Just call me Speed...

Ok, so I think I have a problem. Either that, or I desperately need to get away from here and go on a vacation!

Derick left early Saturday morning to go to my parent's cabin to help my dad for the day, and then he was going to hitch up his boat and travel to Medford. Long story short, he found someone selling a part for his boat, the part is being mailed to Medford, where he and his family can tinker with it and get the boat all ready for fishing season. He will be gone until next weekend!

So, with that, I woke up early Saturday morning when he was getting ready to leave for the week. That was 6am. I don't know when it happened that I can wake up at 6am on the weekend and stay up...all day! Anywho, after he left I was lazy for a couple or hours. Then the "to-dos" kicked into high gear! I ran to the grocery store to get food to feed me for the week (think big casseroles that make awesome leftovers) and came back home. I think that must have been the fastest shopping trip ever, and I even let the little old man go in front of me because he had a small bag of things.

So, get home, put the stuff away, look around the kitchen and say to myself, "that is IT! I am sick of the way this kitchen looks - it is a disaster!!"  Then comes fully cleaning the kitchen, all counter surfaces, vacuuming the downstairs, cleaning both bathrooms and start dusting, all while doing a load of laundry and trying to entertain Tucker. whew. and all of that took place while I am sick with a bad cold! So...yeah.

And that was only the cleaning part.

I also made a casserole dish and caramel rolls! I was really in the mood to cook more, but, go figure, when that bug gets me, no one but me is here to eat it! And i can't really have people over because I am sick...

It is going to be weird around here for a week. Quiet and weird! Oh well, at least it will give me a chance to catch up on some things.

Derick downloaded the entire set of Gilmore Girls to the PS3, so I have a go-to show when I don't want to watch anything on TV. I also have the little projects around the house that I have been putting off, but can do some of those things while I am alone! I took Tucker outside to play frisbee the other day, and am contemplating prepping my car to take him to the dog park some nights next week. I'll report on how that goes if it all goes according to plan!

Well, I think I am off, again to do more things around the house, although today I think i might need to rest up a little more since I am feeling worse today than I have been feeling. boo for that.

-L

Video Game Launch Widows Club

Due to today being Tuesday, March 9, 2010, I feel the need to start a new club. The New Video Game Widow’s Club.

Today, after months of my husband's anticipation, Final Fantasy 13 has been released.

Phone call from the husband this morning at 8:20am – He had already been to Target, purchased the game and had come home. I didn’t even know Target OPENED before 10am! (and I thought I was the one with the Target love affair…)

I left the house today saying, "goodbye, have a good day, see you in two weeks!" Because for about that duration of time, my TV, PS3 and couch will be occupied every non-working, or bathroom moment until the game is conquered in all of it’s entirety.

Now, I don’t really have anything against video games. People who know me, realize that I actually play a few. Actually, up until last night I have never played a video game all the way through from start to finish before! That all changed with the game Heavy Rain…but that is another story.

At least this means that I should have the computer and the Wii all to myself for the next few weeks while Derick tries to master the new game. I also have a book that I want to get through and that will more easily be accomplished without the TV being free - not that I watched much TV to begin with.

Heavy Rain
So this game was introduced to me by none other than my husband. He thought that I would like the game based on the demos of the gameplay that he watched prior to getting the game from Gamefly. I thought I would give it a shot as I had watched and played one sequence of the game myself.

After playing the game through one time, I am not sure that I would play it again. It seemed to take a long time to get through the game, even though it was about a 10-hour game (which I am told is a short game). I played the game in smaller chunks of time, and it took me about 4 days to beat the game. I find it kind of funny that Derick recommended the game to me because he knows my likes and dislikes of games and movies. I do not like scary movies and I do not like things jumping out at me or that cause me to jump. This game had BOTH of those things happen throughout the gameplay! There were a couple of moments where I was actually afraid and panicked and had to hit pause to think about it for a second!

So yeah, I think I will stick to my puzzle games and car racing games for the moment. I just need a new snowboarding game like SSX to come out and then I will be SET!!

Game on,
-L

Walkin' on SUNSHINE...WHOA!

I am so thankful for the sunshine this week! It is amazing what a little of that big golden ball in the sky can do for your mood!!

This weekend has been very nice so far, and it has consisted of me pretty much staying in the house-and I am perfectly alright with that! After working on the VMUs all weekend at home, I am glad to not be doing much!

I guess I got SOME things done today...

• laundry
• dishes
• started planting my seeds to get them started (hey, I was really thinking spring today!!)
• fixed Tucker's turtle stuffed toy
• put together 2 button designs for the Annual Father Hennepin Days Festival button design contest
• played more of a new video game that I am more and more into
• photo editing

For the most part, that was my day. Watched some TV, relaxed and got in the design groove. yay! I am looking forward to another day like this tomorrow, although more cleaning and workouts need to happen...heh heh.

Oh, and one more thing...Girl Scout Cookies are the devil...that is all.

-L

Time to Live Life?

That is what I have been wondering the past few weeks. Do I really feel like I am living life? To be honest right now, no. My weekdays consist of waking up, getting ready for work, going to work, coming home, making dinner, working out, picking up junk throughout the house, cleaning up after dinner, sometimes some small relaxation moment, getting ready for bed, then bed. Wake up, get ready to do it all over again Monday through Friday.

This past weekend I worked through the weekend to get a large work project done. I did, and in record time. I even saved the company money by working all weekend. But in doing so, have been coming to work really tired, fried and grumpy (hopefully that last part stays on the inside).

I guess I just feel like my life is passing me by and I am not really doing anything with my life that is of much value to me, or anyone else. I know that some of that is just due to my situation, if we can call it that at the moment. Sure, there are things I would want to do if I was able to do them. Travel. I want to go so many places, see and experience so many things, but you need disposable income, or a job that allows you to do that. I have neither at the moment.

And I believe in the saying that says if you are not happy, and want to be happy, change something, but really? In some instances, that is just really not an option.

At this point in my life, I have been wanting to move. Not just a town or two over, but really MOVE! Derick doesn't really want to because he wants to still be close to family, and I totally get that, but then again, we don't have any kids, we are just us right now. Now would be the perfect time to do it, if we were able. But again, not so much.

I know that money doesn't solve everything, but, quoting a quote I found the other day, "All I am asking for is that I would like the opportunity to prove that money can't make me happy." haha. I liked that one.

Well I guess that is about all for now. more later,
-L

Hearts, Stars & Horseshoes...

Valentine's Day once again decided to grace us with its presence. And quite honestly, I have a like, dislike relationship with the whole holiday - if you can call it that.

I tend to get a little stressed about what to get the one I love - do guys like to get flowers? Candy? A good book? Over the past few years, I have settled at Chocolates - one of his favorite kinds. But herein also lies a problem - Easter is right around the corner, when his REAL favorite kinds of candy come out.

Derick outdid himself one more time this year by researching how to MAKE me a dozen roses! He made me a dozen red and purple origami roses (in the photo above) and then spritzed them with his cologne! They are SO neat! I sat there looking at them for awhile until he asked me if I wanted him to show me how to make them. So, self-proclaimed Mr. Non-Creativity broke out a little of his creative side to make me my valentine's day present. How cute!

Then, if that weren't cute enough -- my dad pulled out all the stops again! He called us as we were on our way to Target to check out some things and just get out of the house! He said to swing by because he had some stuff in the back of the car for Derick. So, we trucked over there and found out that he had bought us ALL of the groceries to make the Wild Rice soup and his Chili recipe that I had been asking for! I mean EVERYTHING to make it too- Butter, bullion cubes, EVERYTHING! He is one amazing dad!

Saturday, I began my new 30-day workout routine and followed-through into Sunday. I began the Jillian Michaels 30-day shred. and YEOW I can FEEL it already! The workout was pretty decent. At the end, I was tired, sweaty and had noodle legs! But I am really pumped to stick with this to see some results!! Stairs are my Nemesis so far the past couple of days.

I hope that you and your loved ones were able to spend some time together whether or not you believe in celebrating the day, or not :)

-L

Life is like a day planner...

...everything is "penciled-in." Or penned, highlighted, doodled or sketched. (At least that is what my planner looks like). I have just been feeling rather "planned." I mean, I write almost everything down. I think people could quote me as saying, "Let me write that down so that I don't forget." I have a to-do list and a to-do list for my to-do list at times! It gets to be insane! I mean, I have come to terms with the fact that I have inherited the "antsy gene" from my father and his side of the family, ok, I get it. I have a hard time sitting still and doing nothing unless everything that I can think of, or that is on my "list" has been accomplished and is put away. Out of sight, out of mind eh? (wow, if I keep up at this rate, I will have all of the cliche sayings in this one entry!)

But the things that I write down aren't always:

A. The most important
B. Things that make me happy
C. Things I need to do right away (I tend to think about things sometimes too far into the future when planning)

I sometimes wish that I could break this cycle, but for work it is EXTREMELY necessary as there are many "drive-by" conversations where someone will ask/tell me to do something and I have another person come by 5 seconds later and ask me to do another thing. I would go bonkers if I had to remember all of the stuff that they tell/ask me to do! Yikes!

Even as I am writing this blog, I stop to think about what I want to accomplish this weekend while I have the house to myself for tonight and tomorrow. (Derick is in Medford celebrating his Grandma's birthday! I could not go because the party was earlier this afternoon, and I could not leave work as we have a floorset first thing Monday morning that I had to stay late to prep for anyway.)

So it is just me and the puppy tonight. I think he is bored with me. Since I got home later than normal, he has wanted to play whereas I have wanted to eat, change into comfy clothes and catch up on my Project Runway from last night.

Well, I guess that is all for tonight. I will try to resist the list. We'll see how I do :) I might have to break open one of the books on my nightstand that keep piling up. (I think I have 5 now that I want to get to reading!)

-L

"If God is trying this hard to talk to me, I'd better pick up the phone..."

So, I am not sure if you have ever felt the presence of something greater in your life, but for the past few months, God has been trying to whack me over the head and tell me to listen up. Other people have been praying for me in my current life situation and in the past few months, two of those prayers have been answered. Crazy. You know how things also tend to happen in threes? Well, I am now waiting on my "third thing."

All of the things that have come to be have been really good for my life - work life, me,life and I think just general overall life. I don't feel that I need to go into much detail here (and that might just kill some of you) but if you really care, we can take it offline and I can fill you in.

I just wanted to share that sometimes when you are really feeling all alone, that there is something bigger than all of us out there. And sometimes, all it takes are a few too many "phone calls" before you look and say, "Hey! I hear ya, loud and clear! Thank you for letting me know you are there!"

Really, that's all I got.
-L