I Would Probably be a Plus Size Model

So, I just heard (a little late) that a "plus size" model won America's next top model. I just have to say that despite arguments of my lovely friends at work if I would have auditioned (they were so crazy to think I should) I would have probably been a plus size model. She is 5'10" and wears a size 10. I am 5'9" 1/2 and wear a size eight. Most models on that show are my height or taller and wear a 0, 1 or 2 size. So it just goes to show you how screwed up the whole Hollywood/Modeling scene is.

Rub a Dub, Dub, Toto in the Tub

Yes we do give our cat a bath and no it is not cat abuse. She hadn't had one since before Christmas, so I thought it was about time. Fortunately our cat does clean herself (I know some cats when they get old do not, but ours does), but it is good to give her a real bath every once in awhile. It gets rid of all of the dander and makes her smell really good (not that she normally stinks, but we use baby shampoo). And that's about all of the "work" I am going to do today.

Not much else going on this weekend. I went to see "What Happens in Vegas" on Saturday with my friend Jessica. It was pretty darn funny. I watched a bunch of Redbox movies (several that I would not recommend) and started on season one of "Ugly Betty." I saw parts of the first season, but I did not see every episode. A lady at work let me borrow it. Funny stuff.

I hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend. I will be sure to post an "after" picture of Toto so you know that she is still alive. I would hate to have anyone call PETA on me. Cats are people too, right?

To All You Haters!!

David Cook won American Idol. Enough Said.

Ear Infections-Yuck!

Yes it has been confirmed by a medical professional that I now have an inner ear infection. Yipee! How fun. Fortunately it doesn't hurt that bad, but I don't think I trust medicine at all. I am tired of medicine not working. I guess that's a side effect of I.C. My meds don't cure it, it just makes it feel better. The upside of this is that I got to meet A.C. Green yesterday (former NBA basketball player) and because he was outside all day yesterday and he looks like a lobster. That's not really nice because I should feel sorry for him, but he does look like a lobster.

MMM MMM Good. Campbell's Got Nothing On This.

Baked Potato Soup I.C. Style

Got a craving for baked potato soup or any kind of soup at all? Try this. It's MMM MMM good.

Ingredients:
4 Baked Russet Potatoes
5 TBSP of reduced fat cream cheese
4 Cups of chicken broth (Imagine Organic Chicken Stock is good as well as Meijer Organic Chicken Broth. Imagine doesn't have extra spices added)
1 TBSP garlic powder
1 TBSP onion powder
1 TBSP basil
(all spices can be added to taste, but do not add salt since the chicken stock is usually pretty salty.)

Directions:
1. Scrub potatoes and halve them. Wrap in foil and bake for about 45 minutes at 350ish. Cut into good sized chunks.
2. Put a little bit of the chicken stock in a soup pot on stove top on medium/low heat and put the cream cheese in. Melt cream cheese until smooth. Add a little bit of chicken stock until cream cheese is mixed with chicken stock. Repeat step until cream cheese is mixed smoothly with chicken stock without clumps (it will clump if you add the cream cheese all at once into four cups of chicken stock-like I made it)
3. Add spices while cream cheese melts.
4. Stir every 10 minutes or so on a low heat for about an hour.

It is really good if you make it the night before and let the flavors meld in the fridge overnight.

Let me tell you if you have been craving soup and can't eat the canned stuff or eat any other kind of soup because it has onions, tomatoes, and all the other stuff you can't eat-this is a good substitution. And if you can eat Ham that would probably be really good too in it too. Yeah it pretty much rocks (If I don't say so myself).

Bob Dylan-Major Disrespect

I am not sure if anyone watched Idol tonight and saw Jason Castro's version of "Mr. Tambourine Man". I actually enjoyed the song and was FINALLY glad someone had the guts to sing Bob Dylan. He was not in the skill or caliber of Dylan, but I thought it was pretty good-except hey Jason it's:

"In the jingle jangle morning I'll come followin' you."

Though he did get the next part right:

"Though I know that evenin's empire has returned into sand,
Vanished from my hand,
Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping.
My weariness amazes me, I'm branded on my feet,
I have no one to meet
And the ancient empty street's too dead for dreaming."

Anyway the disrespect was shown during the three judges comments. At least on his previous song they said, "I like Marley" or something like that. They did not give Jason any comments like that for Bob Dylan. The audacity.

I Have What??? The Most Embarrassing Dr.'s Visit EVER.

So I have felt like I have had water clogged in my ears for about two weeks now. My ears did not hurt, I just couldn't ear anything out of one ear. Friday night my ear started hurting and with our anniversary being next week I wanted to make sure I got it checked out so I didn't have an ear infection while we were on vacation. We decided to go to the urgent care center, figuring no one would be there because of the Derby and we were right.

The nurses and the doctor were really nice. I made John Mark go back with me because I hate going to the doctor alone (I am not sure why, but my mom used to always go in with me when I was a kid). It turned out it was a good thing that he went in with me because we were there for about an hour.

The doctor takes one look at my ears and says, "Mrs. Ear Wax" and "Q-Tip" user. WHAT? Well that is what I was thinking. I religiously clean my ears out daily (or so I thought) with Q-Tips. It turns out that doing what your mother told you was not a good thing in this case. What the Q-Tip does is push wax back into your ear and if you have been doing it for several years it can be a good way to get water behind it and give you an infection (which is why I wasn't able to get the water out by myself). I was so embarassed and John Mark was in hysterics.

What happened next was even better. They had to clean my ears out first before they could really see what was wrong with my ear. They put this little plastic spicket thing in your ear and through a long tube gush water into your ear so it will get behind the wax and flush it out. Trust me folks, this is not my idea of fun. It was extremely uncomfortable and painful. I went ahead and had them do both ears since I was paying for it (well Humana actually was because I have already met my deductible for the year). It turns out I have swimmer's ear and I don't even swim anymore!!

The doctor said I should use, get this, either olive, vegetable or baby oil once ever 7-10 days in my ear. I would stop it up with a cotton ball overnight and then the oil would absorb the wax and move the wax out when you get water or soap in your ear. She also told me I should throw away my Q-Tips.

So we went to Walgreens that night to get my ear drops and crisis number two happens. John Mark spills the $130.00 ear drops all over the floor. I was in panic mode, knowing Humana wouldn't pay for another bottle unless a certain amount of time past. He felt terrible. We called Walgreens and they suggested having the doctor write a different prescription for a different kind of drops...which is exactly what happened (though the new drops were only 30 something dollars and I have to use them twice as much for longer, but it's better than nothing).

Bye, Bye Hair

So I did it. I got like six inches of my hair cut off today. I think I like it but they put way too much product in it. I will post a picture soon. I don't think it is really drastic but it is different.

Tonight is the big night. The Artist's Cafe. I am really excited about it. We set up last night and I am quite pleased with my pieces that I did for this year's show. It would be pretty cool if I sold I painting, but I am not getting my hopes up.

Another exciting note is I have been doing Pilates every day since Monday (except Thursday) and have been lifting weights and I weighed myself this morning and let's just say my determination as paid off. One of my favorite healthy I.C. meals is:

Romaine Lettuce
Cut up carrots
Feta cheese

Dressing:
1/4 C cottage cheese
1/2 TBSP Olive Oil
Onion powder
Garlic poweder
Oregano
Basil

Yum...

And because I am off I went to rent movies at my local video store. I was really surprised, but not really. Because of Redbox and Netflix all of the videos around have been closing. I wasn't that upset because I got out with nine dvds and four vhs tapes for 32.00. Let's just say anyone who knows me knows I love movies and I couldn't pass this deal up.

Anyway, I had better close this. I am watching Gossip Girl and I need to make rice krispies for tonight.

Follow Up to I.C. Sufferer's Worst Nightmare

So I decided to do a feedback to B.J.'s and I got an e-mail today with a long apology and yes, another gift card of $50.00. Yipee!! Not that I could each much there, but their hamburgers are really good, though with $50 I could probably get a steak! Although I think they are pre-seasoned.

I painted for about five hours straight today. I will post pictures of the art show next Friday. I am really looking forward to it.

I watched the "Assassination of Jesse James" last night and we watched "Kite Runner" today. Both movies were kind of melancholy, though the good guy won in the end of "Kite Runner". There were no good guys in the Jesse James' movie though Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck did a really good job.

We played tennis Friday night. We tied...though i am not sure it agreed with my I.C. today, which pretty much sucks, but I am not sure I am ready to give it all up yet.

I.C. Sufferer's Worst Nightmare

Well I had a LONG day at work today and was really tired with a lovely headache. John Mark did not feel like cooking and I didn't feel like cooking so we went to the new restaurant called B.J.'s Restaurant at Oxmoor Mall. I was a little nervous, as I am when I go to any new place to eat because I am worried that I won't be able to eat anything on the menu. And I am really tired so I don't feel like asking a ton of questions...well it's a good thing I did. Question #1 Do you season your french fries. Can you guess what the answer was? Yes. Question #2 Is the chicken pre-seasoned. Question #3 What kind of cheese is on the garlic cheese bread (which came with the hamburger). Answer-parmesan cheese (which I can't have). Question #4 (sigh) Can you order hamburgers without seasoning? And so on and so forth. It was an excruciating, painful experience for me. By the time I FINALLY found something I could eat I was almost in tears because I was sooo tired and embarrassed. Everything on their menu contained something I couldn't eat. Even their motzerella cheese was a five cheese mix (then don't call it motzerella cheese!). So, after watching John Mark eat his salad (which I couldn't have because of the dressings) our food comes. My bun on my hamburger looked like a piece of French bread, but I didn't taste anything different. Our waiter came to check on everything and said, "They gave you the wrong bread". The brought me the bread with the Parmesan cheese, which I definitely can't have. Crap right? So I had to wait another 10 minutes to get my food while I watched JM eat his. The story of my life, right? The waiter was really nice and felt terrible that they got my order wrong. He brought me back my potato so I could at least eat something while my hamburger cooked and he said the manager would be over to our table. Let me preface this by telling you I told the waiter I had food allergies (that is the short story version of explaining I.C). The manager came to our table and said, "I'm so sorry about the mix-up. Your food should be ready in four minutes". That was it. The waiter was very apologetic about the whole situation and actually sounded a lot more sorry than the manager. Also we paid full price for both of our meals. There was no compensation for the "mix-up". I would e-mail them, but they will just send me a gift card and I can't eat anything there, so what's the point. So, if you have I.C. don't go to B.J.'s...it's a flare up waiting to happen.

(On a positive note JM felt so bad that he took me to Macy's and bought me a pair of gold platformy sandals that I wanted and we found a 15% off coupon just laying on one of the displays. I also bought four shirts for 4.25 a piece. What a deal!)

Easter Sunday

Not much going on this weekend. I have been doing some painting. I am not sure how I feel about it. We will see. It's A LOT of work. Hopefully I will be able to get all I want done before April 25th.

We had a speaker at church today (Ashley Smith-the girl who was taken hostage by Brian Nichols in Atlanta in 2005) that had to pick her up at the airport last night around 11:00. It was really neat to hear Ashley's story and how God used that time with Brian Nichols to bring her back to Him. She shared with me last night now her mother died from cancer two weeks ago and her story really touched me. Because of what she is doing she can reach so many people because of her life experiences. I in turn felt that my life experience might help someone in need of comfort-so pretty much I need to consistently work on my book!!

Paul said in 2 Corinthians, "(God) who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble wiht the comfort we ourselves have recieved from God." (1:4) I kind of feel that is why I have to write this book-so that I in turn might use my sufferings to comfort those who might be going through the same thing.

Oh and here is a little sneak peak from my latest work (as you can tell it is not finished)

Are You Smarter Than a Pharisee?

I've been reading Matthew since well...since April. Face it, I am a theology geek. I was reading four commentaries, but I had to stop using Calvin. It was too much and he kept on talking about the Papists (everything started to be about the Papists)...it was getting old. I am currently on chapter 12 and this week I came across a particularly genius moment by Jesus. Let's just face it, he had his A-game on.

A little background on it is Pharisees had been following Jesus around trying to trap him and waiting for him to screw up. Earlier in Chapter 12 Jesus let's his disciples pick heads of grain because they were hungry. The Pharisees accused him of letting them work on the Sabbath and being a lawbreaker. Pretty much Jesus told them (in his own subtle way), "If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy not sacrifice," you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man in the Lord of the Sabbath." The Pharisees may not have realized it at the time, but Jesus was pretty much saying-if you knew the Law and the Prophets, like you pretend you do, you would know that God desires mercy not sacrifice and my disciples were not guilty of breaking the Sabbath and Oh yeah, I am the Lord of the Sabbath". Well, that's not exactly what he said, but it is what he means. He is the Messiah and he is Lord over the Sabbath, so you'd better recognize.

The next big Sabbath "desecration" was when they find a man with a shriveled hand and look at him and say, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" Jesus says, "C'mon if one of your sheep falls into a pit on the Sabbath you know you are going to pull it out. This man is much more valuable that a sheep. It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." And he healed the man. This got the Pharisees loin clothes in a wad, so they went out and plotted on how they were going to kill Jesus (how mature is that, right?)

There is a little blurb next about Christ being the Messiah and Matthew says he is fulfilling Isaiah's prophesy on the Servant of the Lord because Jesus warns his disciples not to tell anyone who he was.

Then we come to one of my probably now favorite stories of Jesus from Matthew. A man who was demon possessed was brought to Jesus and Jesus healed him. The people around him asked themselves, "Could this be the Son of David?" This made the Pharisees really mad. They were really intimidated by Christ because they were afraid that the people were going to start following him instead of abiding by their ridiculous man made laws. They really didn't like that the people were starting to think that Jesus could possibly be the Messiah-so what do they do? They say Jesus is exorcising demons by the power of Satan.

Let me just ask you this question. Are you smarter than a Pharisee? I hope so. I do realize I have gotten some of my "smartness" from reading Jesus next words-he pretty much lays the smack down, but the accusation is ridiculous. Why?

Jesus puts it this way, (and I paraphrase) "If a kingdom was divided against itself it would what? Fall. If a house was divided against itself it would what? Fall." Are you catching where he is going with this? He said, "If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. how then can his Kingdom stand?" Question number one: If he is driving out demons by the name of Satan would that make much sense? Answer: No. They are Satan's demons.

The next point Jesus makes a jibe at the Pharisees people. He says, "If I drive out demons by Satan then who do your people drive them out by? (Rhetorical question here) Let your people be the judge." I am not sure if this is sacrilegious or not, but I can almost picture Jesus waving his head and snapping his finger in the air. "But," He says, "If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom has come upon you." In other words, "You're in deep scubalon" (In the Greek this means doo-doo or poop, but the more colorful translation of those words).

Apparently Jesus was much smarter than the Pharisees and pretty much everyone else on the planet. I mean if you have the Holy Spirit descend on you like a dove and God shout out from heaven, "This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." Let's just say I would want him on my debate team. And this is why this is one of my new favorite Jesus stories. Could you imagine the looks of the Pharisees faces when he was done with them. Someone would need to pick their jaw up off the floor. Although I have a feeling they were so high and mighty they just congratulated themselves for being outsmarted by Christ once again. And the definitely didn't heed his warnings that, "By your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." In other words, they had better watch their back. They are going down.

(I do realize that they do end up getting Jesus crucified, but he did rise three days later and when he comes back he will have the final word).

Let the Creativity Begin!

Okay so I haven't started painting or anything, but this girl is going to end up on one of them. I am not sure which one yet. I did not come up with her on my own. She is actually from a photo from one of my magazines, but considering I don't do people I think this turned out pretty well. I may be way in over my head...but we'll see.

And It Keeps On Coming

Yeah. It's supposed to do this all night folks. We ain't going nowheres.

I Am an Angel Sent By God

Yeah, do you remember that show? Where the cheesy light would come up behind Monica (yes I remember her name) for the big reaveal. It was so cheesy. Yeah it was. This picture reminds me of that. Or those Renaissance paintings with the Madonna with the gold plate behind her head. Okay, I confess: I have a little too much time on my hands tonight. Just a little.

Strawberry Fields Forever

This is me trying to get inspired to start painting for the Artist's Cafe in April...yeah it didn't work. Two months to go. Maybe I should watch "Across the Universe" again. I'm thinking strawberries.



I guess I asked for this...Yeah she thinks she is really cute.



This CD is pretty much da bomb (does anyone say that anymore?) But you have to get the deluxe edition if you want "I am the Walrus" and all of the songs from the movie. It's good cleaning music...if I were cleaning instead of blogging. I was actually putting the dishes away, but the cat was in the dresser and well it's been mass chaos ever since.

Ice Day?

Well I got a bit of a good surprise today. First of all I got up today and had to take this picture of my cat. I was on our laptop and she decided to sit right next to it like so. Silly old cat.



When I got to work today I was very pleased. I found out that we were closing early. Since I volunteered to work the late shift I didn't get there until 11:30 today and was out of the door by 1:15. Fabulous!

After taking my friend Jessica home we came home. John Mark had to log in from home (ha ha!!), but I was able to eat my lunch leisurely while reading a book (which is really good by the way). I even took a nap. I just got up. We may go out to dinner if JM's boss lets him stop at 6:00. Otherwise it will suck for him. They said there are a lot of accidents which means we probably shouldn't go anywhere, but JM has a tendency not to listen to those who say to stay at home. At least he is a good driver:) Ice days make me happy! Well when I get to go home early:)

Happy Post V-Day Ya'll

Well it is the end of the week. Friday night! Wahoo!! I am not working tomorrow because we are celebrating V-day tomorrow. I have actually convinced John Mark to take me to see "Definitely, Maybe" . It was either that or "Jumper" and he would rather see the chick flick. It did get good reviews on yahoo movies (it got a B), so whatever. I am not sure where we are going to eat (JM you better get started on that one), but I am sure it will be a good day.

I didn't get a present yet, but I did get not one dozen, but two dozen flowers hand delivered at work. EVERYONE was talking about it and I put them up at my cubicle and they were SO big that you could see them from across the floor. I have never gotten flowers at work before so I was psyched. One of the other leads joked with one of the reps commenting on it telling him I got them from my boyfriend. The guy said, "I thought she was married." The lead started laughing and shook his head, like I would have a "boyfriend" on the side. LOL!

I hope everyone had a great V-day. I will let you know how mine goes tomorrow night (well not really, but if you want to know how it went you can e-mail me:) )

Hello February!!

It is one week into February and I am already one week over my head!!

Let's see. Well I have been doing a lot of over time at work. Yes I have worked over time. I worked last Saturday and will be working tomorrow.

Fortunately no one saw, but apparently I made a huge crash because the people in the vicinity were laughing. As you can imagine I was sore for several days. I also got a flare up which sucked completely. I read on-line that some people got I.C. from car accidents, so I figure the fall just messed me up big time. But I am feeling better now-which is good because let's face it-flare ups pretty much suck.

Yes look at those shoes.




I am looking forward to next weekend because I will NOT be working. We are going to celebrate V-day next weekend. I am not sure what we are doing, but I know that I am not working.

I just saw Feist on E! and let me just say. I love her.

I can start to feel Spring around the corner. The sun was out when I left work tonight. I can't wait until the tress bloom and the birds start chirping again. I really do love Spring in Kentucky. I can't remember enjoying it as much when I lived in St. Louis, but it could be because I was a kid in StL and I didn't know what I was missing!

I hope everyone has a great weekend. And if I don't post before V-day-make sure you give someone a big fat kiss!!

Kind of a Depressing Day

The day really wasn't that depressing until I read that Heath Ledger died. I was not some obsessed fan and I will not be having a wake for him, but when someone dies who you thought was invincible-it is kind of mind boggling. He was 28 years old, one year older than me. Whether he killed himself or took too many pills, it doesn't matter. He was trying to drown whatever sorrow he was feeling by ending his life or taking enough sleep pills so that he would forget his life for several days...it's still sad.

I have also been feeling kind of down about my I. C. (see ic-network.com). I guess I will feeling sorry for myself. This chronic pain that i have day in and day out. This burning and pressure that I have and constant feeling that "I have to go to the bathroom" and then telling myself, "Wait a minute, no you don't really have to go. That's your IC." It's hard for people to understand who don't have it. They won't every understand how it feels to feel like you have a bladder infection all of the time, but antibiotics won't fix this. That you can't enjoy tomatoes, chocolate, soda, and the list goes on and on. All of this kind of makes me sad.

I am not trying to sound cliche or anything, but in all of this I realize that God understands my pain and even has a plan for all of it (though I can't seem to figure that one out). And like my pastor said, I need to lean harder into God instead of ignoring him or turning my back on him. When you are in physical pain that is really hard to do, but if one sparrow doesn't fall to the ground without God's knowing it, deep down I know he is watching over me and cares for me and there's a reason for it all.