Coloradooooooooooo!!!!!

Sorry I was M.I.A. for awhile, we took a trip to Colorado for Christmas to visit my JillyBean. It was totally unplanned, in fact we gave them about 13 hours notice that we would be coming and staying with them for 4 days, talk about a surprise.

It was an amazing trip and it just made me want to get to Colorado that much more. It was probably my favorite Christmas yet. If we don't live there by next year then I could definitely see us taking this trip again but we're crossing our fingers that we'll be moved by then.

We've only been back a few days and I already miss J, D, and Princess. The kids are bugging me about when we're going back because we all had so much fun. We'll be planning another trip this summer because J and I want to go to Lilith Fair in Denver (we've already got our shirts picked out and everything).

The only problem with loving Colorado so much is that it just makes Oklahoma look even worse and I didn't even know that was possible.

You're Not Welcome

I have decided to start calling my female cycle Gertrude, maybe Gertie for short. I hate that name and I hate my cycle so it just fits (sorry to any readers that may be named Gertrude). I was supposed to be done with this crap but damn Gertie keeps coming back. Gertie makes me a little crazy like just last night. I was driving to the worst place on Earth, Walmart, and I started crying, I just kept thinking 'I hate my life, I hate this place, I want to move but it's just so hopeless' and then the floodgates opened and I was sobbing (I know, I'm crazy, like straight jacket kind of crazy). Well, not even two minutes later my daughter said something strange (I don't even remember what it was) and all of a sudden I was cracking up laughing, like hysterically. At this point I realized something wasn't right and made a note to call my doctor Monday morning. But it wasn't until I got home and saw Gertie was here that it finally all made sense. Stupid Gertie, I wish that bitch would die.

Extra Motivation From My Scale

I'm fat, a lot of you already know this, I've lost 50 pounds but I still have a ways to go. I also have no problems posting my weight on here because I personally think that I look pretty damn good for 212 pounds (that's right, I said it).

I've been bouncing around between 209 and 212 for months now and it's driving me crazy. I know this is all because I haven't been making the best food choices or at least I haven't consistently been making good food choices.

This morning I got on the scale hoping for a little budge, I had a good run yesterday and even though I had a crappy dinner I was looking for fractions of a pound. What I got was 198.6!?! My scale is sometimes possessed by ghosts of smaller people. I knew this was wrong but I'm not gonna lie, looking down at that number is a lot better than looking down at my real number.

I stepped off and let it zero out again before stepping back on to see that I lost .2 pounds. That was good enough for me but it got me thinking about being under 200 and I think it gave me a little extra push to keep losing.

So, I'm going to work extra hard this week to eat right and I'm going to work out everyday and see where I am next week. Hopefully I'll be closer to 198.6 than I am right now.

A picture is worth ...30 words, tops.

Our dining room has French doors that face the East, sometimes this makes for an uncomfortable breakfast but on Monday it was perfect because at 7 am it looked like this.

NUH-tivity Scene

My husband isn't really into Christmas, never has been. I like to think this is because of his whore of a mother who could never get anything right, especially Christmas. Luis is pretty much the Grinch around here, questioning why we have to have a tree? or lights? or presents? Why am I telling you this, you ask? Well, it's to let you know the dude doesn't know much about the holiday.

So, our very first Christmas together I made a comment about a nativity scene I saw and he gave me this puzzled look.

Then a light went off, "NUH-tivity scene?" he said. "Well, that makes a lot more sense."

I looked at him in disbelief, "What did you think they were called?"

"I always thought they were called Activity scenes."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, I always wondered since they weren't very active."

Then I cracked up laughing.

He still calls them activity scenes just to be funny and always remarks how they should move or something since they are after all, activity scenes.

Fluffy McPooter

Another gem by someecards.com.

Holiday Hilarity - The Nativity Scene

Somebody massacred poor baby Jesus.

Christmas and Crap Like That

Last night I went Christmas shopping. Originally, we weren't going to be able to have Christmas presents this year with Susie's surgery and all but we used our vacation fund to pay off most of the surgery. I'm really glad because even though I think there is way too much emphasis on presents at Christmas, I don't want our kids to think Santa has something against them.

So I was able to get both of the kids all their presents for $90. It's not going to be the best Christmas ever as far as presents go but I'm going to try to make it the best Christmas because we're going to be spending time together as a family. We're not going to my parents' house for once so Luis will be in a much better mood on Christmas. We'll probably spend most of the day playing games (of the board variety, not video) and if the weather is nice we'll play outside at the park. I can almost guarantee we'll be taking Susie for a walk to remind us how lucky we are that she is still with us. We'll bake cookies and candies and just enjoy each other's company.

What are your plans for Christmas?

PSA: Smoking is bad, mmmm kay?

So, this is kind of a random post but I saw this woman on my way home from the mall this morning and she was smoking a cigarette in her car...with the windows up. Yuck! Now, I'm not going to act all self-righteous, I used to smoke for several years, but even then I would think smoking in a closed car is gross. How do you breathe? That got me thinking about when I used to smoke and why I even started smoking.

I'll admit, I was that stupid kid that wanted to fit in and smoked because the cute popular boy I liked smoked. I was 13 and there was a party I was invited to and I knew he would be there and he would be smoking. So, I stole a cigarette from my dad and went behind the garage one afternoon and "practiced" because I didn't want to cough and look like an idiot at the party. Yeah, I was that lame. Anyway, the boy payed no attention to me at the party or my mad smoking skills, so it was all for naught.

I don't get why smoking seems so cool to kids? It seems like now days kids are a little smarter about smoking, I don't know if parents are doing a better job or that our generation is more health conscious or that being "green" is the new cool thing? I'm glad that less kids are smoking though because that means less people are becoming addicted and that makes me really happy.

J+A=BFFs Forever!!!!

One of the great things about my BFF is that even though we got into a HUGE (and I mean gigantor) fight and didn't speak for a long time, we're totally over it and I can send her super hilarious ecards like this one.

Just call me Flex Luther.

One of the great things about me losing weight is that it has inspired my husband to take better care of himself. It's cool because I never complained about my husband's weight, I didn't marry him for his looks (mind you, I do find him quite attractive, that's just not why I married him).

He's always enjoyed working out and lifting weights but when I started running he started really focusing on getting fit. A great by product to working out is bigger muscles and man, have his gotten bigger! He's always been strong but now he's cut and that is totally awesome for me because it's sexy as hell.

Of course, it's great motivation for me to stick with running because I want to look good when I stand next to him. We have a lot of fitness goals we want to meet this next year and it's really awesome that it's something we can work toward together.

Do you have any fitness goals this next year? Will your spouse or kids join you to meet your goal?

He he, she said Bratwurst.

There's this thing I do that drives my husband crazy and I'm not talking about that thing with my tongue, I'm talking about a different kind of crazy. Every night, when it's time for bed, I start talking about really pointless, unimportant things. Sometimes I do it on purpose because it annoys the crap out of him but usually I don't even realize I'm doing it.

I've always been one of those people that takes a long time to fall asleep, mostly because I can't stop thinking about things and usually it's not the stressful things going on in my life but rather stupid stuff that I have no idea why I'm thinking about it.

Sometimes my train of thought can be a little strange. Like last night, for example, my husband asked me to start reminding him to put his medicine on his face at night. His medicine looks like jizz, jizz reminds me of penises, penises remind me of bratwurst. Thinking of bratwurst made me wonder what exactly bratwurst is (because I don't eat it, I don't know), at which point my thoughts were interrupted by my husband saying, "Will you please just shut up and go to bed?"

I started laughing, he sighed, rolled over and tried to ignore me.

Guess Who Got Another Haircut?

Guess the other one wasn't drastic enough? I just needed something really different.

Music

Music has saved me more than once, it has pulled me out of my rut and made me feel alive again.

The best gift is finding a new artist that moves you, that lifts your spirits or that makes you want to just dance, no matter where you are. I love finding the perfect album, the kind you turn on and listen straight through, without skipping a song. I have an album like that right now and it's helping me out of my funk.

If you like awesome music too then you should really get Owl City's album, Ocean Eyes. It's upbeat but not in a cheesy annoying way, just listen to it, it's great.

There's Always Something

In my 27 years of existence I've finally learned something, there's always something. You see, I'm an eternal optimist and this was a little hard for me to grasp.

There are so many things I want to do, so many places to go, so much life to experience. When I was young I always wanted to make sure I had an exciting life, I didn't want a boring life like my parents. I think that's partly why I want to move to Colorado. Living in Houston like everyone else in my family is boring, I want to experience something different. It makes me sad when I think that my parents probably thought the same thing when they were younger, that a lot of people think that they want their lives to be exciting. Unfortunately, in a lot of cases life happens and the excitement never comes because there's always something. Things happen, we have responsibilities and our dreams and aspirations get put on the back burner.

I'm terrified that something will keep us from moving because life always seems to get in the way. We keep making plans and our plans keep getting thwarted by life. Life is a bitch...but I'm going to keep trying.

My Favorite Part About Christmas

I love Christmas, it's my favorite holiday. I love lights and decorations everywhere, everything is more interesting when it's decorated. I LOVE Christmas trees, decorating the tree is the best. I love it because I love pretty, glass ornaments. Ever since I was little I've always wanted a tree full of glass ornaments, and not the balls either, I like the glass figurines.

I knew I would never be able to afford to buy a ton of them to cover my tree so instead every year I get each of us a new glass ornament. Picking out everyone's ornament has become my favorite part of Christmas. The kids love picking out their own ornament and there are so many different ones to choose from. Every year when I pick my ornament I think, this is my best one yet, and the next year I always end up topping the previous.

We haven't gotten our ornaments for this year yet but last night we decorated the tree and I love that my tree is so full of ornaments that I love, I can't even choose a favorite because there are so many. I love that our tree isn't just beautiful, each ornament has meaning and a story and that's why it's my favorite part because I'm making memories and keepsakes.

Mom says eat peanut butter fudge.

I'm taking time off from my melacholy blogging to post a recipe for my favorite holiday treat, Peanut Butter Fudge! Tara over at If Mom Says Ok is doing a recipe exchange for everyone's favorite holiday cookies and I had to give my recipe because it's so easy and delicious.

Peanut Butter Fudge

2 1/4 c sugar
2/3 c evaporated milk
1/2 c crunchy peanut butter
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla

Combine sugar and evaporated milk and bring to softball stage (boil for 3-4 minutes).
Remove from heat. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then add peanut butter, butter and then vanilla. Pour into a buttered 8x8 pan, let cool and then cut.

There you go, it's that easy. The hardest part is not eating the whole pan.