sunny side of life

I’ve decided that there are lots of people in my life opening there own businesses.

My mom’s cousin (which would make her my 1st cousin once removed? 2nd cousin?) just opened her own dessert business called Cake.

Her stuff is awesome!

I’ve been to 2 of her open houses to date, and let me tell ya, I’d better avoid going to any more if I want to keep my fabulous figure!

Anyway, you should go check her out because she’s super-talented!

She made the lamb cookies we had at Lemon’s shower last weekend and not only did they look fabulous, but they tasted great too!

And, not that this really matters in terms of how good she is, but her business colors were inspired by my wedding colors - pink & brown!

How fun!

Now, go buy something.

Hubby and I have been having a bit of car trouble lately. Perhaps this is because cars have ears and they heard Hubs and I discussing the possibility of trading them both in for a nice Corolla or Camry once he leaves in October. My reasoning behind the trade-in is another post entirely.

Anyway, Husband drives a 97 Honda Accord that was once mine. It certainly doesn’t owe us anything. It’s got over 100,000 miles on it and has never once had a transmission problem. I drive an 05 Scion xB (yes, the goofy box car). Recently, hubby’s car has had some minor issues that has made it un-drivable until we could get the repairs done, so he’s been taking my car to work, what with my being unemployed again and all.

So what does he do on the first day he drives it? He busts the tire, that’s what. He decided that driving around on a donut wouldn’t be so bad for a couple of days, so that’s what he was doing. Last Friday, I was finally able to get it into the shop for the tire-change, and some regular maintenance as well.

They actually finished the car on Friday in spite of the fact that we didn’t have a scheduled appointment, and Husband and I figured that his car was drivable enough to go pick mine up.

We were wrong.

Fortunately, we had already picked my car up by the time his decided it didn’t want to work anymore (they’re conspiring against us I tell you!) and the shop where we left his car was barely a mile away, so he made the rest of the drive just fine.

Saturday, they started the repairs on his car and they lasted into this afternoon. I went to pick the car up, and it was just as good as new. Finally! We have two vehicles again!

I tell you all of that to tell you this:

With summer just around the corner, I am of course, freaking out with the rest of America and trying to get my sorry rear into shape. (more like my sorry stomach, but you get the point) Last Wednesday was my first day back to my Cardio Kickboxing class in some time. I really enjoyed myself in spite of the fact that I could barely walk afterwards. The instructor just had a baby in January and has taken it upon herself to make the rest of us kill ourselves in this class right along with her.

So I was really excited - read: dreading - to start my week off with some really good exercise.

It should come as no surprise then that when I went down to the car to go to the class, that it chose that particular time not to start.

It’s like, dead or something.

Oh, the radio works just fine, and the air is doing great. Just the engine isn’t working. It doesn’t even make that little whirring sound like it even wants to try. Nothing.

So I walked my butt right back upstairs to the apartment and ate a Reese’s Easter Egg. I figure if I’m not working out, I may as well enjoy it. Right?

You know, this wife stuff is hard work.

I mean, there’s a lot of pressure involved in cooking a good, healthy meal.

I guess I just assumed that when I got married the cooking thing would just happen for me. My mom’s a freakin’ awesome cook, so why not me?

Thing is, my mom had a lot of practice. As the only responsible older sister (she has one sister older than her who was worthless) with parents who worked full-time, my mom, at a very young age, took over a lot of the duties that would have otherwise been her mother’s. So she was cooking full meals for 7 people long before she ever got married. Funny, she ended up having 5 kids and eventually cooking for 7 people again. Anyway.

Because my mom is the awesome [super]woman she is, I never really had to worry about cooking; she did it. I knew the basics:

-spaghetti and meatballs/sauce

-grilled cheese with soup

-salad

-maccaroni and cheese

-most vegetables

You get it. But I never cooked a blow-you-away meal. I never had to. Until I got married. Now it’s all, I have to cook and clean and do laundry and where the heck is my mom she would do this for me if she were here! Take a deap breath.

So I got this Rachael Ray cookbook as a shower gift. To be perfectly honest, I’m not able to find much that my hubby or I really like from her. I mean, I love watching her, she’s so entertaining! The fact of the matter is that she over-herbs and onions everything. I realize I can just cut back on that stuff, but even still it’s just not our style.

You can imagine then, what our grocery shopping trips looked like:

Me, having a nervous breakdown because I don’t know what to cook for dinner for the next 2 weeks and if I don’t know what to cook, how in the world can we go shopping, what will we go shopping for?! And oh, I’m just so terrible at this, what made me think I could get married in the first place?!

Husband, sitting in awe over the way the female mind works, and trying desperately to fix the situation to make me feel better. Ain’t he sweet?

Fast-forward to my birthday (yes, that cycle was going on for 3 months!) when my SIL gives me a binder filled with good recipes and, AND the grocery list to match it! I’m saved!

We used it for the first time on Monday night, and not only was it SO much easier to set up a list with, BUT! somehow our grocery bill was cheaper then it’s ever been! And we hadn’t been grocery shopping in a while.

Last night, I made a honey-baked chicken recipe that she gave me with my own little tweaks, served over white rice with asparagus on the side, and it was a hit, a hit I tell you!

My husband actually commented more than once on the meal’s goodness, which is something he’s only done with one other recipe I’ve cooked, and I’m tellin’ ya man, I almost cried!

It feels good, being successful and all at this wifely stuff.

Talk about coming up on a busy weekend.  I still have 2 more people to do Christmas shopping for, plus I have some……finishing touches I have to make on 2 other gifts.

Tonight I’m going out to The Melting Pot for my birthday/Christmas celebration with H and E. I’m sure it will be an enjoyable night. Creating memories you know.

So Christmas is on Monday. I always find at this time of year I’m in constant conflict between trying to remember why we’re celebrating anything in the first place and getting lost in all of the hub-bub of the celebration. It is constantly in my prayers. I hate losing focus.

Anyway, I pray you all have the Merriest of Christmases!!! Many blessings to you and yours!

Update: Just got off the phone with friend H. They’re taking her grandfather off of life support and she’s really struggling with it. Please pray for her family during this difficult time. Especially at this time of year.

I went to the grocery store last night to pick up “supplies” for the broccoli, chicken alfredo I was making for the family. (which turned out spectacularly if I may say) Because lately I’ve taken to not caring about what people think about the way I look, I left my house in terry-cloth crop pants (sssoooo two years ago) and a log-sleeved white shirt from the Gap. I tell you this because peeking out from the bottom of those pants was the National Forrest of my legs.

I’m not sure if I mentioned this, but in preparation for getting my legs waxed I was told that my (leg) hair had to be at least a 1/4 inch long. Disgusting, right? It’s a total bummer because It’s summer time and rather than scare all the people at the local beach away, I’ve taken to just having ultra-white skin. Oh! Did I mention that while it is suggested that the hair be 1/4 inch long I have far surpassed this requirement? Yeah, I have man legs.

So, I’m walking through the store, picking up various items and finally make my way up to the self-checkout line. As I’m standing there waiting, a guy comes up and stands sort of diagonal, about 3 feet behind me. I look back and give the obligatory greeting smile and turn back around. Now, I don’t know about you, but while I’m waiting in line anywhere, I don’t just stand there and look forward. I browse the area. During my browsing process I notice in my peripheral vision that this man is still staring at me, so I turn and look at him. I guess he must have taken a look at the national forrest because he didn’t notice me glancing his way at all. He was steadily staring at my legs with this odd expression on his face that I can only translate into “She doesn’t look like a transvestite….” It’s a good thing I wasn’t wearing a tank top because I think my underarms might have created some competition for my legs. Seriously, am I the only fashion forward person in my general area? Does no one else get waxed? Step into the 21st century people, clearly I’m not the only one doing this.

Soon the person in front of me completed their order and I was able to start checking my stuff out. It’s a good thing too, because I almost forgot that I’ll probably never see that man again. I can’t wait until I’m not hairy anymore, incidents like this are happening more frequently and I can only imagine what the seamstress is going to be thinking tonight at my final dress fitting!

Being the “teacher’s pet” definitely has it’s perks. I know this because I have been, or have shared the title with only 1 or 2 other people in my life. (H and E, obviously I’m talking about you!)

This can also apply in the workplace. Especially if there is a male involved as we all know how their thinking goes. One of the main people helping (kicking and screaming) with this project I’m involved in at work is M. M loves me because I totally make him look good. That is to say that I do the work and he gets most of the credit. I am not bitter about this as M has to babysit the temps we’ve taken on to assist with this project. These temps, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, collectively have the IQ of an ice cube, so you can imagine how fun his job is.

Anyway, in order to motivate the temps to do the job that they were hired to do, M has come up with a couple of different schemes. He’s offered prizes and last Friday they even got an ice cream bar (which I willingly participated in), because as we all know, grown adults deserve prizes in the real world.

Today, M’s bright idea was to offer Rita’s Water Ice. SCORE! Problem though, M can’t go pick it up because if he leaves the kids alone for more than 5 minutes, chaos will inevitably ensue. The project lead can’t pick it up because she has a conference call. So, who will have to do it? ME! DOUBLE SCORE! The awesome part is that this place is a half hour from where I work so that means I’ll be gone for an hour in addition to my hour lunch. Add in the fact that my manager rocks and lets me leave an hour early every Friday and I love to avoid work at all costs and they’ve got one happy lady on their staff.

It’s a shame that we merged and the New Company sucks, because at this rate, I’d be willing to work here forever. Or at least until I give birth to more procrastinators, whichever comes first.

I’ve been doing really well on my “diet”. I don’t really like to call it a diet, as cheesy as it sounds, I really like to think of it as a lifestyle change. I needed to change the way I was eating, otherwise I would have continued down the ugly slope that is unhealthiness.

It just took a proposal and a $3,300 wedding gown for me to change. Hey, each to his own right? I’m serious though, no more eating til’ I feel sick. No more sugar binges, avoid bleached foods like flour and sugar. I’ve been doing well.

Right now though? Right now, I’m sitting here at the computer with not much to do and little mini Reese’s cups next to me in a baggy. I’ve already eaten 6 or so, and will probably have more after I’m done this entry, but I’ve earned it. Funny thing, my heart is beating faster, I feel like I need to take bigger, deeper breaths. Is this what it used to be like and I just didn’t realize it? Gosh. The combo of chocolate and peanut butter just overrides any decision to stop eating them.

So, maybe, I will finish the bag. Tomorrow? Tomorrow I will sweat my butt off doing cardio and pilates, wishing I’d never eaten these blasted things. But right now, they taste SO good.

Update: I polished the whole bag off. Now, this is not a big bag of Reese’s Cups that you buy in the store, it was a bag of twelve that I put together myself. I’m not that much of a piggy!

Do you ever have one of those evenings that make you breathe better?

L and I went out to The Melting Pot last night for dinner. For those of you who’ve never been there before, it’s a wonderful fondue restaurant with a very romantic atmosphere, but not so much so that you couldn’t enjoy a trip with friends. It had been six months or so since we’d been there last, and we decided that we needed to go.

It was the most relaxing time I’ve had in a while. We had a great time just being with one another without an agenda to follow.

We discussed everything from politics, to religion, to our upcoming wedding. It was a wonderful time and a time that reminds me all over again why I love this man and truly cannot wait to marry him. He’s sweet and understanding, romantic and deep. I love every little moment with him, and I am so excited to spend many more.