Social Networking Sites

Dear Social Networking Site Lovers,
It's been metioned to me recently that I need to get on Facebook. I have a myspace account but honestly rarely get on it. I'm thinking about boycotting all social networking sites so that I don't have to worry about them any longer.

But here's my question-is there any benefit to Facebook? Can I connect with professionals on Facebook or will it just be more of my high school/college friends? Not that I don't love you guys, but if I'm going to maintan more than one page I need a really good reason. So, for those that are on Facebook-help me out here! Is it worthwhile? Am I a loser for not having one?

Sincerely,
Kinda Tired of Networking Sites in Arkansas

Bad Blogger!

****UPDATE***** Since I refuse to remove the spa picture because I think we are all beautiful here is proof that Morgan is not a "big ass pink whale" (see her inaccurate comment). I'm posting a picture from a year or so ago at Mollie's baby shower. Mollie- why the heck are you pregnant in all these pictures?! :)



TaDa! Morgan the beautiful:


And, in my defense I was preggers too.



I'm a terrible blogger. I haven't posted anything in a while, but in my defense life has gotten slightly more crazy over the past couple of weeks. The other half of our marketing and sales department at work was let go so I'm pulling double duty until we find a replacement. Not fun, but what are you gonna do? And, Jeremy is working the crazy ass noon to midnight shift at work so I've basically been a single mom for the past couple of weeks. Again, not fun. I always thought that I respected single moms- now I have a whole new concept of respect. God love them!





Last Saturday Morgan and I took Mollie to Chrysalis Day Spa in Hot Springs in lieu of a baby shower. Completely Mollie's idea because Morgan and I were all set to hang pink streamers and send out inviations but she insisted. And it was a TON of fun! Don't we look cute in our robes? My mom was nice enough to keep Emma long enough for all three of us to get massaged, buffed, and painted. I don't remember the last time I had so much fun-it felt like we were in college or high school all over again. I literally laughed so hard my sides hurt the rest of the day. And, to complete the nostalgic high school/college feeling we got shushed! The three of us were trying to sort out our robe/slipper arrangements and were apparently talking and laughing too loud so when we came out of the dressing room we were called "girls" and shushed! I was a little pissed off at the time because we were paying them large amounts of money and should be able to laugh if we wanted to, but oh well. And, I think we passed the point of being called girls when we hit 25. But anyway. We had a blast and have decided that we need to do something similar every 6 months or so, but at least once a year.





I've got a reminder in my Outlook calendar so don't think I'll let you forget!!

V-Day

Jeremy and I are kind of spoil sports. We don't celebrate V-Day like most couples-no huge bouquets, fancy dinners, etc. We buy gifts (cause we love presents) but that's about it. Jeremy, being the antisocial person that he is, hates going out to eat because of the crowds, and since Emma has come along it's just easier to celebrate at home with her.

This year our V-Day started out differently-with a trip to the pediatrician. ( I sincerely hope this doesn't become a tradition!) Emma had an asthma flare-up and we took her to get her oxygen level checked and make sure we didn't need yet another hospital stay. Luckily her oxygen level didn't warrant a trip to the hospital but we have had to give her the fast acting inhalation treatments every 4 hours around the clock the past few days. (Guess who gets to do that in the middle of the night?! If you said Jeremy I'm laughing my ass off at your craziness right now!)

So, the day didn't start out the best but we did get some nice quality quiet time at home this weekend. Since it was cold we just cozied up in the house and enjoyed playing with Emma. Oh, and for those interested in gifts I got Jeremy tickets to the Nickelback concert coming up in April and he got me some beautiful tulips (my fave), some shoes, and a wallet that I had eyeballed in the past. I never, ever would have bought this wallet for myself though because it didn't come from Trendy. I'm sorry Britt- Jeremy cheated on you-NOT ME! For those that don't know- my sis-in-law owns an accessories store in Malvern. Check out her myspace page-she's got tons of cute stuff!

And, we got possible bad news today. I took Emma in for her 15 mth checkup and the doc is sending her to an allergist. Her reaction to our dogs has gotten terrible. If she touches them she breaks out in a rash and gets red whelps all over. So, I'm terrified that the dogs are more of a problem than Jeremy wants to admit and it may be wreaking havoc on her asthma. I guess we'll find out. If the dogs have to go outside it won't be a problem with Rosie. She will not like it at all, but she'll live. Maybell cannot go outside though. Bulldogs are very sensitive to extreme temperatures and it can kill her, so I don't know what we'll do with her. I love my dogs, but Emma has to come first. End of story.

Anyway, here's hoping your weekend and V-Day were wonderful.

Is that sugar for me?!

Emma had her very first Valentine's Party yesterday. Her first class party ever also. Her class was pretty small that day with only 6 kids there that morning for the party but she enjoyed all the sugar anyway. She normally doesn't eat a lot of sweets so I think she was on a sugar rush all day. Her teacher said she only slept for 45 min and last night she was out like a light around 7:15. She was flat wore out! And, of course I took pictures to document her "first". The party was short but sweet. You can't make too big a production out of a party for 1 year olds.

Speaking of food- before that little sugar celebration I had lost 2 pounds! Woo hoo! I think I could probably lose more if I could kick the Dr. Pepper habit. But I'm down to only 1 a day and I just don't think life would be worth living without a little caffeine. That or I wouldn't be worth living with!

I'm a huge fan of Hungry Girl so I bought her cookbook last week. Her gimmick is to take common meals that you eat every day but kick out the fat and calories. So far I've tried two recipes and I LOVE them. I made chicken quesadillas one night and Chicken Pot Pie another. (Money saving tip-you can purchase one package of 4 chicken breasts and it is enough for both meals.) I love her recipes because they are very easy to make, most of the ingredients are items you already have in your house (no searching for and purchasing an obscure seasoning you'll only use once), and the clincher-JEREMY WILL EAT IT! For those of you that know my hubby well, he adores fast food and just junk food/sweets in general. He would live off of Taco Bell if I let him and can finish a bag of candy between the grocery store and our house. If I even hint that a meal I'm cooking is healthy, or God forbid, low calorie he will immediately dislike it. As you can imagine that makes it hard to cook a dinner that both of us can eat and enjoy. But, NO complaints about the Hungry Girl meals! He doesn't know they're "diet" and has said he liked both meals. IF ANYONE CLUES HIM IN YOU'RE IN BIG TROUBLE!!

So, hope this information helps my girls out there. HG has a lot of recipes on her website but if you're looking for anything in particular let me know and I'll get you the recipe out of the cookbook.

Can you handle this awesomeness?!

My pictures are FINALLY in! So, what better way to spend my time while I'm sitting at the Sonic in Jacksonville waiting on a meeting than to upload my pictures for your viewing enjoyment? (Yes, I'm pushing the big 3-0 and I still don't like to eat by myself in restaurants. Sometimes I'll bring in my laptop and work but then I just feel snooty, so whatever.)

Check out the belly on her! (Emma. Please don't look at mine!) Can you tell she likes to eat?

My absolute FAVORITE. She's laughing, not screaming by the way.

Trying to bail out of Jeremy's arms . . .

My philosopy on pictures is probably different than most people. I adore candid shots, not so crazy about stiff, posed pictures. (You'll note I only bought one because I just couldn't get past her little starving marvin belly). Also, I really don't do themes. The bathtub shots were my least favorite but Jeremy loved them so there you go. Anyway, all in all I was pretty pleased. I think my little family is pretty darn cute!

R.I.P. Retarted Chicken

I knew 2009 would be a good year. The bane of my existence, retarted chicken, finally kicked the bucket this week. (Picture me doing a happy dance right now) I've schemed for two years on how to off this feathered fiend, but in the end she thwarted me by dying on her own. I'm not crazy or an animal abuser. I love animals, really. With two exceptions- cows and chickens. I'm afraid of cows, much to the amusement of several of the men that I work with, and I just plain hate chickens-they're mean.

I know this sounds odd so let me explain. I spent 5-6 years in elementary/middle school living on a faux farm. Faux because we had cows and chickens. That was it. We didn't have any other livestock nor did we plant and grow food. Just stupid cows and chickens. I'm scared of cows because I almost got trampled by several of them one day. They're big and stupid which equals dangerous in my book. And I hate chickens because they're mean. It was my chore to collect the eggs from the hens each day. I had to go in with a wiffle bat because apparently hens get seriously pissed off when you try to take their eggs. Very traumatic experiences I promise.

But there's always a silver lining. I have two very impressive skills that I can list on my resume thanks to those experiences. 1. I am the reigning champion of 4-wheeler cow tipping, and 2. I can knock a chicken over 50 feet away with a wiffle bat. (It's all about a proper swing.) See-aren't you impressed?

Now that my phobia and hatred is fully explained, back to retarted chicken. Jeremy thought it would be hilarious to get me a few baby chicks a couple of years ago for my birthday. A gag gift that he promises to NEVER EVER repeat. Chicken #1 died a mysterious death . . . but retarted chicken hung in there for a few years despite my many attempts to feed her to Dakota.

So, in remembrance of retarted chicken I'm going to take a moment . . . . to decide what I'm going to order tomorrow when I go to Chick-fil-a to celebrate! Grilled or breaded? Ha!!

There is hope!

This past weekend reaffirmed my belief that anything is possible.

First, Emma's surgery on Friday went really well. I was super nervous about her being put under anesthesia due to her asthma and our stint in the ER the weekend before. But, it went great. The first three hours or so after surgery were a nightmare though. Emma was absolutely inconsolable after the surgery; crying and just beside herself. Apparently this is normal for little kids. She finally took a nap in my lap and when she woke up it was like nothing had happened. Amazing! I truly think she feels better too without all of the blockage in her ears. The ENT said she probably was in pain too but had just become accustomed to it. She's almost like a completely different child. Case in point- She totally tried to upstage Mollie at her own baby shower. All of the attendees were sitting in a circle and Emma took it upon herself to jump right in the middle and dance, laugh, run around, and generally just show off. She thrived on the applause (which everyone was gracious enough to give her). She hasn't quite grasped the concept that the world does not revolve around her! Sorry again Mollie!!

She and Baylie seem to be getting along famously now. Baylie always wanted to be touching Emma's arm and Emma kept stroking Baylie's hair. She has total hair envy I think. Aren't they cuties?

And, dum dum da dum- Jeremy said that he needed to get started on renovating our bathroom and completing our half-finished chainlink fence. Then, he's going to build our deck out back! All within the next few months! There is a God and He heard my prayers!

And I found my brightest beacon of hope last night while trying to organize some of my junk. It came in the form of a wrinkled yellow piece of paper with William Frazier's chicken scratch/handwriting on it. The personalized workout plan William had created for Mollie and I while we were all at UCA! While Mollie and I were roomies in our fabulous apartment in Conway we would meet the MCHS crew 3-4 days a week at the Hyper Center on campus to work out. (The MCHS crew consisted of the three of us plus Brooks Tune, Aaron Eppler, and occasionally Josh Austin.) William came up with this kick ass workout plan for us and I must say I have never been in better shape. (Even when I was being yelled at on a daily basis to run in high school.) We had so much fun getting together every afternoon . . . ahh memories. So anyway, I found this and my hope in fitting into my pre-Emma clothes has been restored. Her surgery and other insane work issues have kept me out of the gym so far despite my recent promise but all of that is going to change because I now have a surefire plan again! William Frazier-my hero!

And, since I'm being hopeful I dropped off my taxes today so cross your fingers for me that my CPA tells me I'm getting a really large tax return this year- Mama needs to go shopping!!