Life is a Gamble

Buh Bye

2011-12-27T09:54:00.001-05:00

So I got rid of Facebook today. I didn't really see the point of having it. I mean yes a few people talked to me on it but outside of that it was sucking the life out of me. It wasn't this joyful place to see how friends and family were doing. It was draining me of free time, of desire to be around people and goodwill towards my fellow man.

Only a few people will notice. I'm not known for my adoring fan's. Mostly it's friends that live in the same city as me who I never see. Maybe I'll get a random thumbs up from people but otherwise it's pretty pointless.

If you read my weight loss blog you will see I had a falling out of sorts with someone which lead me to not being involved with my fitness group. I doubt they'll even notice. I'm also thinking about taking a step back from my church. For a number of reason's. I've never really been a "church" person. I have a strong faith but that faith isn't wrapped up in a building or a place or a person. Daniel needs to go to church so he'll still be going but I think I'll just hang back and read my Bible in the time I normally spend at church. I'll miss the few people that I've gotten to know and who have taken the time to get to know me. It will be sad not to get a chance to talk to people and be social but in the words of my father, " C'est la vie!"

Well I'm off to put the niece down for her nap.

Crazy months

2011-12-05T06:58:00.001-05:00

So I've been having the craziest couple of months. I broke my baby toe on my right foot...TWICE. I don't know if it's really considered two separate times or that I just re-broke it from the first time. Also I threw my back out. I've had bad back problems since I was in a horrible car accident when I was my late teens. It's been a problem that has plagued me for a really long time. It gets so bad I'm unable to walk. On top of that I had a tetanus scare after pruning the rose bushes outside the house.

Also during this time my mother and I had a falling out where it looked like we wouldn't be talking to each other ever again. It was really hard since growing up in the military my parents were the only family I had. My extended family lived states side while we roamed the Caribbean.

All of this took a toll on me mentally and physically. There were days when I just didn't feel like dealing with anything. I was supposed to be involved in a ladies Bible study but most of the time I was sick and couldn't make it. I wasn't really able to keep up with the housework. It was just bad.

It's times likes these that make me thankful for Daniel. He really is my rock. When I broke my toe the first time he moved our mattress downstairs because I couldn't make it up the stairs. He'd come home from work and clean and cook. Daniel's always been the guy who could make me laugh even when I didn't want too.

It's been a crazy couple of month and I'm just ready for the new year to begin. It will be the last year of my twenties, we'll have been married for 4 years, living in our house for 3 years and we'll be planning some big things for our future.

Covering my head.

2011-11-19T19:54:00.001-05:00

So I've been praying on something for a really long time. As most of you know I'm Catholic and traditionally when I attended Mass I would wear a mantilla. I have my personal reason's for doing it as well as 1 Corinthians 11 2-16. Since I got married Daniel and I have always gone to either a Methodist, Baptist, or a Non-Denominational church where the tradition of head covering isn't "normal" outside of the rare hat.

During this time something has been calling me back to wearing a mantilla. Maybe I need it to make me focus more on what the pastor is saying vs. who's walking in late. I donno. But in the last 3 years this subject has been popping up in my head. Something is leading back to wearing a head covering in church.

Finally I broke down and talked to Daniel about it and he agreed that if it's something that I'm being lead to do he'll support my decision. Here's the interesting part. As part of the idea of wearing a head covering you are meant not to be seen as a distraction to others. When I went to Mass I occasionally saw another woman wearing a mantilla or some other head covering but it wasn't seen as "strange". Women have worn them in the Catholic church since forever. Since I go to an amazing Non-Denominational while I doubt anyone would think I was strange (maybe they think I'm strange anyway. =) ) it might be a distraction to some. During the winter time I know I can get away with a scarf and just pull it over my head when we get to church but that wont be cutting it on days when I'm serving or in the summer. I've been looking around online and stumbled onto Snood's which are worn by married Orthodox Jewish women. So I ordered two so I can start wearing them to church.

I feel really happy and relieved by my decision. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my heart about this since it's something that I've been praying about for a very long time.

Toddlers and coffee tables

2011-11-14T17:14:00.001-05:00

So for the next couple of months I'm going to babysitting my niece.

Well let me back up some. I don't have kids. And there are no real plans to change that fact. I love kids, we just don't feel the need to have any little bundles of joy ourselves. I know a lot of parents out there who are doing a bang up job raising little pinballs.....I just don't feel the need to be one of them.

Since I have the luxury not to have to work my sister-in-law came to me and wanted to know if I'd watch my niece. I said sure and jumped right into it since originally I was in school to become a teacher. I'm familiar with babies and prefer this age to older kids. There is even a kinda joke floating around at my church that if your kid gets to be 2 they drop from my radar and I'm on to the next little baby. Crying doesn't phase me, vomit doesn't bother me and changing diapers doesn't stop me.

So I'm hosting my niece Gracie for the next 7 months. Even with my prior experience this is the longest amount of time I've spent alone with a kid at a single go.

It's nerve racking. She's a human pinball. One moment she's jumping on the couch, the next she's trying to ride the dog like a pony and then she's trying to use me as a human lazy-boy. Her favorite thing to do is open her mouth and let Lottie kiss her. She thinks this is hilarious and she'll give you this death stare if you try to stop her. I've watched the same Bubble Guppies episode like 10 times already. It's the only thing I can do that will make her sit in one spot long enough so I can take my eyes of her for a moment. If I put it on I know I have about 2 minutes to run into the kitchen to fix lunch or gab her bottle. It's nice because she's learned to say apple, milk and soap.

Daniel tries to keep the coffee table clean during the week but I just laugh at him. That's where the pin ball eats. There is no point trying to polish the coffee table because tomorrow she'll just smash whatever I'm feeding her into it because it makes Lottie jump up to lick it. She thinks that's hilarious too.

Diapers.......did I mention I don't have kids.

It's pretty tiring but it's worth it because prior to this I only got to see her every so often at family get together's. She never really took to me. But now...haha take that everyone......we have our own inside jokes now....bam bam....chicha chicha bam barm....whoaaa cha-cha-cha.

Oh and she refuses to call my dog anything but Sizzles which is my dog's father's name.

R.A.C.K.

2011-10-30T08:48:00.000-04:00

This year I stumbled on a blog that this lady had wrote about how her family does Random Acts of Christmas Kindness and it struck a cord with me. She uses it as a way to show her daughters,

"about loving others and in the process, sharing God’s love for others."

What she does is for every day of Advent her family does a different act of kindness. Here's a list of things she's done in the past.

Taping candy canes to ATM machines around town
Bringing the girls riding instructor {and barn manager} hot cocoa and a muffin early one morning
Taping quarters to vending and toy machines around town
Grocery shopping for the sole purpose of putting it in the “Food for Families” box in the entryway of the store
Plugging meters around town {and lots of fun explaining to the girls what “plugging” a meter meant!}
Donating 72 stockings with treats, candy and a craft for second graders at a school in need
Ringing Salvation Army bells
Handing out Starbucks gift cards {$5.00 value each}
Paid past due library fees for 5 people
Donated a poinsettia to the girls school
Bought and donated toys for “Toys 4 Tots”
Brought the girls teachers their favorite Starbucks drinks
Brought treats to the employees of our local Post Office branch
Purged from the girls personal “library” and donated to a school library in need

The woman who's blog I found actually stole the idea from another blogger who's website.

Anyway, the idea has really hit home with me and made me want to try to do something similar. I don't have the resources to do all of the things she talked about so I've decided on doing my own Random Acts of Christmas Kindness. This year Daniel and I are going to buy 20 $5 gas or grocery gift cards and mail them in Christmas cards to people. I settled on the gas or grocery cards because I'm a shade more practical then Starbucks and it's something you know people need. $5 might not buy much but it might help a person out. We decided on mailing them because as I was talking to Daniel about this we pasted this older lady at her mail box and I could tell all her mail was bills and it made me think, "I wonder when was the last time that lady received a nice card in the mail?". When was the last time someone mailed you a card randomly? I send and receive cards at Christmas but outside of that my mail is all junk. So on December 10th our little R.A.C.K. Christmas cards will be send out into the world. And no you wont be getting one. =)

Things I'm loving right now

2011-10-29T14:43:00.001-04:00

So I'm like in love with two new things right now.

1) Pinterest- OMG. I've been in love with this site since I got an invite. It's like an online pin board. You can save photo's of anything found online to different boards. I have ones for home, clothes, places, Daniel and even Lottie. It's amazing because sometime I'll see something I like and when I go to look for it again I can't remember what website I saw it on. Now can just pin it. I have a pin it icon on my toolbar, so I just click it, name it, and post it to the corresponding board. Simple!!! Plus there is a whole community on Pinterest. I can see these amazing crafts that other people have made. And then there is the recipes section. There is a never ending supply of recipes. It's great for entertaining. I've already made a couple of them. All in all there are 31 different categories for boards. Best of all you can follow your friends.

2) Pollo Tropical- We have this place here that has some of the best yummy food. They are local FL restaurants with a couple out of state. They have this cilantro garlic sauce which is divine. We stopped in today to try it out. We went through the drive through and it's a good idea to either grab a menu prior to getting to the drive through or checking it out online. There is a lot of different combination's and we sounded like a pair of noobs at the window. The food was quick and oh so tasty.

Trains vs. Planes

2011-10-09T22:48:00.000-04:00

So I'm one of these weirdo people that like to plan trips. Not take the trips but just plan trips. At any given time I have about 4 of these mental trips going in my head. I read somewhere that planning a trip is just as rewarding as taking the trips. Any who I said all that to say this.....The rail system in America STINKS. Amtrak is failing and we don't have high speed rail her in the states. They say that is because there isn't any demand for rail. I think I know why.

When I was kicking around the idea of going to Chicago, Daniel tossed out the idea of taking the train up there. We took a local sightseeing train on our honeymoon and LOVED it so we've always wanted to take a trip via rail. So I went to the Amtrak website and plugged in the information for our fake trip. We picked March of 2012 and said we wanted to leave March 4th and return March 9th. Then I was hit with the tragic truth. To take the trip to Chicago is would cost $579 and take us 40 hours EACH WAY to get there. Whaaaaa?!?!?!? It would involve switching trains with one layover of 8 hours in DC. Just to give you an idea of how crazy that is I went to Priceline and punched in the same dates and we could fly there in less then 4 hours and it would only cost us $56 more. Hmmmm I wonder which one we would pick? Give up 80 hours and save $56 or spend $56 and save 72 hours of my life. Which one....which one?

I like traveling by train. That trip on our honeymoon was amazing and relaxing. No TSA to worry about. No weighting suitcases. No being cramped up with the seat in front of you invading your personal space. I would LOVE to say goodbye to the unfriendly skies but we don't have any other alternative.

Oh well I'm off to plan my mental trip to Bora Bora.

Knocking them out left and right.....

2011-04-28T07:38:00.000-04:00

Be a mother
Go to Naples Italy
Skydive
Take a road trip to CA
Stay at Disney's Wilderness Lodge
Learn to play the piano
Learn Italian
Bake a cake from scratch
Go to Vegas (Planning a trip next year)
See Beatles Love (Planning to see it on the above trip)
Attend a taping of the Martha Steward Show.
Go to a Sun's game
Do a mission's trip.
Learn to fly a plane
Knit a scarf
Learn First Aid and CPR(again)
Take Daniel to DC
Take a cruise (Done)
Take a trip on a train
Dress up for a costume party
See the cherry blossoms in Japan
Sleep in a hammock
Go camping
Go snorkeling
Sit on a jury
Own a Louis Vuitton
Kiss the Blarney Stone
Take ballroom dancing lessons
Do fire walking
See the Northern Lights
See the Fjords of Norway
Go to the Pike Place Market in Seattle
Read the Bible cover to cover
Learn to let go of anger
Unplug the TV for a month
Dye my hair red
Take a vacation without a camera
Buy something nauseatingly extravagant
Go to a film premiere
Travel to Ireland
Renew my vows with Daniel on a beach just the two of us
Do a Polar Plunge
Visit the White House
Visit Buckingham Palace
Have a reason to wear a ball gown
Own a really good camera
Ride in a Limo (Might do the Limo xfer from airport on the LV trip)
Ride the London Eye
Watch the sunrise at a beach
Watch the sunset at a beach
Achieve my ideal weight
Play a round of Golf
Take a social etiquette class
Fly First Class
Learn sign language
Take a trip with my Mom
Take a carriage ride in Central Park
Watch all 6 Star Wars movies back-to-back
Try and "In & Out" burger (Done while in California)
Log 100 hours on the Wii Fit
Use a metal detector at the beach
Spend the day at a spa
Go canoeing
See Phantom of the Opera on Broadway
Drive a wickedly cool car
Take my parents to dinner (Done on 4/26)
Play Poker at The Orange Park Poker Room
Wear a bikini in public
See the Taj Mahal
Receive flowers for no reason
Toured the UN
Rent the Hermes Vintage Crocodile Kelly Handbag
Attend at least one major sporting event: the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the U.S. Open.
Go back to college and graduate
Meet my half-brother
Live in New Orleans
Be on Jeopardy
Have over 1,000 entries on my blog
Forgive
Be admired by at least someone other than Daniel
Paint more
Sell one of my paintings
Meet either of the two remaining Beatles
Stop drinking soda
Go on a full-blown Shopping Spree at a Mall
Finish my year in photo's
Raise my children as my mother did me.
Buy a "little black dress"
Have a beach bonfire
Score a YouTube hit
Touch a pyramid in Egypt
Go fishing on a boat
Go completely organic
Finish reading Devil Wears Prada (Done)
Be in a movie
Rent a house at the beach
Own a copy of Dance in the City and Dance in the Country by Renoir
Buy two more pairs of Tom's shoes
Learn proper posture
Own an expensive piece of jewelry
Never make a list like this again. 101 things? Man it's harder then it looks.

Fashion & me

2011-03-29T15:31:00.001-04:00

I'm far from a fashion plate. I've never been someone who spends a lot of money trying to look fashionable. As a plus size woman there isn't much to choose from. I can't run into Target and grab something cheap and fabulous. In the plus sized fashion world you have two basic choices cheap, shapeless, colorless ugly grandma wear or expensive semi decent last year designs. I could go and be the avantguard plus sized girl where I don't seem like I care about fashion or that I'm plus sized. The problem is that I feel my sense of style is lady like glam (think Charlotte from Sex in the City).

Right now I'm watching The September Issue on Netflix. Trying to gleam nuggets of style from watching the people at Vogue. It's funny because I've never even opened a copy of the magazine. Manly because I don't live in that world. In the high fashion realm I don't exist. I'm a woman of color who's plus sized. I might as well not even try. LOL.

I wrote all that to say I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to wear to San Fran. I want to look good. I want to seem like I'm a first class traveler. So far I've got a white shirt with a light blue paisley scarf with black ballerina slippers. What I'm trying to decide now is do I travel in jeans or these gray slacks that I have that are really comfy? I'm also aware that it's gonna be chilly both on the plane and in San Fran. I have a heavy light gray sweater that I'm thinking about wearing. Once I land I'm trying to figure out what to wear. I don't know why I'm trying to look more glam while traveling to see people I'll never see again. But I donno. Maybe I want to use this trip to break my mold.

I guess I'll just have to see. And hope for the best.

We're going to California

2011-03-18T15:24:00.000-04:00

By some amazing miracle Daniel and I are going to California. We'll be flying to San Fransisco for a week. This is one of the most exciting things that has happened to me. We're both very happy for so many reasons.

This will be the farthest we've traveled from home together, the first plane trip for Daniel, the first time we've been to the west coast. I'm so excited since this will be the first big city that we've visited. I'm so excited I grabbed the suitcases out and started my packing list even though we have plenty of time to do it. Yay!!!!!

Update: My bucket list

2011-02-09T10:45:00.003-05:00

This is my bucket list. All the things I'd like to do before I die. Some are silly, some are unrealistic, but all of them are things I'd to get around to doing before I die.

Be a mother
Go to Naples Italy
Skydive
Take a road trip to CA
Stay at Disney's Wilderness Lodge
Learn to play the piano
Learn Italian
Bake a cake from scratch
Go to Vegas (Planning a trip next year)
See Beatles Love (Planning to see it on the above trip)
Attend a taping of the Martha Steward Show.
Go to a Sun's game
Do a mission's trip.
Learn to fly a plane
Knit a scarf
Learn First Aid and CPR(again)
Take Daniel to DC
Take a cruise (Done)
Take a trip on a train
Dress up for a costume party
See the cherry blossoms in Japan
Sleep in a hammock
Go camping
Go snorkeling
Sit on a jury
Own a Louis Vuitton
Kiss the Blarney Stone
Take ballroom dancing lessons
Do fire walking
See the Northern Lights
See the Fjords of Norway
Go to the Pike Place Market in Seattle
Read the Bible cover to cover
Learn to let go of anger
Unplug the TV for a month
Dye my hair red
Take a vacation without a camera
Buy something nauseatingly extravagant
Go to a film premiere
Travel to Ireland
Renew my vows with Daniel on a beach just the two of us
Do a Polar Plunge
Visit the White House
Visit Buckingham Palace
Have a reason to wear a ball gown
Own a really good camera
Ride in a Limo (Might do the Limo xfer from airport on the LV trip)
Ride the London Eye
Watch the sunrise at a beach
Watch the sunset at a beach
Achieve my ideal weight
Play a round of Golf
Take a social etiquette class
Fly First Class
Learn sign language
Take a trip with my Mom
Take a carriage ride in Central Park
Watch all 6 Star Wars movies back-to-back
Try and "In & Out" burger
Log 100 hours on the Wii Fit
Use a metal detector at the beach
Spend the day at a spa
Go canoeing
See Phantom of the Opera on Broadway
Drive a wickedly cool car
Take my parents to dinner
Play Poker at The Orange Park Poker Room
Wear a bikini in public
See the Taj Mahal
Receive flowers for no reason
Toured the UN
Rent the Hermes Vintage Crocodile Kelly Handbag
Attend at least one major sporting event: the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the U.S. Open.
Go back to college and graduate
Meet my half-brother
Live in New Orleans
Be on Jeopardy
Have over 1,000 entries on my blog
Forgive
Be admired by at least someone other than Daniel
Paint more
Sell one of my paintings
Meet either of the two remaining Beatles
Stop drinking soda
Go on a full-blown Shopping Spree at a Mall
Finish my year in photo's
Raise my children as my mother did me.
Buy a "little black dress"
Have a beach bonfire
Score a YouTube hit
Touch a pyramid in Egypt
Go fishing on a boat
Go completely organic
Finish reading Devil Wears Prada (Done)
Be in a movie
Rent a house at the beach
Own a copy of Dance in the City and Dance in the Country by Renoir
Buy two more pairs of Tom's shoes
Learn proper posture
Own an expensive piece of jewelry
Never make a list like this again. 101 things? Man it's harder then it looks.

Wow time flies

2010-12-28T07:28:00.000-05:00

I know we've kinda been MIA again but December kinda crept up on us. We got back from the cruise and then had to throw ourselves into getting ready for Christmas. The cruise was a blast and I'm going to write about that next and then finally Christmas. So check back later.

HAHAH They're out there....

2010-11-09T10:09:00.000-05:00

So I donno what's come over me the last few days but I've been obsessed with fashion, but more specifically plus sized fashion blogs. I've gone crazy reading about 6 different ones in the past two days. It's been really reaffirming to know that there is such a thing as plus size fashion.

Growing up my mother wasn't very supportive of my weight and would constantly harp on me to lose it. She would tell me over and over again how there wasn't any cute clothes for girls my size. I bought that hook line and sinker. I never thought even into my teen years that I could find cute plus sized clothes so I didn't bother looking. I never looked at fashion magazines other then to actually read the articles. I never looked around online. I just gave up and lived with the ugly, bland, yuck clothes.

In the recent years I've gotten a little more involved with fashion but it wasn't until I started selling mark. that I really started looking around for proof that I could be as cute as my slender friends. Then with the help of Google's new Instant Search I was awakened to the truth. I found other plus size women....and they look good. Seeing pages after pages of photo's of them being themselves, wearing cute clothes and feeling good about themselves made me feel good about myself.

It's a new day....and I want to go shopping....now I just need a job.

Here's the blogs I've been checking out.

The Curvy Girl's Guide to Fashion

Diary of a Fatshionista

Sound Bites

Young, Fat & Fabulous

Musings of a Fatshionista

Nothing intentional

2010-10-13T12:26:00.000-04:00

So we've kinda taken a break from blogging. Nothing intentional, it just kinda happened. Life got in the way. Plus we're kinda boring.

Here's what you missed.

We went to the zoo with our nephew.

I got the shoes I've been wanting for two years and I LOVE them.

Got some super exciting news about our next trip.

Our business have taken off.

I've fallen in love with Coolata from Dunkin Donuts and I'm brazen enough to drink them in Starbucks parking lots.

Been hanging out with my peeps.

Daniel and I have been going to Marriage on the Rock. It's been pretty good.

My new obsession is the move (500) days of Summer. I've must have seen like like 3 times this month.

I bought a dress that makes me look divine.

Another thing that has been an interesting change is that I've gotten more involved with make-up. I'm not a pro at it but I've been trying out different colors that I wouldn't normally. I got three mark. flip it's and they have a nice variety of colors I wouldn't normally buy for myself.

Another thing I've fallen in love with has been TLC's "Say Yes to the Dress: Big Bliss". It's a show that is about plus size ladies looking for wedding dresses. As a plus size woman who has gone though the wedding dress shopping ordeal I understand what it's like. There are so few shows on tv today that are about plus sizes let alone the oxymoron that is plus size fashion. I've seen every episode and there is a good buzz about it. I just hope it stays for a while. As I've always said, "Big girls need love too".

So far nothing....

2010-08-13T09:17:00.003-04:00

So I started selling mark. online and hosting giveaways and I haven't got a single sale to show for it. I've been working really hard on getting my name out there and letting everyone I know about mark and about how great the products really are. I've been wearing the eye shadows and the lipsticks and for a girl that isn't very girlie they are really at makeing me look good with minimum effort.

I don't know what more I could be doing to get my name out there and to drum up sales. I guess not having any friends is a bad thing when it comes to getting people to buy things you're selling.

I'm going to keep going as Daniel is being really supportive as is my parents. I know that it's going to take time and it's going to be work but it would be nice to just see one new comment on my mark. blog. It would be nice to see at least one sale, just so I know I'm not wasting my time....and money.

Work from home?

2010-07-28T12:36:00.004-04:00

So over the last couple of weeks or so I've been thinking about trying to figure out a way to work from home. I've thought it over and did some research and thought about Avon and Mary Kay. I looked into Mary Kay and the start up cost wasn't feasible to me but I'd already start in the hole. Nah.... I then started looking at Avon and some how ended up on the mark. site. Hummm this looks interesting. A bit younger, fresher and hipper then what I remember from Avon.

So I took the plunge....I decided to sell mark products. It feels really pretty good because I know it's something I can do from home. I'm really excited to start trying to work for myself. I've started a new Facebook page for my mark products as well as a website for my reviews of products, promo's and giveaways. So if you're interested in just finding out what mark. is you can check out my boutique or my product blogs.

Lottie

2010-07-16T17:49:00.003-04:00

So not to long ago we got a new puppy from Daniel's sister. Her dog had puppies with Daniel parents dog so it's a mix of a dachshund and some kind of Irish terrier. She's really cute and we were originally going to call her Naddie to go with our chihuahua Cincy. (Get it Cincy-Naddie) but after a week of calling her Naddie I changed it to Charlotte. Daniel felt that Charlotte was to long of a name for a dog so it was shorten to Lottie.

Lottie is a handful and had made me wonder if children is really in the cards for us. I mean we adore kids but enjoy the freedom that comes from being child free.

Anywho some of the things Lottie has learned this past couple of weeks.

To go up the stairs. I sat on the top of the stairs showing her over and over how to climb up with her finally figuring it out. She's gotten pretty fast at it now.
To go down the stairs. This was learned separately from going up the stairs so for a long time she would just whine at the top waiting for someone to take her down after she climb the stairs. Now she drops her front paws to the stair below and kinda just slides herself down. She hasn't figured out to bring her hind legs with her so she's half sitting on the top step and kinds moves herself to the right to let the hind legs fall to the step she's on.
She's started sleeping through the night. At first I was getting up about every 2 hours for her to go to the bathroom. Now she wakes up every 4. Looking forward to the day she goes all night.

Cincy hasn't really taken to her. Most of the time she gets ignored with a rare time when Cincy will allow herself to be chased around the couch. When Cincy gets done she'll just jump onto the couch since she knows Lottie can't get up there yet.

It lasted a week...and we're a family of four

2010-07-09T14:02:00.003-04:00

So I had this great idea about how we were going to save money by not having cable or internet. Well that lasted less then a week. On the day they were gonna come cut us off I caved. I had really good reasons. Daniel is taking classes for his job to get different certs and has to do them online twice a week. We had no idea how he was gonna study. That and life without Pandora or Accuradio isn't a life at all.

Also this week we welcomed a new bundle of joy into our family...no I'm not preggers we got a puppy. Daniel's sisters dog had puppies with Daniel's parent's dog. So now we have this floppy eared, big eyed dog following us all over the house. We went through like 3 names for her and finally settled on Lottie which is short for Charlotte. My mother is dead set against the idea and is pouting that I didn't listen to her. Oh well. Mom will just have to get over it. I've got more funny stories about Lottie so look for those coming soon.

Experiment Time

2010-06-28T10:06:00.004-04:00

So a while ago I wrote a blog about 101 things I wanted to do before I die and one of them was to unplug the tv for a whole month. I've also been wanting to cut internet and cable since we I saw a documentary called "No Impact Man" but I've never been able to convince Daniel to try it.

Well guess what? I finally talked Daniel into trying the experiment of not having cable and internet. I was only able to talk him into trying it for 6 months. I showed him how much we could save by not having the extra expense. I also showed him all the nice excursions we could take on our up coming cruise with us not having the extra expense.

Now comes the practical application of my experiment. Since Daniel has internet at work he wont miss it much. Since I'm home bound it will impact me more but I want to prove to myself (and my mother) that I can live without internet. Cable wise it's not really a big deal. We have the basic plan currently and only get about 30 different channels. Of the 30 we only watch about 5 of them. Of the 5, 3 are free over the air channels. The biggest things are blogging about the experiment and paying our bills since I normally do this with online bill pay.

Daniel asked me how am I going to pass the time and I've started thinking about it. I've been trying to knit a scarf now for about 2 years so that's first on my list. I've gotten away from reading which I used to do all the time. I have my crafts. I'll have time to visit my friends. I'm thinking life will become simpler. Who knows maybe Daniel and I will come to like it and stop having it all together. I doubt it but who knows.

Cruise Time

2010-06-24T13:17:00.003-04:00

So Daniel and I decided to take a cruise this year for our anniversary. At first we were going to go with a Norwegian Cruise out of Miami. Then we found a deal with Carnival cruising out of Jax. It came out cheaper because the taxes involved are cheaper here then in Miami.

We booked a balcony cabin and we are going to the Bahamas. Daniel contacted a DJ acquaintance from Nassau so we will know a local person that is willing to show us around. I'm not really wanting to go to a beach while we're in Nassau since the next day we're going to be going to the cruise lines private beach. So we're looking for historical things to do while in Nassau. Neither of us wants to go to Atlantis since we've read that the place is normally packed and we'd rather learn something about the history of the islands.

The next day we are going to a private island called Half Moon Cay. The big thing we're discussing is if we should try to rent a cabana on the island. They are about $200 but everyone RAVES about them. I found a video for them on Youtube. What do you guys think? Spurge or Save?

I'm getting kinda excited. We have a while till the cruise but I'm excited.

Photo blog

2010-06-24T12:19:00.004-04:00

So since Erin said I should add photo's to the blog I guess I will add two from my most recent date with my extremely sexy husband. We went to the Cummer Art Museum and Gardens.

Struggling.

2010-06-20T22:12:00.004-04:00

So I've been struggling trying to come up with content for this blog. I mean are any of you really interested in the day to day happenings of our life? Most of it is painfully mundane. Nothing of interest has happened. Birthdays have come and gone. Holidays have been celebrated. Other then that we're just living. I've had some idea for blog topics but Daniel prefers me not to wonder into the area's where I might ruffle feathers.

So basically you're pretty much looking at the last few days of this blog.

I love saving money....

2010-05-25T08:50:00.004-04:00

So a long time ago I reading online about real ways to save money. I stumbled on a website that gives you rebates on online purchases. It's beyond simple. You log in and look to see if your online store is there and you click on it and it gives you a rebate on your purchase. We've used it when we've booked hotels and earned 5% back. We've used it on business cards for Daniel and earned 10% back. The best part is every 3 months you get a big check for the total of the rebates. Simple. I love saving money.

Wanna check it out.....

http://tinyurl.com/29qwqzn

Life....moves....fast

2010-05-18T10:00:00.002-04:00

Wow life just kinda moves fast. You blink and months have gone buy. We've been in the house now for about 9 months. It's seems strange to think about any time before the house. There are things I love about it( I love our lake) and things I hate( drywall problem, shower problem and HOA drama). Daniel and I were talking the other day that if we won the lotto we would stay here but pretty much redo the whole house. Put in hardwoods, new counters, put my cork flooring in the kitchen, etc.

Another big thing is that two really good friends are pregnant. I'm so happy for them. They are already great mommas. It's been hard on me a personal level since Daniel and I have started trying for children but it hasn't happened yet. At first we were going to wait two years but decided neither of us is getting any younger. It's kinda hard on me since I see others and it seems so easy for them but not for us. Just have to put our faith in the Lord that He has a plan for us. Maybe not biological children but adopted child like I was. Just hoping to over come the money hurdle with adoption.

In happy news Daniel and I have made plans for our 2nd anniversary trip. We're taking a cruise this year. It's a really nice Norwegian out of Miami. A 5 day trip to the Caymans and Cozumel. We're not going to be traveling on our anniversary just as a celebration of the anniversary. We got a really good deal and a free upgrade for their best balcony. We were going to try for a ocean view room but we love sitting out on our deck here at the house and looking at the lake...and what is an ocean if not a huge lake. lol.

We finally held our housewarming. We just had it for family mostly and a few friends. I want to plan another party that is more laid back. Looking forward to football season so I can have more football paries.

How would you do as a 1930's housewife?

2010-04-15T12:28:00.004-04:00

For some reason I was thinking about the 30's and what it must have been like to live during that time. Dealing with the great depression and the dust bowl. I ended up stumbling on this in another blog. How would you rate as a 1930's housewife?

As a 1930s wife, I am
Superior

Take the test!

Oh and men there is a test to see how good of a 1930's husband you'd be.