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.

Pilate's Crunch

Well I am officially in a Pilates crunch (no not literally). I have no desire to do it anymore and when I get home I try to find any excuse not to do my Pilates. Today I called John Mark and asked him if he would be upset if I didn't make mashed potatoes for him for dinner. I was half hoping he would say yes so that I wouldn't have to do Pilates. He said no, so I boiled him some potatoes anyway. I skipped on Monday because it was my birthday, but I tend to skip at least two days at a time, but the last time I skipped I went four days without doing Pilates. I guess I am not seeing the results I saw before I ate a TON of food at Christmas.

On the positive note tomorrow is Thursday and the next day is Friday. Woohoo!! Let me tell you I live for my Fridays. I usually rent the latest releases from Redbox. We sleep in late on Saturday and then usually go shopping on Saturday. This Saturday we are going to celebrate my birthday. We are going to go see 27 Dresses . We are either going to go out to Red Lobster for dinner or go to Chinese Buffet. I know I was just talking about not seeing the results of Pilates, but haven't been to a Chinese Buffet in months. I promise. We will also probably be taking back my birthday present that didn't fit me very well...I felt SO terrible, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Hey, Hey It's Saturday

So, it's Saturday. Actually the Saturday before my birthday, which is Monday. The big 2-7. Do I feel old? No not really. Everyone at work tells me I look like I'm 21. God bless those people. Usually we celebrate my birthday on the weekend before it (or which ever one is closer), but we can't really this weekend because 1) Jonathan is having his baby dedication and 2) John Mark abandoned me today for a UK basketball game. I can never ask off for my birthday because we can't ask off in January at my work-so in that way I feel kind of cursed, so we will celebrate next weekend, which works for me because I want to see "27 Dresses" and it doesn't come out until after my birthday. The positive thing about this weekend is my parents are coming in town so I will get to see them, but they are coming for baby Jonathan, not my birthday...well he is pretty cute:) Plus it's not like I'm turning 30 or anything-AUGHHHH! But if 40 is the new 30, I think I will be fine with turning 20 again...They are buying me dinner tonight for my birthday-so I guess it's a pre-birthday partial weekend, but we usually devote a whole day to seeing a movie I want to see and eating at a special place that I want to eat at (we do the same for JM's birthday)-so technically it is not a birthday weekend.

So what, pray tell, am I going to do with my lonely, isolated day? My goal is to actually work on my book. I find solitude is a good thing for writing. If John Mark was here I wouldn't consider writing anything because we usually go out on Saturdays. It is kind of eerily quiet, with the occasional car motor from outside, but I am a bit of a recluse and don't mind isolation that much. I just wrote several pages on New Years Day, but I'm not sure I like what I wrote-so I may have to re-visit them. The book is kind of at a turning point-I guess you would call that the climax in writing terms...though now that I'm older that doesn't sound quite right. Anyway, I'm at the important turning point for the character as far as her relationship with her best guy friend (well I know you've probably heard that plot before-but never with a mom who just had a double mastectomy! Don't worry that's not what happened to my mom. I am trying to be more dramatic. Besides, if that plot is good enough for Jane Austen-like Emma for example-then it is good enough for me!), but I'm not that far into the story of her mom's cancer...so somehow I will have to find a balance. Maybe they will ignore it for a month or two. Why I am telling all of this to the bloggersphere I don't really know myself. Maybe to actually force myself to actually do what I am going to do and write this friggin' book!!

So now I must exit and turn the internet off so I don't sit on here and surf it all day. Besides I need to get off of my butt and do Pilates.

An Unconventional Christmas

Well my Christmas this year didn't go in the conventional order that Christmases tend to go in, but frankly-who gives a rip. It was a very memorable Christmas anyway.

To start John Mark and I got off work at 8:00 Friday night and went grocery shopping. We had our list and everything was under control, right? Well, it turns out that we have never cooked a turkey before and we didn't have a clue how big it should be to feed 10 people or how long it needed to thaw. After three calls to my mom we got it figured it out.

Saturday morning I made a homemade pumpkin pie for my sister-in-law Melisa. She doesn't like apple pie, but she loves pumpkin pie. I think it was pretty good because she ate the entire piece I gave her. We also cleaned the house on Saturday.

Saturday night we met Matt, Melisa and the girls and went to see "Alvin and the Chipmunks". This was not our movie of choice, but it was pretty entertaining. It was worth it to see Mak bouncing out of the theater talking about how she was going to buy that dvd when it came out (it's funny how kids are these days). I have also decided to name our next cat Theodore (after Toto kicks the bucket).

Saturday night into Sunday morning John Mark baked the turkey. I heard at noise at 3:00 in the morning and came out to see him cutting the turkey up. You see I have the best husband in the world-hands down.

Sunday we had a great day at church. Our pastor preached on the "Blues of Christmas" out of Isaiah. I am so thankful that this year is nothing like last year was for me, but the message he gave was timeless talking about how life may suck now, but God has promised it will not always be this way. Out of something old and messed up, he will create something new.

When we got home we peeled potatoes, sweet potatoes, cooked green beans ect. When my dad got there I put him to the task of peeling the Fuji apples (IC approved apples) for apple pie (that I made from scratch and was apparently the bomb). He asked how him peeling the apples was his "traditional" job and I said he would always help me make the apple pie when I lived at home. Dinner in our small apartment was great. Almost everything was devoured with very little leftovers (which I didn't want). It reminded me of old times sitting around the table at home in St. Louis, swapping stories about life. There was a lot of laughing and just plain Christmas fun. We also of course opened presents (I got a cute turtleneck from Melisa that I am now wearing and I am also wearing the fuzzy socks she gave me).

Monday I had to work until 12:00. I convinced my mom and dad to come to church with me on Christmas Eve, so they picked me up and we went to church. The service was awesome. Our new music director really out did himself. It really helped put perspective on the whole season and helped me to reflect on what Christ did for us by coming into this world. Pastor Butler really brought it home, reminding us that Jesus didn't only come to us in a manger, but he also grew up and died as a man on the Cross for our sins. It gave us something to chew on for the next several days.

We went to my sister's house for a yummy Christmas Eve pork loin dinner with potatoes and asparagus. Mmm. I also got to feed my little nephew-who is the cutest in the world. We had a lot of fun watching the Christmas Story. Everyone was cracking jokes and my sister and I were laughing so hard. It was a riot.

This morning we got up and opened presents, went to eat Chinese and went to see the movie, "Juno," just the two of us.

It was a little backwards (having Christmas Day meal before Christmas Eve and not seeing any of my family on the actual Christmas Day), but looking back on the past year I am so grateful that I was able to spend Christmas with my mom this year. That she wasn't so doped up on chemo drugs and that she could enjoy life. I know there are people who aren't so blessed to have a loved one survive cancer-so that makes me want to savor each moment that much more.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and for those of you who didn't or are going through hard times right now-it does get better. I hate to sound cliche, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. I have learned that through probably the most difficult year of my life.

I do have to note the gifts John Mark gave me because he just asked me if I was writing about my gifts. My number one pick was the one I asked for "Lamb" perfume by Gwen Stephanie-it smells really yummy. I also like the movie, "Once" he got for me-though I've never seen it before it's supposed to be pretty good. He also got me a "Feed" bag, which he thought was a purse, but it is actually a tote. The proceeds go to feed one child for a full year (yeah he is still getting the best husband award). He also got me a couple of wooden bracelets that say "Hope" on them, a commentary on Matthew (although I doubt that one was solely for me.), and Amy Winehouse's CD.

Merry Christmas from Dorothy and John Mark!!