Four Days/Four Thoughts

By Amy

Saturday

Today my son told a blond joke. And I realized something about myself. Everytime I hear a blond joke I always feel sorry for the blond. I may laugh but a little part of me can see myself doing the same stupid thing.

Sunday

I had a date with this guy tonight.

Yup, just me and Michael Buble.

And 13,000 of our closest friends. It was amazing.

Monday

Today I met up with my sis-in-law and took all the kids swimming. My back got burned. How is it that I managed not to burn for seven days in Costa Rica and in one afternoon reapplying slips my mind? Owie.

Tuesday

Today after work I picked up 82 boys and brought them home. Not really. But close.

My Take

by Ang

I hit the 3-month mark of my living here in New Mexico. I think I’m adjusting very well, considering all of the huge changes I’ve gone through (moving, getting married, new job, new home, etc.). I still have rough days where I miss my family like crazy. For example, my 8-year-old nephew called me last Friday night while I was at a restaurant with my husband. I talked to him for about 15 minutes. Then when I handed the phone over to hubby so that he could talk to him, I burst into tears. I had to put on my sunglasses and go to the restroom to compose myself.

So I do have a bad day every now and then, but who doesn’t?

Anyways, I thought I would share my thoughts and my take on New Mexico so far. So here goes.

It’s pretty. There’s mountains to the east and north. To the west is the Rio Grande, desert and volcanoes. Lots to look at! The mountains are especially beautiful in the morning and at sunset.

It’s dry. I drink twice as much water here as I did in Nebraska. Even my cats drink more water (seriously). And I use twice as much lotion. We haven’t had a good rain in weeks. Which brings me to the weather...

The sun shines at least 300 days out of the year. Most normal people would like this, but I am LONGING for a good thunderstorm. My husband keeps telling me to wait until August (the rainiest month here). We will occasionally get these big threatening clouds and it will sprinkle for maybe 5 minutes and then they move on. It’s a big tease! It’s been warm (mid-90s) but there’s no humidity, so it doesn’t feel that hot to me. People keep saying how hot it is, but they probably haven’t been through Midwestern summers - 100 degree weather with 80% humidity. Trust me - it’s NOT that hot here. The winters are mild. We get snow occasionally but I guess it melts within 2 hours. (I have yet to witness snow in Albuquerque because I moved at the end of March).

For some reason, I thought when I moved here that my allergies would magically disappear. I was wrong. They got worse. There’s a whole new set of stuff growing out here. There’s also the wind. I think May and June are the windy months. Everything just blows around, so I’ve been taking more Benedryl since I’ve lived here.

The people are very nice. Everything seems to move at a slower pace here. People don’t seem to be in a huge hurry.

The traffic isn’t terrible. It’s not great, but not terrible. It takes me about 15 minutes to get to work in the mornings and about 20 minutes to get home. All interstate. But everything else I need is within a 10 minute drive.

The food is good. Especially the Mexican food! I’m starting to really like green chili. Every Sunday morning I make a big breakfast and I’ve been putting green chili in our scrambled eggs. Yum! And I no longer ask for it on the side when we go to restaurants. Progress!

So my only complaints are my worsened allergies and…..I think that’s it! Not too bad, huh? I really love it here. Which is good because we aren’t going anywhere!!

Garden Envy

By Amy

This is my beautiful sister-in-law.

And this is her garden.

Isn't it pretty?

Here is my garden.

You almost can't tell the difference can you? Ha ha. Let's compare. Her garden......

Beautiful. Organized. Weedless. She has corn, herbs, peppers, green onions, lettuce and more. In about a month there will be gorgeous sunflowers in the back. And the marigolds are to keep the rabbits away. I almost laid down in the dirt and made a dirt angel it was so pretty.

Here is my garden. Let's have a closer look. Here is some squash. I'm not sure if it's zucchini or yellow squash. I planted both but not in a organized manner. I'm sure you have noticed the grass in the background. I should probably do something about that.

I'm not sure exactly what this is. Is it a weed? A plant? I'm afraid to pull it just in case.


Something is eating my eggplant. At least I think it's eggplant.



There are some positives in this mess. Here is a pepper plant. It's flowering! (that's a good thing right?)

See the little tomato? So there is hope.

I have gotten great advice from my dad. He has worked on alot of farms and we had a garden almost every year when I was growing up. Here is a picture of my dad and his sister on my great-grandparents farm.




I love this picture. It represents so many things that I love. My aunt, my dad, the country, and simpler times.

I hope my sis-in-law sends me pictures of her garden so that I can show you how full and beautiful hers will be. I won't be jealous. Really I won't! Last year she had a gorgeous garden. But then it hailed. BUCKETS of hail. Her garden was smashed and pitted and destroyed. I almost cried when I saw the pictures. So she deserves a big, full beautiful garden.

My garden will not be beautiful. But hopefully it will be full and productive. Maybe next year I will strive for a garden more like sis-in-law's. I'm learning alot. Learning how to grow things. Learning that I LIKE growing things. And learning not be jealous of people whose gardens are much better then mine. (:

My first Sleep Over!

By Amy

Ok it wasn't my first sleep over. And technically it wasn't hers either. But it was her FIRST with me!

And she was perfect! Her parent's dropped her off around 5 and picked her up the next day around 3. She slept great and didn't cry once!

And no bumps or bruises either! Despite the fact that she is a dare devil.

She had a good time with these two goons.

(I love her cheeks in this one)

(and the look on her face in this one)

I think she had a good time.

I hope I get to do this again and again and again. (:

Again

by Ang

I joined Weight Watchers again. I’m doing it because it’s conveniently at my job and they pay for 100% of it for 17 weeks. Oh yeah, and because I want to lose weight and be healthier. Obviously.

The good news is that I haven’t gained anything in probably 6 months. The bad news is that I still have a lot to lose.

My first weigh in is on Wednesday. Hopefully I will show a loss! I am going to post here how much I lose (or gain) each week. I am NOT however going to post my starting weight (like my sister did that one time). I’m not that brave.

I know that the plan works….if you stick to it. I think my biggest challenge will be on the weekends. We tend to go out to eat at least twice each weekend and that’s not good when you’re trying to stay on plan. I’ll just have to have willpower though. My husband and I already decided we're going to start splitting meals when we go out. That right there will help immensely (on our waistlines and our wallets!).

We also both joined the gym that is also connected to my job. It’s cheap and only about 5 minutes from our house. So I’m hoping that helps the weight come off quicker. I would love to get to the point where I love exercise. Right now….I’m not even close.

But that’s okay. One thing at a time. Right now I’m focusing on eating and cooking healthier.

I’ll keep you posted!

p.s. - I think he should join Weight Watchers too:

Although he seems to be perfectly happy with his looks.

Colorado

By Amy

Here are a few pictures from our vacation. Here is a picture of all of us.

The two goons. Or at least one for sure.

My sis and bro-in-law.

My boys.

Isn't this a cool peice of wood?

It's a frame!

My handsome men.

Good times!

Back

By Amy

We arrived home yesterday around 4. Today it was back to the daily grind. But we had a fabulous time with this little family.

I have more pictures to share, but I have tried to download a couple of more and for some reason Blogger isn't cooperating!!! So I will try again later. For now a stack of bills, a foodless house and a 3 foot high laundry pile is screaming my name.

Bookworm

by Ang

I have always loved to read. Even when I was a kid. My mom used to read to me and my brother and every night we would pick a classic Golden Book for her to read. And we usually would pick ‘The Gingerbread Man and the Golden Goose’ because it was the longest one we had. And we would do anything to extend our ‘read a book before bed’ time.

We had a large collection of Little Golden Books and Dr. Seuss, but we always seemed to come back to this one. I know it was because of the length! Let’s face it, Dr. Seuss is great, but those can be read in under 2 minutes.

We joined the summer reading program every year. It was convenient because we lived about 2 blocks away from our local library. It was always so exciting to go at the beginning of the summer to sign up and pick up our packets, bookmarks and stickers. I remember walking to the library at least twice a week and being so excited to bring my borrowed books home, even though most of them I had already read at least once before.

I grew up with Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary (I had all of the Ramona books) and the Baby Sitters Club (Claudia was my favorite). Not to mention the other childhood classics – E.B. White, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Mark Twain, Daniel Defoe & Jonathan Swift.

As a teen, I read The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton at least five times. I read and loved O Pioneers by Willa Cather. I got into Agatha Christie, Jane Austen and the Brontes (Emily & Charlotte). I read To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time and have re-read it several times since. It holds a safe place on my ‘keeper’ bookshelf. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn became my favorite book (and still is).

And then I devoured the famous amazing masterpiece by Margaret Mitchell (which would later on become my all-time favorite movie).

As I got older, I expanded the genres that I would read. I started reading classics – Tolstoy, Dumas, Hemmingway, Dickins, Homer, and Hugo. J.D. Salinger. Nathaniel Hawthorne. F. Scott Fitzgerald. John Steinbeck. I could go on and on.

I started reading a lot of historical fiction, which became my favorite genre. I read more and more fiction novels, my favorite authors being Barbara Kingsolver and Elizabeth Berg. I also like Sandra Kring.

I also read lots of non-fiction. Currently I’m reading not one, but TWO biographies about Marie Antoinette (because one just didn’t seem like enough?). I’m also reading a biography by Norman Mailer. I like history books (which is great because my husband is a history buff and former history teacher and has tons of them!), especially ones about the Civil War.

I also love travel books. Not travel guides, but books about places. I was on a yacht in Alaska once and asked one of the crew members if she took tons of pictures. Because with that type of job, you travel all over the world. And she said she didn’t, instead she bought books on all of the places she’s been and visited. I thought that was a great idea. So I started doing that (although I still take lots of pictures) and now have a nice collection of books from places I’ve been to in the past few years.

Because I read so much, a few years back I started a book journal. I found that I was checking out the same books at the library, and not on purpose. I would start reading the book and then get that déjà-vu feeling like I had read it before. It’s because I had!

So I started keeping track of the books I read and I would write down a brief description of the book and whether or not I liked it or not. It has really helped! I usually take it with me to the library. I only wish that I would have started it as a kid. I would love to go back and see all of the books I’ve read since the age of 5!

On Tuesday after work I went to the library and got a library card! Most people wouldn’t get as excited as I do about this, but I just love the library. And I had to wait until I got my New Mexico drivers license before I could get my library card. (they need it for proof of residency). In fact, as soon as I got my license the first thing I thought was “now I can get my library card!” So it was a big deal for me.

I love the huge selection, I love that everything is free, and I love when I find a book on my ‘to be read’ list. They even have a summer reading program for adults, but I didn’t have time to sign up for it.
I guess I may be kind of a nerd, but I love reading. I’m glad my husband loves it too. We can go in to any bookstore and stay for hours, just browsing. We even have reading lamps on either side of our bed. Does that make us old? I hope not. I like to think it makes us smart. J

I’m grateful to my mom for reading to us all the time as kids and ‘making’ (even though we wanted to) us sign up for the summer reading program. And I’m grateful to my dad for being a bookworm himself. From him I got my love for non-fiction books. He also gave me his old Hemmingway books, which also have a safe place on my ‘keeper’ shelf. I’m grateful to my sister for passing along so many good book recommendations for me throughout the years (she is a bookworm too). She’s the one that handed ‘The Outsiders’ to me many, many years ago and said “you HAVE to read this”. And I’m grateful to my brother for helping me extend our nightly reading time with mom and The Gingerbread Man and the Golden Goose!

I recently passed along my Little House books and Anne of Green Gables books to Little Miss A. I realize that she can’t read yet, but she loves books already. So I hope her desire to read will grow along with her, because I would love for her to become a bookworm like the rest of our family!

Uncooked

By Amy

I love making cards, sending cards and recieving cards. Sometimes I get tired of the same ole supermarket cards. In my search for some unique cards I stumbled on this sight.

http://www.uncookedlandthestore.com/

And by unique I mean a little funny and a little weird. Here is a example. I sent this to my sis.

And another.

These cards just crack me up. If you don't get this humor, I understand. I am one of those people who have a hard time not laughing when someone falls. I also get the giggles sometimes during prayers. It's a very bad habit. I hope you are not like me. These cards are just my style. I like their slogan: "Uncooked: Exactly what you may or may not be thinking."

P.S. If you do choose to visit the "Uncooked" site there are some.....adult only cards. Just a FYI. Please don't be offended.

P.S.S I am going to Colorado this week. So my sister will be taking over the blog until sometime next week. Maybe you'll get two post in a row from her! Or maybe not.... (:

How About A Makeover!

By Amy

No not for me sillies! I could really use one though. I've rocked the same look for.....I can't remember. But we aren't talking about me. We are talking about this blog! Don't you think it's time? I mean, if you haven't noticed...this page is a little.....boring. Not that I don't love the Eiffel Tower. We are one you know. But I just think that this page could use a little more.....punch! Personality! Character! One more explanation point! And another! Sorry. I've been searching for some ideas. Here are some blogs that I think are eye catching.

I love the pop of color that she has. I don't think I'm daring enough to go bright pink but it works for this layout don't you think? Here's another.

This blog belongs to the ultra-talented Tara Whitney. Her pictures are amazing. I love her style.

The blog above is a little plain but just look at those babies! This is actually a local photographer. Alot of blogs have a slide show in their headers so that the pictures change. See?

I don't think that we will get that fancy around here. We just want to change things up a bit. I've found a blog designer that I like and the price is just right. I'm planning on contacting her in a couple of weeks. I'll keep you posted. I have no idea how it works. I don't know if it will be a smooth transition or if our blog will be down for a day or two. ? I'll let you know. I just didn't want anyone to panic. Because I know our blog is the first thing you check when you wake up in the morning and again before you go to bed at night. Ha ha.

P.S. It may be totally illegal of me to take pictures of someone else's blog and post them on my blog. So don't tell anyone. (: