This is what I mean....

So many of you know the last few days and nights have been hovering in the 80-100 degree range, with no release in sight. Our house has not fallen below 84 degrees at night since last week, so opening windows and turning on fans has virtually no effect. Monday night Bryan came home and inserted himself into the refridgerator. Yesterday, Fuz spent 99 percent of his day on the kitchen floor as well, and at one point I caught him straddling the refridgerator door. See how sad he looks? WE NEED AC!

The end of another life...

Is it true about the whole nine lives thing with cats? If so, I think I witnessed Fuz cash one in today. It scared the bejeezus out of me. He was under the table sleeping while I was tutoring a student, and I happened to look down and see him quivering like he was cold (lips moving, paw spazing) though it was well over 80 in our house (a sore subject...on another note....is there anyone with ANY AC units for sale??)He was laying on his back with his legs out so I gave him a little kick. And then another little kick. And another. And another, progressively kicking harder. Time began to pass slowly. I jumped out of my chair, backed up, told my student to back up and I began clapping and shouting at him. I had the phone out ready to dial Bryan when we noticed his tail start to move. I frantically clapped my hands more and he finally opened his eyes like "What?!?!" It was a good two minute ordeal.

He has been very lethargic the rest of the evening and his meow is low and gravely. I have been soaking him with bottles of water out of the fridge, which he is not too fond of at first but I think he likes it in the end.

Poor little guy....

Then Bryan and I had "the talk" about what we will do should Fuz pass away. While it is difficult for us both to think about (needless to say he is sadly a big part of our lives), it is pretty much a given that he will die, and if I am home with him first, Bryan will have to come home to take care of his remains. No way could I touch him. And we would need to at least take some time off work for proper grieving time. Its hard to think about though...even though we bought Marley and Me which is such a cute movie, I can't bring myself to watch the end. Its just too sad dealing with the loss of a pet...

Weekend Fun in the Sun

This weekend has been hot and filled with fun! I didn't get a lot of stuff done that I wanted, but I think that is what made it feel longer and fuller. Instead of following a list of things to do, today was the first day in a long time we went with the flow and had a productive day! I got some errands done yesterday, found good deals, got in some exercise and cleaned up our office a litte (still have more to do) all before we went to a wedding last night at the Evergreen Aviation museum.

The wedding was the 3rd out of 4th wedding we need to attend this summer, and definately the hottest. It was so hot we didn't want to sit down for fear of our clothes sticking to our wet skin. The ceremony was outside but rather short, and the reception was inside the museum, under the Spruce Goose. However, the museum was not air conditioned. So it was a tad miserable and we left quickly. It was nice to see all of Bryan's former basketball team again however. We got invited to Vegas with them in a couple weeks, but after checking out airline flights....welll....no.

This morning at 7 am Jacob came over for the next three days! We made a big breakfast of pancakes and headed to the Children's Museum. Then we had lunch and went swimming at Bryan's parents pool. After a nap we did some work around the house, went for a walk in the woods, I tutored and made dinner, and we went to ice cream for dessert. Now it is late and I have toys, toys, toys all over the house to go pick up. We had a fun day though and look forward to another fun, hot day tomorrow!

Awesome Summer Drink Recipes!

The following two recipes were taken from the book “Hungry Girl: 200 Recipes Under 200 Calories” by Lisa Lillien (I recommend both “Hungry Girl” recipe books she has put out. I found mine on display at Barnes and Noble).

I meshed the two recipes together to make my own coffee drink with chocolate chips in it, and I substituted other flavors of creamer and soy milk, based on what I had on hand. I used Irish Cream creamer and chocolate soymilk, which turned out to be just as delicious. I also didn’t have the low calorie hot chocolate or chocolate syrup so I probably consumed more calories than specified. Separate or together, both of these are delicious summer treats!! 

Joe cool java freeze
PER SERVING (entire drink): 68 calories, 3.75 g fat, 55 mg sodium, 6.5 g carbs, less than .5 g fiber, 1 g sugar, 1.5 g protein.
INGREDIENTS:
¼ cup light vanilla soymilk, cold.
4 tsps Coffee-mate Sugar Free French Vanilla powdered creamer
1 tsp Instant coffee granules
2 no-calorie sweetener packets
1 ½ cups crushed ice OR 8-10 ice cubes
DIRECTIONS:
In a tall glass, combine powdered creamer, coffee granules, and sweetener with ¼ cup hot water. Stir until ingredients have dissolved. Add ½ cup cold water and stir.
Transfer coffee mixture to a blender with soymilk and ice. Mix at low to medium speed until shake is just blended but not liquefied. Pour into your glass and slurp It up!
Makes 1 serving.

Frozen fudge chip freeze
PER SERVING (entire drink): 138 calories, 4.5 g fat, 184 mg sodium, 22 g carbs, 1.5 g fiber, 13 g sugars, 4 g protein.
INGREDIENTS:
One 25-calorie packet diet hot cocoa mix
¼ cup light vanilla soymilk, cold
1 tbsp sugar-free chocolate syrup
1 tbsp mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 no-calorie sweetener packets
1 cup crushed ice OR 5 to 8 ice cubes
2 tbsp s Fat-Free Reddi-wip
DIRECTIONS:
In a tall glass, combine cocoa mix with ½ cup warm water. Stir until cocoa mix has dissolved, then transfer to a blender.
Add soymilk, chocolate syrup, chocolate chips, sweetener, and ice to the blender. Blend on high speed for 30-45 seconds.
Pour into your glass and top with Reddi-wip. Slurp!
MAKES 1 SERVIMG

I'm So Excited!

I am down 23 pounds and only 36 pounds away from my goal!! This comes after a couple of frustrating weeks post vacation. I was having trouble losing and it turns out a little thing called "water retention" once again got the best of me. My ankles had officially become "cankles" and after taking a diuretic (not recommended by most of my doctors) I lost 7.4 pounds in one week! After I lose all my goal weight (hopefully by Christmas) I am anticipating not having side effets such as swelling. I am halfway there!

Apparently I was the last to know...

Blogging is (or at least used to be) big among my side of the family (though some... or all... of my sisters have slacked off considerably in their contributions to the blogosphere). So consider my joy when I found out Brad (Bryan's brother) began his own blog apparently some time ago, though I did not know of it until recently. His beats out mine in the "interesting" arena, as he is in the National Guards over in Iraq right now, so he has a bit more to say. I added him to my blogroll so you all can have a looksie and keep him and Brandon (Bryan's other, younger brother) in your prayers. I guess it is a little toasty over there right now so please pray for God's hand of protection and comfort over them right now. Thanks!

Blueberry delinquent.

Yesterday my friend and I walked to a blueberry field less than a mile from our house (in our neighborhood). I used to go here with mom to pick blueberries when I was younger. It happened to be the first day the fields were ripe, and cars were arriving right at "opening" time.

We got yelled at twice. The first time was because we wandered into a patch that was not yet ripe. The second time was when I happened to pick ONE blueberry off a bush that was being dominated by this overgrown boy (old man) in a silly hat, sitting on a chair and determined that only HE was allowed to pick from that bush.

Grrrr.....we'll see if I get up the nerve to go back. And if I do, it'll be with a vengence.

Fuzzy's new digs...Thanks Auntie!

My sister sent a Sesame Street play tent home with my mom, to which I inherited it with the intent on blessing another home, church and/or school with. However, obviously my cat has other ideas about that. Tossing aside his usual cautious demeanor (he enters the bathroom only with extreme bravery when thirsty for some water), he entered right into the tent (after we figured out how to set it up) and made himself at home. All. Day. So now some poor child or children out there will have to wait until this feline has had his share and finds another place to dwell (which usually only takes a week or two).

The only three ways to get him out? 1. Open a door. 2. Open a can of food. 3. Turn on the vaccuum cleaner. When the vaccuum cleaner is on, he heads to our bed and burrows in the pillows. And he usually won't come out until Bryan and I want to go to bed.

Pictures!

The rest of this week has been a good time of family, friends and celebration. Bryan's parents are moving to a new home, and my parents finally made it back from their 3 week vacation. With that said, it has been a bit chaotic and we are looking forward to a much more quiet week ahead! But we had good times at Red Robin with friends, celebrating my birthday, and also at my parent's house, where I had requested enchiladas and strawberry shortcake! We also had my friend Melissa bring her kids over to break open my birthday gift from Bryan: a fire pit! We made margaritas, roasted s'mores and the kids also played in the sprinkler, which was cute. All in all, it has been a good week! Today we are catching up and hopefully Bryan will *finally* have his car running again (he decided to do a motor swap). :-)

Country Songs Make Me Cry!

Here are the latest songs on my "playlist spurring random emotional outbursts," especially while driving:

1.) http://www.cmt.com/videos/alan-jackson/355885/sissys-song.jhtml

2.) http://www.cmt.com/videos/trace-adkins/217378/youre-gonna-miss-this.jhtml

3.) http://www.cmt.com/videos/vince-gill/71203/go-rest-high-on-that-mountain.jhtml
(this is the big ka-huna of tear jerkers and possibly the most beautiful song of all)

Birthday (Un?) Happiness

Yesterday, in the beginning, I was crabby for my birthday. It could have been that I had only had three hours of sleep the night before, or that my family was out of town, or that I was alone with a one year old all day (although we did get out of the house to go get a birthday celebratory frappucinno from the Starbucks within walking distance to their downtown townhouse). Though by and large it was a quiet day no different from any other, I did enjoy the calls, text messages, emails and Facebook comments that were posted on into the evening. While birthdays get less and less exciting each year (and I get less and less excited about becoming another year older), I still do appreciate the time people take to wish me a happy day and look forward to this day as an opportunity for connection with people I do not always hear from. So though I felt forgotten in the beginning, it ended up being a nice day. And the festivities continue, as tonight I recieved a gift from mom and dad, as well as more cards in the mail, and tomorrow we are going to cash in my birthday burger at Red Robin with friends, and Friday night is another birthday dinner with my parents.

Bryan also did a great job of making last night special by buying me flowers, Sour Patch Kids, and a card on his way home from work. He also took me to dinner at Claim Jumpers in Bridgeport and ice cream at Coldstone and took me to pick out my gift at Target: a backyard fire bowl. It was just nice to hang out and enjoy time together, on a Monday night, and best of all, I got to pick what we did! We haven't had time to set it up the fire pit yet, but I am looking forward to Smores by the weekend! I have already eaten half of my jumbo bag of Sour Patch Kids...but I can do whatever I want. It (was) my birthday! :-)

I Love Oregon!

Sometime last year I began noticing that many cars driving around had an outline of Oregon with a green heart in the center stuck onto their windows and bumpers. I wondered what the deal with that was and did a little online research. I found out that a percentage of the proceeds from the sales of such bumper stickers go to Oregon non-profit agencies. So this "fad" is actually helpful to many organizations. Then I wondered, where do I find one?

Our former neighbors, who always seem to know whats up, put one on their jeep and we asked where they got theirs. Ummm, in the Made in Oregon store, of course! Duh! So while waiting for our flight two weeks ago to Omaha, Bryan bought me this sticker (he remembered my fascination while in the meantime I had forgotten!). Not only is buying this sticker it doing good for Oregon, but it is also symbolic to us because the more we travel to other locations in other states, the more we realize how much we love Oregon. And people in other states seem to really appreciate how beautiful Oregon is and how much it has to offer, which makes us more proud to be Oregonians.

And while I still am torn on whether I should actually stick it on my car, next to my "I (heart) my Honda" sticker (which sometimes I regret because I am not a big fan of stickers as it is) , for now this Oregon sticker happily resides on my picture board over my desk and reminds me daily how happy I am to call Oregon home.

If you want more information, go to heartinoregon.com. :-)

Narrowly escaping my demise...one day at a time

Mondays through Wednesdays I drive into Portland on Barnes Road/Burnside, which runs through the West Hills parallel to Highway 26, and it is usually less crowded and faster, but curvier. Usually it works out well for me to get to work on time in the mornings and home at a decent pace during rush hour in the evenings,without any delays. However, the last two afternoons I have successfully avoided two accidents of which both were the other driver's fault. Cause: Idiot-ism.

Yesterday, a car came around the curve, heading in the opposite direction, though he was in my lane. I swerved, narrowly missing the car on my other side, and he swerved, narrowly missing the car that was in the lane he was supposed to be in. Today, a Land Rover decided to outrun the length of his own lane rather than properly merging into mine. I had my eye on him and would have politely obliged, had there not been a narrow opening into a tunnel directly in front of me. I had to literally stop on the road and let him in off the dirt shoulder where his lane ended. He proceeded into the tunnel without even braking.

In both of these cases I am assuming that if the driver was not an idiot then maybe he/she had an emergency or it was their first time driving on that road. However, I am hoping that tomorrow there will be no "third time is the charm".

Silver Creek Falls

The trip we took today to Silver Creek Falls near Salem was originally planned in secret by Bryan for our anniversary. However, being as how our anniversary fell in between two other weddings in other states, we waited until the day before my birthday and made it into a birthday celebration instead! Bryan even added a homemade/"man"made breakfast of eggs, bacon and blueberry pancakes especially for me (we stopped at the Hillsboro Farmers Market yesterday to pick up a fresh batch of berries), which I thought was a sweet and unexpected touch. The only bummer about today was that we didn't get to make it to church and it rained! But we didn't let that stop us as we hiked to 3 (!) of the 10 waterfalls, which were all so beautiful. Instead, we let laziness stop us :-). The hikes to the other waterfalls were very steep and we were both too tired, but what we did see was wonderful. We also drove around the entire perimeter of the state park and ate a yummy lunch at the lodge. It was good we did not spend very much longer there because we were parked on 1-5 on the way home and it took us nearly three hours to get home though it would only take half that time! Overall it was a nice day together, taking in some new Oregon scenery. Now I should be in cleaning mode and prepping for the week ahead, once I get up the motivation *sigh*.

This weekend we also went to dinner at our neighborhood pizzeria and joined some friends downtown at a comedy club, for another friend's birthday that was on Friday. This was a new experience for us, as we don't get downtown too often, and it was lots of fun!

This week I will probably eat more than I should, as I have many coupon offers for free birthday meals and treats at various locations, and a standing offer at my parent's house for a birthday dinner of my choice ;-). We already hit up DQ last night for a mint Oreo blizzard that was mmmm mmmm yummy! To counteract the potentially negative effects on my diet I have been exercising like a crazy woman! Im crossing my fingers that those extra five pounds of vacation food will be gone come Wednesday! Of course, the extra hiking today should help as well...at least Im banking on it!

The last picture of Fuz was taken this week, when he was relentless in leaving us alone upon our arrival back at home. To say he was lonely during the week we were gone would be an understatement. Some of you may wonder, how can we ever leave such an adorable kitty? The answer is he makes it very, very difficult. Literally. He will sit on top of everything, including your feet!

Monkey Love

David's Wedding/Iowa and July 4th/Omaha 2009

We had the best trip together ever! As I told Bryan, I would much rather be with him and family in the middle of nowhere having fun than anywhere else. And fun we had!

We made it to Omaha without incident on Monday, found a shuttle to our hotel after getting our luggage and prepared for our busy Tuesday, which we spent at the third largest zoo in the nation (says a confident source): The Henry Doorly Omaha Zoo. It was awesome and half our pictures are literally of this place, which beat out the Oregon zoo with their awesome, unique exhibits, hands down. While waiting for my cousin David to fly in on Tuesday night, we had our hired cheauffer for the day (by the name of Scott) drive us to the movies where we saw "The Proposal" and a bit of "Transformers" (we were wasting time so decided to sneak in). We caught the shuttle in time to get back to the airport for dinner and for David's arrival, and after he rented a car we made the 80 mile trek to Denison, Iowa.

Denison Iowa is the hometown of Donna Reed, the famous wife/mother in the movie "Its a Wonderful Life" and also star/producer/director of the Donna Reed Show which was a big hit on tv in the 50's (?). Thus, Denison is made unique by this one fact and otherwise it is just a small farm town in the middle of nowhere. Even smaller is Kiron, which is the town the bride was from. We visited her farm and played with her dog and got to know her father and grandfather while she was away getting ready for the wedding. Then David took us to Pizza Hut for lunch and we went to the town pool, which had an awesome diving board and two giant slides. After we played for a bit, both David's parents (my aunt and uncle) and my parents got into town so we went back to the hotel to visit awhile before both families and friends on both sides of the wedding got together for a mexican dinner at a restaurant in town. I am sure the town is still reaping the benefits of the 250+ people there last week on account of the wedding (most people flew in from other states/countries). After dropping the parents off at the hotel, we went to a "bonfire" out at the farm which wasn't that big but the smores were good, and it was fun getting to know the bride's side of the family and all their friends.

On Thursday, Bryan, my parents and I went to the Donna Reed museum in town and then to lunch with everyone else at the local Dairy Queen. After polishing off a healthy dose of grease and calories, we went to the lake where David and his friends played volleyball and we just lounged and waded in the nasty, murky water. We left in time to get back to the hotel, take a nap and a shower, and get ready for the rehearsal dinner. After the dinner, we went to another museum outside of town that was devoted to antiques and collectibles, such as guns, model tractors, and an entire classroom made out of genuine schoolhouse furniture used in the 1920s. The next day we visited our family at the bed and breakfast some were staying at and then Bryan, my parents and I went out for gluten free pizza ( a novelty though necessary for Dad) and rested in preparation for the wedding, which lasted from 3:30 until 10:30 or 11 at night. The wedding was beautiful and special in many ways. After 3 years of marriage, it put a lot of things back into perspective for me and I really admire my cousin in numerous ways. The only downfall was that it rained so they could not have the fireworks finale they were hoping for.

Saturday was mostly spent eating. The families met back at the church for leftover wedding/rehearsal food and then we spent more time out at the farm where Bryan got to drive a huge tractor, which was the highlight of his vacation! I am shocked at his farm-boy qualities of which I had no idea. I knew I loved him for a reason ;-) We said goodbye and Mom and Dad drove us back to Omaha for the night. After checking into our hotel, we met up with our former neighbor Annie, who is working near Omaha and has parents and in-laws who live there. She offered us a BBQ dinner and fireworks show so we said yes! It was a lot of fun and a good way to end our vacation. We got back to the hotel somewhat early and went straight to bed, so we would not miss our 5:45 am wakeup call.

The shuttle picked us up Sunday morning and took us to the airport, to where there were no crowds (there were no crowds anywhere we went- even to the zoo!) and it took us less than 10 minutes to check in and pass security and get to our gate. We waited at our gate for 2 hours, then waited on our plane for 1/2 hour, then unloaded from our plane to wait 2 more hours while the mechanics investigated a mysterious popping sound the pilots heard while preparing for takeoff. Following close investigation, the engines were deemed safe and we re-loaded the plane, only to make it to Dallas two hours after our connecting flight left, so we had to wait some more. Needless to say, by the time we got home on Sunday we were tired! But we had SOOOOOOOOOOO much fun and it was so wonderful to see family again and meet new family! Now I am just counting the days until Saturday when I can sleep in. And though it was fun, we hopefully will have no more trips for awhile. I am looking forward to downtime at home this summer!

What I would rather be doing right now....

So I have officially been done with work now for a month, and I have two left until school starts again. Life still has not slowed down (as documented by the alarming decrease in blog posts). Today I was babysitting and on the computer (baby was sleeping) and I was reading about all these tv shows that sound good, and then I read an article about all the summer drinks and ice cream treats to avoid and it just made me want them all the more. So I decided I am going to quit procrastinating on my summer projects and just get them done. That way I can eat and watch tv to my heart's content and truly enjoy summer.

But wait....

I just went to WW and in the last two weeks since I weighed in last I gained 5 pounds. Grrrr...at least I have my reasons. Fast food on the go and good ol' down home cookin' at the farm. But mostly just fast food on the go...So much for my selfish indulgences. Even when I am away from home they WILL find me.

And on another note regarding school: I am now officially the new third grade teacher! I found out at the airport in Dallas on our way to Iowa that the decision had been made after some teachers and I got together to discuss the increase in enrollment at my school next year and how to accomodate the numbers. Now, provided nothing changes between now and the time school starts (like if I am blessed with other job opportunities to choose from)I will have the same class I started at LCS with. And I am pretty sure after this third year of teaching I will end with this class, to pursue other avenues of occupations for a bit...so if things go according to plan it should all work out nicely.