Birthday Cupcakes

Shorty turns 8 tomorrow...8?!?!? Wow. I made cupcakes for her to take to school. I was slightly baffled by her decoration request....

Bees!
Weird really, because Shorty is scared to death of real bees. If there's a bee around, you can pretty much guarantee that she'll get stung. Oh well, they were cute.

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Top 5 court cases of all time

For my Intro to Law class I'm supposed to list my top 5 legal cases of all time and tell why I think they're important. I know there are way more out there (and some that are way more important that the ones I can think of) so I decided to see what my loyal readers think are the most important.

I must admit, it's times like this that I wish I had a following of dozens so I could get tons of cases to look at. Lets just say that I have high hopes for the four of you.

The cases I can think of are Heller, Plessey v Ferguson, Dread Scott, Brown v Board of Education, Roe v Wade and Marbury v Madison.

Thanks for reading my blog and please, please, PLEASE comment! :)

Sixes

I was tagged by Eva for this meme. The rules for this one are as follows: list six random or weird facts about yourself, and then tag six others.

Here it goes:
1. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

2. I no longer sing in public because I get stage fright.

3. When I'm extremely tired I talk in my sleep.

4. A lady that I work with is amazed that I can carry on three conversations at once and not get lost.

5. I have a thing for cameras. I currently own three not counting my video camera. I bought an external hard drive because my computer was getting full of pictures.

6. I love brussel sprouts and asparagus.

Since I only have 4 regular readers (and Eva is one of them) I just going to say that if you want to so this go for it, if not I totally understand.

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*Sigh*

No paycheck yet, but I got my tax refund already (Thank you H&R Block!). I was told that the paperwork for my employment has gone through, so I should be getting paid soon. Yippee!

On the down side, we lost a horse on Monday. This one was Spud's saddle horse, Jasper. We raised him from a foal, and he wasn't that old. I don't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure he was no older than 10. He'd been having some strange health issues this past year, and nothing that we tried really seemed to be helping that much. It's a really big loss for us all, but especially for Spud.
That's Spud on Jasper, and Me on Champ. We will definitely miss him.

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Happy Annaversary Mrs4444!!!

Tomorrow will be Mrs4444's 444th post. Her blog has become a daily read for me. She actually has 3 blogs...can you believe this woman?!? She is truly amazing. One of her other blogs is Mrs4444 Cooks. Someday I want to grow up and cook like her :)

When she posted the recipe for White Chicken Chili I put a request in the comment for Chicken and Corn Chowder. I absolutely love Chicken and Corn Chowder, but couldn't find a recipe that I really liked. The chowder I loved was the Safeway Selects soup, but of course the discontinued it....jerks.

Three or four days after I put in my request, Mrs4444 emailed me with a "present". She had found a recipe for me to try. OH.MY.GOD!!! Yummy!!!!!! Best Chicken and Corn Chowder EVER!

So if you like to cook, or just like to eat go visit Mrs4444 Cooks. You will not regret it.

And Mrs4444, I still have dutch oven envy!

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Train Wreck

Wow. Life totally train wrecked yesterday. Actually it started on Monday....

Monday morning, no paycheck. This is rare, but it does occasionally happen. Our official pay date is on Thursdays so they technically have until then to pay us. I call the finance center anyway just to make sure the moolah was on it's way. Nope! They didn't show a record of receiving my timesheet. So I faxed a copy of my signed timesheet and waited for a phone call.

Tuesday....still waiting for that phone call. I decide to be a pain in the butt and call again to ask about the status of my case. The nice lady on the phone tells me that they will have to do a manual pay for me and it can take 3-5 days. My supervisor doesn't think this is acceptable since I had my timesheet in on time and they lost it, so she tries to get the ball rolling faster.

BRICK WALL!!!!!

It turns out that the paperwork that my supervisor was supposed to turn in so that my employment was extended through the new semester never got turned in. She forgot about it. So I was officially not employed as of December 20th. Apparently I've been working for the last 3 weeks for FREE! A flurry of paperwork ensued as they tried to get the paperwork in and backdated. So far it's working through the system, and they tell me that as soon as I'm officially employed again they'll try to get a rush on my paycheck. In the meantime I have $3.00 to my name. Luckily I keep a stash of ramen noodles around for times like this.

So of course I was upset....ok, I was bawling! Then my phone rings...it's my cousin calling to tell me that my great aunt has passed away that morning. This great aunt had helped raise my mom and her brothers and sisters (7 kids total) after their mom (my grandma) passed away during childbirth when my mom was 4. So at this point I'm sitting at my desk sobbing. My supervisor was nice enough to give me some cash for groceries until I get paid again, and she sent me home and told me to use my sick leave as berevement leave.

So here's to hoping that the federal bureauracracy moves a little faster than normal this week so I can get paid again! Also, blogging will be pretty much non-existant for the rest of the week. Hope everyone has a much better week than I'm having!

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Starting the workout routine

I was going to start walking yesterday, but we had 50 mph winds so I said to heck with that. I started this morning instead. It felt good to get out and get moving. I went to work all bouncy and happy. My day fell apart after that, but at least it started out right. Sara used her treadmill last night, so she's getting a good start too. If anyone else out there wants to join us, I say the more the merrier!


Pound for Pound ChallengeThanks for reading my blog, and please feel free to comment!

Making a difference

I have set my goal. In September I decided that I would lose 50 pounds by summer. To date I have lost around 20. My goal is to lose 30 pounds by May 3. To help me stay motivated, I signed up on the Biggest Loser Pound for Pound challenge. For every pound you lose Biggest Loser will donate $.10 to Feeding America. Feel free to ask me how my weight loss is going if you want. Feeling like people will make me accountable to my goals will help me stay on track.


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Christmas Cookies

I was going to post this picture after I got back from Christmas but forgot. Here are the sugar cookies that we made for Christmas. The cookies are truly a family affair. Mom and Shorty mixed the dough. Spud and I rolled them out and cut them. Dad, Bub and Shorty frosted them. Mom, Spud and I each decorated a couple. Family tradition dictates that Spud and I use the last of the cookie dough to make the swirled candy canes. As usual, a good time was had by all!
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Woody's Hat

My last post kind of depressed me so I'm reposting this story that I posted back on March 28 of this year. Enjoy!

On Easter Sunday my dad had arranged to get together with some friends and buck a couple of horses (My dad raises bucking horses). We loaded up the bucking horse he had at his house and a saddle horse for my brother and headed to town. Dad, I, Spud, Bub and Shorty all in the Mega Cab pick-up. We drove into town and stopped at the fairgrounds to drop off the horses we had, then headed out to the friends' house to help them load the other bucking horse and saddle horse and the branding supplies since we needed to brand the two bucking horses too. Just outside of the fairgrounds Dad stopped because Bub's door wasn't shut tight. Bub shut the door and we headed on.

When we got to the friends' house the adults went to help load. Bub came up to me and said "Mom, Woody's hat is missing."

I asked if he was sure that he'd brought it from the house and he said yes. So, I told him that it probably fell out at the fairgrounds and we'd look when we got back there. As we drove back I watched for the place where we stopped to shut the door, and sure enough, there was Woody's hat on the side of the street. Woody and his hat were reunited and all was good.

We proceeded to the arena, unloaded the other horses and got ready to brand. Bub and Shorty asked if they could play in the arena and I said yes. My parents live in a sandy soil area, so it is basically a big sandbox and the kids love it.

My mom showed up and we were talking with one of the friends when Shorty came running and giggling, climbing over fences to get to us. Following her was a VERY angry Bub. I asked what the problem was and Bub informed me that Shorty had BURIED Woody's hat in the arena.

I rolled my eyes and told her to go dig it up and give it back. She sooooo loves to torture her big brother.

Twenty minutes later we were ready to start bucking the horses and the kids were still digging in the arena, trying to find the hat. I helped them dig for another ten...no hat. Bub turns to me and says "Mom, a cowboy has to have a hat." At eight years old, Bub has great sad puppy dog eyes. Just kills me every time. Poor kid is heartbroken that Woody has lost his hat. The arena ate it. It was never found. Unfortunately, it's hard to find just the hat for a 16" Woody doll, so a brand new Woody is on his way thanks to eBay. And Shorty owes me at least $10 of her tooth and birthday money.

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New Year

Sitting at home by myself today had me doing a lot of thinking. I've come to so realizations about my life. There are things that I need to change and ideas that I need to let go of. These aren't new years resolutions, they are life changes that I need to make if I want a happier life.

1. I will exercise more. I've gained 100 pounds since high school and I don't like looking in the mirror.

2. I need to get rid of the clutter in my house. I live in a cracker jack box. A mansion worth of stuff simply will not fit and the clutter stresses me out. I have enough stress without adding more.

3. They say things happen when you least expect it. I've come to the conclusion that some things are just not meant to happen. I need to try to figure out how to make my life full without those things and just be happy and thankful with what I have.

Thanks for reading my blog. Comments are always appreciated.