since I was surprised to see so many of my own photos show up. This was my livejournal avatar.


13. Your first job
Yes, I was a maid. Can you believe it? I hated it. I HATE cleaning. When I was 15 I worked as a maid for an eight room motel in my hometown. Doug thinks it scarred me and is why I hate cleaning now.


14. Your dream job

This changes all the time, and I'm not even sure I'd really love doing this as my job. Sometimes when your hobby is you job it ruins it.

15. One bad habit that you have


16. Worst fear


I couldn't even look through all the images. I had to go with the first one. Cringing just looking at it. I can deal with one or two of these at a time, but a whole mess of them together. YUCK!

17. Things You’d Like to do Before You Die

Cross country road trip.

18. The first thing you will buy if you get $1,000,000

If I had a million dollars, month long Hawaiian vacation here I come.

19. Your husband/wife


20. What present would you like for your next birthday

I saw Miley Cyrus playing Living on a Prayer on Rock Band 2 during the VMA's. Now that's a song I could really get into. Not sure I want those drums in my living room though. Too many toys in there already.

One in Four

Last week Andy sent me this email link from Deadspin.


"One in four stories about the Olympics has been about Michael Phelps. Frankly, we can't fathom what the other 75% of stories might be about. Reporters eating seahorses on sticks, we guess."


And said, "Much like your GReader posts... :)"


I laughed. Today I noticed there were ALOT of Michael Phelps blog posts and I realized as I kept hitting share that Damn, Andy's right I share alot of Phelps stuff.


Okay, so I'm alittle obsessed with Michael Phelps right now. I actually had to stop myself from hitting the share button a few times today because I realized maybe everyone else isn't quite as obsessed as I am. This doesn't mean I'm going to stop though, oh god no. That would be tragic.

Things are slow on the Justin Timberlake front these days, he's really not doing much but buying furniture with Jessica. Justin will always be my number one, heck he has his own category of posts on this blog, but I need something to obsess about during the JT lull and why not Phelps. He's got a lot going on right now: VMA presenter, SNL host, Entourage guest spot.


You have to admit he's a pretty freakin kick ass athlete and I can't stop wondering what those abs feel like in real life and just what he's barely hiding and teasing me with underneath those Speedo swim pants and board shorts.

Sounds Fun

I'll play too. Here are my answers to Deb's iTunes random questions (using my iTouch):

What would the world be like if everyone were just like me? Just the Two of Us - Will Smith

What's the worst song on this iPod? Theme from Save the Last Dance - Fedro Starr

What should I be when I grow up? Board Meeting - Timbaland

What song should I never, under any circumstances, admit that I like? Wait a Minute - Pussycat Dolls

What's my horoscope for tomorrow (Friday)? Smalltown - John Cougar Melloncamp

What should I name my first born child? SexyBack - Justin Timberlake (Already have a first born so this would be my second born, Justin's a great name for a boy, don't you think? LOL)

I will also follow in Sharon's footsteps and provide a not so random 10 today of some off the beaten path or not in the top 40 songs I enjoy. Also, like Deb, on random till I come across ten I want to share:

1. Rescue Me - Hawthorne Heights (it's new and probably will be in the top 40 soon, but hey I like it alot)
2. Lips Like Morphine - Kill Hannah
3. Facing up - Kate Voegele
4. No Strings Attached - Nsync
5. Your Guardian Angel - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
6. My Hallejuah Song - Julianne Hough
7. Call of Distress - Lovehammers
8. Let Me Take You There - Plain White T's
9. Stay Away - The Honorary Title
10. Chloroform the One You Love - Flickerstick
11. One of Those Nights - The Cab
12. Happy - Saving Jane

Ok I'll stop now :) I noticed something, it appears I don't like a lot of off the beaten track hip hop. The majority of the above list I guess would be classified as alternative rock. Interesting.

August in a nutshell

I have really been slacking on this blogging thing this month. I thought I was getting better at it. In my defence alot has been going on this month and blogging just wasn't at the top of my mind. I suppose it should be quality of posts not quantity, huh.? Here's August in a nutshell.

We started the month off celebrating Riley's 3rd birthday. The theme was Scooby Doo, of course. Her party was so much fun, my favorite party so far. I loved the way everything turned out from the setup of the party to the decorations to the cake to it not raining. She had 3 friends from school come and I loved seeing her play with them outside of school. I also remember the look on her face when everyone was singing Happy Birthday to her. I wish I could have captured her joy on film. I've never seen a kid blow through presents as quickly as she did. I couldn't keep up. I really need to get the thank you cards in the mail.



Entire set Here.

Then we had some very sad news a few days later that basically turned our lives upside down. My father in law passed away. It was not sudden and something we all knew was going to happen, but still none of us were ready for. I miss him very much. I'm not going to go into details because I don't think Doug would want me to.



This photo was taken on Thanksgiving and I think is one of the last photos I have. I wish I had taken more. I'll never forget the last things I remember him saying to Doug. "You just out in the neighborhood driving around and decided to stop in?", "I told you I wouldn't make it to Riley's next birthday, but I did." Doug helping him with water, "That hit the spot."

We had several vacation plans for August that we continued on with because Doug's Dad told him, "Go out and live your life, have fun. Don't worry about me." So we did and those words will be with me forever.

We went to Alexandria Bay with my parents. We took a boat tour, Riley got to drive the boat, saw two castles; Boldt Castle and Singer Castle, and Riley had Smoore's for the first time. I found a really expensive dark chocolate to use in hers since she can't have milk.






Entire set Here.

The next weekend we went to Camp Mead in the Adirondacks with our friends the Gotobeds. We went to Great Escape, did some hiking, canoeing, and swimming, played some games, watched Michael Phelps kick ass!, and then stopped in Lake George on the way home for another boat ride. Some of my favorite photos from the trip:





Entire sets Here, Here, and Here

The fun didn't stop there. I also attended a wedding, bridal shower, and wedding poker night for our friends Kai and Hannah. Riley ate chicken feet which I don't have a photo of. I'm so happy for Kai and Hannah. They are such nice people. Hannah is incredibly greatful for everything and she makes me realize just how much I take for granted in my life.



This is by far one of my all time favorite photos. To me the exposure and composure are great and I really captured the emotion. I think this is probably one of the best photos I've ever taken. I love it.



Rest of the sets, Here, Here, and Here.

And guess what there's more. We managed to find time to go blueberry picking, goto the zoo twice, have dinner at Chris and Deb's new house twice, play some Rock Band, goto the Drive-in a couple times, and if you can believe it even relax and do nothing a couple days. I think the rest of August will be more of the relax and do nothing. Now that I've put it all out there, that's ALOT in one month.

Dad Heckman, We are having fun, we are living our lives. We love you so much and miss you terribly.