The Nelsons

Taking a break...

2012-01-29T17:00:00.001-05:00

A blogging break that is. It's very obvious as of lately the only things that I have to blog about are me being angry at the world - or pictures of my dog. Neither of which are too popular. I understand no one wants to hear rantings about how my life sucks and not many people other than myself and my husband happen to think my dog is the best thing in the entire world. So I'm not only giving myself a break, I'm giving YOU a break!
There ARE more positive things happening right now in our lives so things actually are looking up for once right now. However, I just can't seem to "keep up". Sometimes I feel like blogs are places for people to show off their beautiful homes and beautiful children - and since I have neither, I can't help but feel that no one could quite possibly be interested in what I have to share. I know this all sounds really negative but that's why I'm stopping for a while.
I will still keep up with everyone elses blogs because I do like to see what everyone else is up to. I don't know how long this break will actually last but I have a feeling it will be until I have major news to announce such as - "Andrew got a job!" (Although right now he is making decent money working freelance, which I am very thankful for!) "I got a job!" (And here I'm talking the teaching kind of job) "I'm pregnant!" (I can assure you that won't be the first BIG news you hear because the other two need to happen first!) Or something along those lines... You get the idea!
And since most of you are my friends on Facebook as well, I'm sure you will still get your share of Breck photos... so don't be too sad.

Breckie says Hello

2012-01-21T12:02:00.000-05:00

Did you know that playing with tennis balls is my favorite playtime activity?

Did you know that I went on a trip to Dallas with my mommy and daddy? Since I'm a big spoiled baby I sat in my mom's lap alllll the way there and alllll the way back. I tried out the floor for a little while too since I'm so huge.

It's pretty hard being so cute.


I'm a graduate! I went to school for 6 weeks. School was so fun! I just don't understand why the other pups wouldn't play with me. Or why I got told "no" for trying to eat my leash the entire time. I did learn one thing though: If your mommy has treats in her hands and you aren't sure what she is saying, just lay down and she will let you have them.

Why not me?

2012-01-16T21:42:00.000-05:00

F.U.N.K. I am in a funk. You know when you just have those days/weeks when nothing goes your way. I am there. I have more or less been there since September but am really feeling the ickyness now. I know they say to not look at other people's lives and feel envy because there is no doubt that they have their own hardships too. But I don't think they do. Compared to us in our current situation - everyone else has a pretty awesome life. (Or at least that's how I feel lately when I'm feeling sorry for myself.) I try to say, "At least we have our health." But actually, that isn't true. Andrew has Lyme disease. He feels like crap 95% of the time. His ANA levels (It's a blood thing, look it up if you are interested) are rather high and they are concerned it could be Lupus. Please God, don't let it be Lupus. I can't handle one more thing.
So, I have my health. Everyone seems to be getting bigger and better jobs. And those people already HAD jobs. My poor husband was laid off a year ago and still cannot find a job. His talents are endless. I wish I was as creative as this kid. And don't get me started on my hunt for a teaching job.
Everyone has kids and we don't have a house. We started on step one to start having kids and shortly after was when we decided things were so bad that we had to move in with my parents until we could figure things out. When it comes to this subject, I DO realize that not everyone is lucky in the fertility department. I would do anything for my sister and brother-in-law to finally get pregnant. So I can understand her pain when everyone already has their 2.5 children.
So I know this is another 'feeling sorry for myself' blog post but I have to ask - what did I do to deserve this? Why must we get crapped on all the time? What are we doing wrong? Why can't I or WE be the lucky ones for once? Anyways, that is my rant. Sorry and I don't blame you if you never want to read my blog again.

Do not stand at my grave and weep

2012-01-06T16:03:00.000-05:00

Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there; I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,

I am the diamond glints on snow,

I am the sun on ripened grain,

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning’s hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circling flight.

I am the soft starlight at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,

I am not there; I did not die.

This poem has been popping up in my head over the last few days as I prepare myself for Monday. Monday I am "Visiting Lindsay". I like to say I am going to visit her rather than her grave. I don't like to talk about her in past tense yet and I don't really like saying the word "grave" yet either. I try to remind myself that she is not there. It's not her that is in the ground. However I do know that she will be there with me. Without a doubt. She won't want me to cry or be sad. But I will. I can't help it. My plan is to also spend time in prayer for her family and all of us who loved her to find strength. I want to reflect on the time I did have with her because of the important role she has played in my life. I will visit with her husband and mom afterwards as well. I never would have thought in a million years I would be doing this. If anything, I would be headed to meet her for lunch and some catching up. I know I've said it before and I will say it again - Hug your loved ones tight. Tell them you love them. Life is SHORT and there are no promises for a tomorrow.

iPhone picture update

2012-01-02T19:09:00.000-05:00

Oops! Has it really been over 2 weeks since my last post? I'm sure all of you out there have been wondering, "What in the world has Kelly been up to??". I'll let a few of my latest iPhone pictures do the talking...

Breck started obedience training classes, again. We finished the first three when it was time to leave Vermont so we re-enrolled here and have 2 classes left. This picture is from week 3 of class when Breck ate her homework the next day. We didn't do much practicing that week due to the holidays AND we weren't 100% sure of everything that we needed to work on.

Working. Above is a picture of some of our dress tape that a child got a hold of and destroyed. I feel like I am ALWAYS working. However, when I add up all the hours, it's really not that bad. I think I feel like it's always because I am ALWAYS trying to get enough sleep if I need to work in the morning. Or if I work at night, I go right to bed when I get home. So it's like I am either sleeping or working.

Merry Christmas! Christmas happened in the 2 weeks that I did not write on my blog. Above is a picture of our newest, most adorable nephew, Davis! He likes to sit on top of tables in his spare time.
We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning/day with Andrew's family in Austin. Then drove back to San Antonio to spend time with my sister's family and my parents. 3 Christmases (did I use 'es appropriately there Amanda?)!

Breck has been busy playing. She just loves her toys but anything plush just does not last more than a couple of hours.

Happy New Year! Breck spent some time in between our bed and the wall while some firecrackers were going off outside. Big, fat chicken!

Our Christmas Card to You!

2011-12-14T14:55:00.000-05:00

Due to our temporary address change we have decided to forgo Christmas cards this year. The picture above is probably similar to what would have been on our card. Would you have guessed any different?
I really hate to do this, mainly because I am always afraid people will stop sending us theirs if we don't send out our card for one year. But when I think about our Christmas card list, I have never crossed anyone off because we didn't get a card from them. So hopefully this one year without a card will not cause any major problems! :) I also hate to confuse people with address changes too. Since it is highly unlikely (Dear Lord, please help us find jobs, amen.) that our address will be the same next year as it is this year, I didn't want to be yet another one of those people on the Christmas card list that continues to change their address!
I think into this way too much, don't you think?! Anyways, MERRY CHRISTMAS from The Nelsons!

I've been meaning to tell you...

2011-12-12T15:07:00.000-05:00

... I found the best Christmas present for you recently. It was a recipe holder for your counter that holds just those single sheet recipes that are torn out of magazines. It would have been perfect for you.

I wanted to ask you, did you ever get around to reading that book that we talked about? What did you think about it?

I wanted you to know that I moved back to Texas, just like you told me to.

I think you should know that you continue to be my "lucky charm" when it comes to jobs. I got a part-time job recently and it was in part because of you. I reconnected with our old friend Allison during this difficult time, and since her family was opening a store in San Antonio, they wanted me to work for them.

Andrew found a doctor in the Dallas area and he goes about once a month. When I go with him, I can visit you more often.

That one thing we talked about last time we spoke - that has been put on hold for now. But trust me, you will be the first to know.

I think you should know that everyone is talking about you. In a good way, of course. About how beautiful you were, smart, funny, and what a great mom you turned out to be. You would have never began to imagine how many people love you.

I've been meaning to tell you, thanks for being such a good friend.

My feet hurt

2011-11-29T12:38:00.000-05:00

I started a new job a couple of weeks ago and my feet are paying for it. A sorority sister of mine and her family own a women's clothing boutique in the Galleria in Dallas and just recently opened one in San Antonio. Since I cannot seem to find a job, they kindly gave me one! My parents never asked me to get a job when I was in high school or college so really, my first job was my first teaching job when I was 22. So here I am at 28 working my very first retail job - and my feet HURT. I asked them to give me as many hours as possible since I haven't had a paycheck since June and they have been, but my feet hurt so bad. Even when I was teaching little ones and chasing them around all day, I was still able to sit down for part of the day. The good news is that since I don't have time to sit or eat I am able to drop the few extra pounds that have been hanging around since this summer. So when I'm not at work, you can find me resting my legs in my parents hot tub or with my feet in this little whirlpool thingy.

Thankful

2011-11-24T12:03:00.001-05:00

My in-laws. Pictured are my 3 sister-in-laws (sorry for the crappy picture, I could only see the thumbnail when I uploaded it and am too lazy to find a better one!). My sister-in-laws are awesome and have always been more than welcoming to me into the Nelson family. Not pictured are my mother and father-in-law's who I am also very thankful for, along with the entire extended Brown/Nelson family who I love very much!

My Master's Degree - and the fact that I am DONE! (Cool hat, right??)

My super awesome amazing wonderful parents! (Why won't it rotate when I tell it to?)

My BFF, Chlee. We've been friends our entire lives.

Allison (left) - who continues to be such a great friend since college. Lindsay (right) - I am thankful for 10 years of friendship and will remember her always.

The best of the best! Starting on the left - Tesha (my sister), Allison, Lindsay, Chlee, Your's Truly, Kristen, Melinda, and Lindsey. It doesn't get much better than these girls.

Best thing that happened to me this year. Baby girl Breckie!

These last couple of months I have done a lot of thinking about what I am thankful for. I know I wrote it above, but our families (both extended and immediate) are just so awesome. They have been so helpful and comforting in this scary transition time in mine and Andrew's lives. I'm thankful for every.single.one of our friends who remind us all the time that everything is going to be ok and work hard at keeping our spirits up! I also got lazy and didn't add pictures of all of our nephews and nieces who just seem to keep getting cuter. And FINALLY, I am thankful for my HUBBY! He knows how to make me laugh and when to make me laugh when I need it the most. We've been put through the wringer lately and he does a great job of keeping me from losing my mind.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Jambalaya Recipe - DELICIOUS and EASY!

2011-11-09T11:12:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago on Pinterest I found this recipe and recently tried it out. It was SOOO good and super easy. I highly recommend it. It was a little spicy because it calls for 1tsp Tabasco sauce and 1tsp cayenne pepper. I was surprised how spicy it was since it was so little. If you don't want it as spicy I would cut out either/or or just use less. We like spicy though.
It also calls for cut up chicken breast and shrimp OR sausage. We put all 3 meats in and it was amazing! It's a crock pot recipe for all those crock pot lovers out there.

Life Lately...in pictures

2011-11-08T18:32:00.000-05:00

Breck sleeping in HER bed(s). She NEVER sleeps on her bed, she will sleep right next to it but never ON it. So I had to capture the moment. Her bed is a little small but why buy a new one when she doesn't use it?

Breckie napping with Daddy. Just had to snap this one.

We went to New Braunfels for Wurstfest last weekend. It was ok... very expensive beer and (yummy) food. If you aren't REALLY into the whole German thing, it's not worth going.

After hearing the sounds of ripping paper coming from the other room I finally decided to check. Breck had shred apart one of those Walmart magazines with Christmas toys in it.

All 3 dogs on the bed. Not much happens around here every day. Andrew is on the computer job hunting while I am doing the same or running errands or playing on Facebook or Pinterest.

Breck and Kasey "hanging". Not really. Kasey hates Breck but she was trying to play with him anyways. I think she had given up or just got attacked when I took this picture. He is 5 pounds of evil. :)

I found this when I was playing "Hanging with Friends" recently. I took a phone snapshot of this because I won't be seeing things like this anymore. Lindsay and I would play Words with Friends and Hanging with Friends together sometimes and that is the last game we played together. She won :)

So that is about it for now. As you probably noticed, most of my pictures of are my dogs - just like all of your pictures are probably of your kids :) We will get there one day! But for now, it's our baby girl that happens to be a dog.

A small taste of parenthood

2011-11-04T13:31:00.000-04:00

I remember when we first got Breck I definitely felt like a mommy of a new baby. We took turns to take her out in the middle of the night to go tinkle, had to entertain her so she wouldn't chew up stuff, and when she took a nap, so did I. It's much easier now except for when she is around other people and gets too excited I have to make her mind her manners.
Yesterday we finally bit the bullet and had Breck spayed. It was never an option to breed her. I know I could cuddle and love on little puppy golden retrievers all day but there is no way I want my home to look the way OUR breeders did. Ever. (Although, with 2 litters a year, they make about 30K a year. That does sound appealing.) But even if we wanted to breed her we couldn't. On her AKC papers the breeders checked the box that did NOT give us breeding rights. Mainly because of inbreeding. When she was 6 months and it was "time" to have her spayed, we were up in the air about moving and had all of that going on. We also were cringing at the thought of paying for it. It is NOT cheap. So we waited. Once we got to San Antonio we shopped around and found a decent spot to have her spayed at but worried about her being in heat. The first vet said it looked like she was started to go in heat. A month later, nothing happened so I think he was wrong. So here we were, yesterday, 3 days before her 9 month birthday having her spayed. So it's a little late but not bad. {Is anyone still reading? I just realized how boring this must be to all of you.}
Yesterday I dropped her off at 9am and I would be lying if I said I didn't tear up when I left. I don't want my little girl to have surgery! What if she dies while on the table? What if they screw it up? They said to call at 4 to see what time would be good to pick her up. Well I called at 1:00 to check on her. The lady who answered said she actually was "on the table now" and to call back in 30 minutes. I don't like the phrase, "on the table". So I called back and she said she did fine and to pick her up at 4:30. I took Andrew along for the help and got her meds and headed home. She was stumbling around and wouldn't pick her head up to look at us, just her eyes. It was sad but cute.
Right away at home she threw up twice. When it was time to try some food and I was getting it prepared, Andrew called from the other side of the house to help because she was throwing up (like I can do anything). So then we covered the entire room in old sheets and towels for any future barf. She didn't eat but Andrew got her to drink some water at about 10pm which she immediately threw up. This morning has been good, she seems to have a little more energy but still sleeping a lot. I do have to brag on Andrew for a moment. He has done an awesome job at helping out and cleaning up after her. When she thew up he kind of held on to her - like doggy version of holding back your hair for you. He takes her outside and makes sure she goes potty since she kind of just stands there. At first I was slightly jealous but remembered how awesome he was when I had my nose surgery.
So just a few more days of keeping her from getting overly excited and we will hope for NO more surgeries ever.

What makes you happy?

2011-10-31T11:59:00.000-04:00

Hey there, Debbie Downer here again. This time I won't try to depress everybody though. In this "season" (thanks for the reminder, Allison, that this season of unfortunate events shall pass - have I mentioned that my SIL's are awesome? If I need a reminder that things do get better, I can count on Allison and Amanda.) of feeling like I hear bad/sad news pretty much daily, I try to find happiness in anything possible.

My dog, Breck, duh. She can be on the annoying side since she is still part-puppy but she means well. She makes me very happy.
My husband. He has done a wonderful job of not pouting because of our move just so I can be happy. I do feel bad because he spends 5 hours a day on the computer job hunting and never is able to get out. It's been a month and he is starting to really miss being able to drive down the road and fish, hike, camp, canoe, etc. It's our new reality and will get easier once he is working again and we can afford to take trips to do those things.
Our family who has made it possible for us to survive in this situation we have been handed.
Our friends who remind us constantly that they are happy WE are back. Plus, they are just awesome.
Mexican food. It makes me really happy. (And fat)
Starbucks. Although I don't go as much as one would think now that I'm back, but it makes me happy.
Target. I could walk around there all day and be happy.
Cooler fall temps. I'd also like to mention that Vermont got hit with a bad snowstorm this past weekend and I wasn't there! Woohoo!
Your comments. I like getting comments on my blog. :) I can always count on at least 2 per post - from Allison and Amanda :)

Problem of the Day

2011-10-28T11:38:00.000-04:00

Unlike all of my other worries and problems, this one is smaller and slightly dumb but I thought I'd see if anyone out there had any advice. Now that we are out of rural America I am finding it to be a larger task to just take the dog on walks with me. I never was one to take her walking every single day but she has a TON of energy so if I have the chance, I try to take her with me. My parents neighborhood is small and gated so I've never gone on walks here. What I do is drive to the neighborhood next door to ours and park at their pool where I have routes memorized for long and short walks. I really want to go on the long route but it has been difficult when I take the dog. If I don't take the dog, I will feel guilty. So here is why it is hard to take her:
It is inevitable that she will poop at some point. Even if she poops right before we leave the house, she will for sure be pooping again. I'm all for leaving the poop there if no one is watching (I know, I know, terrible but so much easier on me) but I can't chance that. So I double bag plastic grocery bags and carry them with me. So I am walking with the grocery bags in one hand and her leash in the other. Oh, and since I parked my car at the neighborhood pool, I may have my keys with me too. Except I have been putting them behind the tire but it makes me nervous that someone is watching me.
Ok, so at the very least I have bags and a leash in my hands. Until she poops. So then I have a leash in one hand and a bag with very stinky poop in the other. If I am on the 3 mile walk, I definitely do NOT want to carry the poop for 3 miles!
Lately, I also want to take my iPod. Since I wasn't involved in all the packing at my house before we moved, I have not a clue on Earth where my arm thingy majig is that holds it. So, yesterday I had my iPod in one hand along with the bags and the leash in the other hand. I tried to let the elastic in my shorts hold the iPod but it kept falling through. I could go buy another arm band for the iPod but that costs money and I am trying not to spend.
What a dilemma! So basically I am not wanting to take Breck on the walk today because I want to go further and don't want to hold on to her poop baggie. BUT that makes me feel bad. So I'm looking for suggestions. What do you do if you take your dog on a walk with you - and you are walking/running for exercise for YOURSELF and don't want to carry around a bag of poop?
I wonder how many times I wrote poop?

Why you gotta be so mean?

2011-10-26T12:25:00.000-04:00

"Fifteen"

This is actually the end of the show. She ended with "Fifteen" and confetti everywhere.

There were so many lights on her you couldn't get a clear shot.

"Why you gotta be so mean?"

We had pretty good seats!

Start of the show, she came out in smoke to Tom Petty's "American Girl"

That's right. I am 28 and think Taylor Swift is pretty much awesome and amazing. I've been hearing about the concert on the radio and had thought it would be so fun to go because I love her songs and heard she puts on a great show. Tickets went on sale long before we thought we'd be living here and from what I heard, sold out in a matter of minutes. Yesterday at 4:30 a pair of tickets became available for the 7:00 concert that same night. So an old friend and I jumped at the opportunity and an hour later were on our way to the show! The concert was AWESOME! If you ever have a chance to go, DO IT! It wasn't like any typical concert, it was like a play. She truly did "put on a show" and did a great job. In between songs she had such a great message for young girls about staying confident/being true to yourself/etc. I don't know how she is so wise at only 21 years old and MAN she is humble which makes her even more beautiful!
I would say 75% of the girls there were wearing dresses with boots which was so cute. I wore a dress and tried on my boots but I didn't feel like I looked right. Anyways, great night and so glad I was able to go and I hope I can go again next time!
Oh, and apparently at every show she sings another singer's song from that hometown so she sang George Strait's "Run" which I loved!

Weekend Recap - Dallas Style

2011-10-24T10:49:00.000-04:00

Andrew and I spent the weekend in the DFW area mainly because I went to the Apricot Lane Boutique event in honor of my dear friend Lindsay. I've also mentioned many times before that Andrew's family lives there (aunt, uncle, grandmother, and now his oldest sister and her family). We stayed out in Forney with one of my other BFF's, Allison, and her husband and almost 2 year old. Below are just some thoughts I had while there... Some may have nothing to do with Dallas.

Andrew has always been against looking for jobs/moving to Dallas. He grew up in Highland Park and often says that he does not want that kind of lifestyle for his own children (aka keeping up with the Jones' - NOT that I'm saying that is what his family is like because they are definitely NOT, you just have to understand Andrew in order to see what I mean). I would remind him frequently that the job market is much better there, it being a large metroplex and all, and oh, we would never be able to afford to live in HP anyways :). Now I'm starting to wonder if I can even "hang" there. It would definitely have to be a living out in the 'burbs situation if so.
Want to feel terrible about how much you weigh/your outfit of choice/overall appearance? Go to Northpark Mall!
Something you will never hear me say, "Today would be a great day to go ice skating at the Galleria!".
I'm surprised by the fact that a small group of women were standing in a corner of a store all balling their eyes out while talking about their friend/daughter and it attracted ZERO attention from the other shoppers.
The generosity of others is really encouraging.
Quote of the weekend: "Do we need to get up in the middle of the night to give your baby a bottle?" - Andrew talking to Allison and Jeff referring to Emma, an almost 2 year old.
I never really understood traffic as well as I do now after driving into downtown Dallas at 4pm on a Friday. I could see my exit for 30 minutes before I could actually take it.
My sister-in-law and her husband must take some kind of drugs in order to handle their 4 children under the age of 6.
I am happy to be back in civilization around our friends and family again!!!

Emma (Allison's daughter)

Niece Emma

Baby Cash - Lindsay's youngest will turn 1 this week

I tried rotating this - Niece Mary Frances

Uncle Andrew with Brown and Sayers - not sure who was being more naughty...

I'll take my coffee "cool"

2011-10-18T11:16:00.000-04:00

This all started when I was about 8 years old. I could be way off but I'm pretty sure I was that young. I spent a lot of time at my grandparent's house when I was little and that is where I first started drinking coffee. I'm pretty sure it was decaff too which would make sense for them to serve me that rather than the kind with caffeine in it. Like most kids, I asked a lot of questions and at one point I wanted to taste their coffee. Of course I hated it black. It was disgusting. So my grandmother showed me a new way to make my coffee that I would end up liking. She called it "cool coffee". She put some milk in followed by several spoonfuls of sugar and I loved it. So every time I went to my grandparents house, I would ask her to make me my "cool coffee". I probably started drinking my parents coffee in high school because it wasn't so strange at that point to give a 16 year old caffeine.
I'm not a big coffee drinker (and no, I do not consider my caramel machiattos from Starbucks to be "coffee")- I may have one cup in the morning but it's not the end of the world if I don't get it. But when I do drink coffee, it's "cool".

The Lindsay Necklace

2011-10-16T19:15:00.000-04:00

So most of my readers are my facebook friends as well so you all may already know the story with the Lindsay necklace.

A few months back I noticed on my Facebook page a post from "Something Blue" that said, "Wow, I have 40,000 "likes". Something may be wrong here..." A couple of days later she wrote again and explained the mix up. Many people (including myself) had "liked" her page thinking it was the book by Emily Giffin. It turned out that Something Blue was this lady, Angela, from California's Etsy web page. She kindly let us all know that she was not the book but if we wanted to stay as one of her "likers" we could have 25% off our next order. I noticed her numbers of likers went down by like 10,000 but she still had around 30,000 likes. I never got around to ordering anything but stayed on there because she had cute jewelry.
Then came the incredibly sad, awful, tragic event that sparked the idea for this necklace. One of my best friends from college who was the sweetest (and beautiful!!) young mother lost her life in an unexpected way. She entered the ICU with double pneumonia and just couldn't seem to get better. Things quickly turned for the worse and no one saw it coming.
A few days after Lindsay passing I wrote to Angela from Something Blue and asked for a specially made necklace. I wanted it to be gold, have a disc with the initial L on it, her birthstone, and a 4 leaf clover (because of a running inside joke between us, she called herself my 'lucky charm'). After she wrote me back (rather quickly I might add) and confirmed my order I came up with the idea that it would be really cool if a few of her close friends could all have the same necklace. Angela thought it was an amazing idea because she had lost a dear friend of hers who left behind a 5 year old daughter. Angela gives 10% off ALL the time to her Facebook fans but I asked her if we could forgo the 10% and have her donate it to Lindsay's boys trust fund. She was not only in love with the idea, she offered to match every order with an additional 10% giving 20% all together of each order to the trust fund. We toyed with a few ideas but I mainly wanted to make it affordable. I decided on a smaller version of my L initial disc along with her birthstone, the emerald. Also gave everyone the choice of silver or gold.
I thought, 'Maybe like 10 or 15 people will order these and it will be really cool!' and little did I know how popular they would become! Yesterday was the last day to order and this morning she gave me the final totals - 61 necklaces sold - with a $357 donation to the boys! How AWESOME is that!? People amaze me. I am so happy to know that 60 other people are out there walking around with a necklace like mine and we now all have just a little constant reminder of Lindsay around our necks and close to our hearts.
Lindsay would be blown away with the out pour of love and generosity of family, friends, acquaintances, and even people that NEVER met her.
Again, I've never met Angela at Something Blue but she has been amazing and incredibly generous. I've emailed back and forth with her probably 30 times in the past couple of weeks and she writes back within, like an hour at the most. Love her! Love my Lindsay necklace!!

Attn: Dallas Area Shoppers!

2011-10-15T14:35:00.000-04:00

A week from today, October 22nd, from 1 - 4pm in the Dallas Galleria Mall, Apricot Lane Boutique will be having a fundraiser event for my dear friend Lindsay Lewis who unexpectedly passed only 3 short weeks ago. 25% of ALL sales will go toward the trust fund that has been set up for her sons Brody (2.5) and Cash (almost 1!).
Apricot Lane has super cute clothes and jeans. They are located near the ice skating rink in the mall. This boutique is owned by a sorority sister of mine, Allison Young's, family. Allison was on council with Lindsay and I our senior year in Kappa Delta and we all became so close.
If you cannot make it you can also shop online that day. They don't have the typical cart and checkout system on their website but I've ordered from them before and it was really easy and quick. What I did was go and "Like" their Facebook Page and went and scrolled through their pictures. I found a cute dress I wanted and simply commented below the picture asking if they had my size. They QUICKLY responded and messaged me to get my credit card information. The dress was on my doorstep 4 days later! :)
Anyone is invited to this event! You can also go here to RSVP and read more about the fundraiser.
I will be there pretty much the entire time and can't wait to see everyone!

You're too kind

2011-10-13T21:46:00.000-04:00

So apparently since everyone who read my last post felt sorry for me, no one decided to call attention to the fact that I spelled my OWN name wrong in the title. I have fixed that error for those of you who want to see it by the way.
Thanks to those of you who can understand and be empathetic to my situation. Andrew and I went to Austin for a couple of days to visit his family and I got some much needed relaxation. I feel like when we are here in SA, only a short drive away, we are always busy doing this and that since we are still in "moving" mode. We still have a lot of little things to do which is annoying, for example getting our TX licenses and registering our vehicles but things are somewhat coming together.
Now we just need to find jobs. No biggie, right?

Seven Degrees of Kelly

2011-10-10T11:05:00.001-04:00

Have you ever played the game "Seven Degrees of Kevin Bacon"? Where you pick any other movie star or whoever and somehow they are known within 7 degrees of him? I know I'm not explaining it well so if you don't know the game you will just have to look it up. Anyways, I'm starting to feel like anyone I know or who knows me at all has had some sort of trouble or tragic incident. So if you need to be healthy and otherwise happy, you may want to write me off as a friend. I'm really not trying to be dramatic or anything but it's how I feel lately. I celebrate ANY good news of ANY person near and/or dear to me since all I feel I am hearing is bad/sad news. Here is my list of things that have gone wrong to either myself, loved ones, dear friends, or even just acquaintances. (This is in no specific order)

I will start with the biggie: Lindsay. Don't feel the need to say more about that since anyone who reads this blog knows about her.
My cousin's wife has ovarian cancer in both her ovaries. She is in her mid to late 30's with 2 kids. She is actually doing well and already had surgery but will still do chemotherapy as a precaution.
A friend of mine who took classes with me for our masters degree had her baby this past summer and was only 26 weeks pregnant. The baby made it 3 weeks before she couldn't fight any longer. SO sad.
Another friend of mine from high school is only 23 weeks pregnant and already on bed rest so she won't go into labor early. She is actually really upbeat and staying positive which is wonderful!
My childhood best friend is going through a really messy divorce and has asked for prayers and support which she NEVER does.
My poor sister-in-law is on month 25 of trying to get pregnant. If anyone deserves a baby it is her and her husband.

I will stop there and remind you that this blog is called, "The Nelsons" rather than "Debbie Downer". I'm not trying to be negative but I honestly feel surrounded by poop. POOP! There are a couple I didn't list because it was getting depressing. Oh, and should I also remind you all that we are back in Texas (Good news, Good thing) living with my parents (So thankful for them, but slightly embarrassed at our age and need for it) because we need jobs?
So basically I am in need to hear good news from now on. Even before Lindsay passed I felt like every day I would wake up to more bad news each morning. I blame it on myself really because I care too much. I have always had a problem with worrying too much about other people's problems (OPP! ha! didn't do that on purpose).
I know this is just a phase and will start to get better. Everything seems worse because I'm already slightly down about our economic problems and VERY down about my friend being gone. So if I am posting too many pictures of my dog, it's because she makes me happy no matter what she does. Even when she chews my $18 undies.

Cross Country Road-Trippin' x2

2011-10-06T16:09:00.000-04:00

Andrew and I were all set and had planned to do the 2,000 mile move from Vermont to San Antonio on October 1. We had it all planned out where Andrew would drive the U-Haul with his truck in tow while I followed behind in the 4Runner. Then God had His own plans and things had to be changed. I ended up driving back by myself (well, and the dog) on September 24 to haul booty to Dallas. Andrew was going to just drive the U-Haul while towing his truck by himself instead still on October 1. On Friday, September 30th, he was all set up to leave and basically had a panic attack because the U-Haul and truck were just a BIT too much to handle all by himself. With some help from my frequent flyer father-in-law, I packed up and less than 24 hours later found myself in Albany to assist with the drive. We ditched the towing device and Andrew ended up driving the U-Haul while I led the way in the truck. So in the past week and a half, I have driven approx. 4,000 miles. It was really annoying at first but ended up being for the best because it put BOTH our minds at ease. Andrew was much more cool, calm, and collected than I expected.
Below are a few mental notes I made while having all that time to myself:

- "If I Die Young" comes on the radio WAY too much. (Along with a few other songs but why, WHY, must that song be so popular right now?)
- Arkansas... Not a fan.
- Buffalo... a tad more ghetto than I would have thought.
- NY drivers do not know how to use their cruise control.
- Ohio, not so bad.
- I found myself saying "Sorry, I don't text and drive" a few times when people had asked if I got their text message. It sounded goody-goody but it REALLY is hard!!!
- If you make laws against talking on your cell while driving, people will do all they can to still get away with it, therefore making it more dangerous. (ahem, NEW YORK!)
- Avoid all country music stations when you are already sad.
- There are a lot of top 40 songs right now about "Tonight".
- Rhianna is starting to get on my nerves. Not so much of a fan.
- There is a "no barking" rule in hotels. So what am I supposed to do with my dog who barks at her own shadow or any other random noise?
- If you are road tripping I-35 and want to avoid Austin all together, use the toll road. Best creation ever. Well, maybe not ever, but you get the idea. There were maybe 3 other cars along the road with us the whole time and absolutely NO stop and go traffic.

Heartbreak

2011-09-28T10:40:00.002-04:00

I have never felt this kind of pain and heartbreak as I have felt since Friday early evening when I learned of the news of one of my very best friends passing. I've had some experience dealing with death but never was it someone who was so young and had so many wonderful things in life to live for. Lindsay died at a very young 28 years old leaving behind two young boys (only 2.5yrs and 11mths) and a husband who she had dated since high school. Sadly, Lindsay went into the ICU 2 weeks ago and just couldn't seem to kick the sudden illness that had struck her. You never think this will happen to someone close to you and you certainly don't expect it to happen to someone so young and otherwise healthy.
I'm trying to have faith in the pastor's message yesterday. He said we all prayed for Lindsay to get better and for her to heal and what we need to understand is that she is healed. It's clear that God has a plan for Lindsay that we are all struggling to understand since we are all so crushed at this moment. "Crushed" is right. How can God's plan be to take away a young mother who was loved by SO many people? I'm struggling to understand. I know only time can make it easier.
Lindsay was beautiful on the inside and out. Everyone wanted to be friends with Lindsay. She was such a sweet person. Even the sound of her voice was sweet. It was obvious how many lives she had touched by the amount of people that showed up for yesterday's funeral.
I feel so lucky to have called Lindsay my friend. I honestly don't know where to go from here. There is a piece of my heart that seems to be missing without her on this Earth. Lindsay's parents lost their youngest daughter. The boys lost their mom and her husband lost his best friend and high school sweetheart. The family is going to need a lot of prayers and support.
Lindsay and I met our freshman year of college in our sorority. We instantly became the best of friends and pretty much did everything together. We both stayed very active in the sorority and both served on council our senior year together. That only made our bond stronger. At our last sorority chapter meeting of our senior year, the seniors do what they call "Senior Say" in Kappa Delta. This is where your loved ones write letters to you and share pictures. There is a slide show and everyone has a friend read their letters. Lindsay and I had chosen each other to read our letters out loud and neither one of us could get through them without balling uncontrollably. Later we would both be bridesmaid's in each others wedding. Lindsay would joke that she was my lucky charm because she had come to visit me at my parents house in San Antonio and I had been offered my first teaching job while she was staying here.
My thoughts are always with Gabe and the boys, her parents, and everyone else who loved Lindsay. I will miss my friend, sister, and lucky charm till the day I can see her again.

smelly toys

2011-09-23T11:59:00.004-04:00

Unfortunately, Breck understands this economy as well. Since we are cutting out all unnecessary costs, poor Breck has to play with her "ghetto toys". Surely she knows that it is only her fault though, seeing she is the one who ruined them in the first place. I will start from left to right (which is actually top to bottom because I couldn't get the picture to rotate for the life of me). Top - Her "baby" which WAS a pig. She had this from the day we brought her home. Baby is now half pink/half dirt and is missing an arm. Poor baby. The middle toy WAS a part to an octopus toy that was ripped off. I threw away the octopus but she loves the arm and won't let us throw it away as well. It's quite pathetic. She brings the arm and sets it on our laps so we can throw it for her. The bottom toy is a pink puppy. As you see, his leg is about to fall off. It is dangling by a thread and will be gone in the next 5 minutes I'm sure. All of these toys have been depleted of their stuffing and smell like crap.

These aren't Breck's only toys but it seems like I've been throwing one toy away a day due to missing limbs. The only toy (other than her Kong) that has lasted is one of those no stuffing animals that looks like road kill. Hers is a raccoon that my dad bought her when they were up visiting in May. There is a reason it is $10, because it lasts!

I can't take Breck into Petco with me because they have the toys lower down on her level and she just grabs one and goes with it. I hope they don't have a "you chew, you buy" policy because many of their toys now have Breck slobber on them.

I was hoping this email would be funny, but now as I read it it seems sort of depressing. Anyways, looks like we will have to include a "Toy's for Breck" column in our new budget - after we finish saving up to spay her - ugh. Does anyone else feel like spaying and neutering should be FREE if they want less animals running around without homes??!!!

Ch Ch Ch Changes

2011-09-22T18:15:00.005-04:00

Dear Readers, (aka, Allison & Amanda... I cannot figure out why my links button is not working properly!)

The Nelson's are moving! This is happy and sad news at the same time. I am happy to head back to Texas where our family and friends are. I am sad because of the circumstances. We have been chewed up and spit out by this economy and no matter how hard we have tried to fight it, we couldn't win. I left a good paying job teaching 3rd grade to move here and technically should be on my 5th year of teaching right now but have yet to even start my 2nd year (if you don't count the long-term sub jobs, which I don't think count anyways). I've tried so hard to find a teaching job up here which only ended in hurt feelings and tears because of the small town "it's all who you know" junk. Andrew was let go at his job right before Christmas but was lucky enough for them to keep him busy working per diem 2-3 weeks out of the month.
We took a look at our finances and had a heart to heart that led us to decide it was time to say goodbye to Vermont. We will be moving in with my parents in San Antonio while we can pay down some debt and figure out what's next. I see this as a very positive move and am happy to be around the one's I love and the one's who love us again. Andrew is having a hard time with it. I think it will take time and hopefully some good job leads to cheer him up. We have no timeline because we have been shown time and time again that the saying is true, "You make plans, God laughs." (or something along those lines).
Here are the links again to Andrew's work if you know of anyone hiring!!!
www.coroflot.com/horatioaus
http://www.kreativeink.com/
We move on Oct.1 and should be in San Antonio by the 4th. See Y'ALL later!

Kelly

TMI?

2011-09-15T20:39:00.006-04:00

In the last month, I have gone off of ALL (2) my prescription meds. I have been on 1 of them for quite some time. I'll leave it to your imagination what medicine that was . . . I was hoping this would make me feel more "pure" and "clean" and free of chemicals. However, I feel like absolute C-R-A-P! I'm moody, unhappy, want to cry about everything, etc, etc, etc.
Hopefully this ends soon because I feel like a whole new person that is a bit off her rocker.

On that note I have 2 things on my mind that need to happen SOON!

1) One of my BFF's, Lindsay, is in the hospital in the ICU and very sick right now. She needs to get well soon because it's super scary and she has two small boys at home. I don't like being so far away and all I can do is sit around and wait for her husband and/or mom to give me updates when they have the time.

2) Andrew has to get a job ASAP! Anyone out there know anyone who is hiring in the creative field? He can work for a home builder doing computer design work or whatever! He has an online portfolio on www.coroflot.com/horatioaus and his website is www.kreativeink.com . Any contacts anywhere would be greatly appreciated!

a day in the life

2011-09-07T09:14:00.004-04:00

The day we picked Breck up from the breeders (We were the first ones to pick up our pup. Does that surprise you?) we were told that she was one of the "shy" ones. Well, here we are at her 7 month birthday (yesterday) and I can only dream about how nice it would be if she were more shy.
I realize golden retrievers are one of the more energetic breeds of dogs and she IS still a puppy. But I think we got one of the more psycho puppies out of the litter. This dog never.stops. There is no such thing as "wearing her out" because she doesn't GET worn out! Ever!

A day in the life of Breck the dog :

6:00-9:00am: I'm up and ready to play but mommy and daddy are still asleep. Let's see if stepping on their heads and nipping at their ears works. Nope. I was told to "Fup off"... Not sure what Fup means but I need to get me one of those. I will find something under the bed in the meantime to chew up.

9:00am (If I'm lucky): After falling back asleep on Mom's legs so they would go numb, I am told it is time to go eat breakfast. I'd rather play, but let's go downstairs and start the day! I'm so excited that I don't let Mom walk. She tells me to get my "fat ass" out of the way so I race down the stairs and she loses the race, again. I never eat all of my breakfast because my toys are way more fun. She sits down to sip her morning coffee which means she is ready to play too! I grab the nearest toy and run with all my power into her to start a game of tug-of-war. This game doesn't start immediately because she wanted to pour out some of her coffee for me to lick off the floor. Thanks, Mom.

10:00am: Shower time! I love this time of day! I either help Mom out by peeking my head in and licking her butt or the side of the shower so I can get a drink of water or go and help clean the house while she's busy. I help change out the toilet paper roll by ripping it to shreds and leaving bits and pieces to clean up all over the house OR my next favorite, find a paper towel in the trash and help rip that to pieces. I know Mom likes to clean those up because she talks to me a lot about running outside in traffic while she is picking up the pieces. I LOVE to run outside in traffic! Yay!

11:00am: I have sat by the shelf with my leash on it for 15 minutes now making whining, crying noises so Mom knows that it's time for her walk. I LOVE taking Mom on walks! She finds it so cute that I jump up and down and practically do flips when she puts the green leash on me. She tells me to "sit" when she does this but we both know that I only sit for treats. Duh, Mom. The first 5 minutes of the walk are the most fun for Mom. I usually find a mud puddle in the driveway to play in so that when I jump on her, her clothes will be much more pretty. I tug and continue to jump and flop around at the first of my walk since Mom thinks it's cute. It's hard entertaining her. When cars go by and I'm entertaining Mom, I know it's working because she yells "STOP!". I must be so funny that she wants the humans in the cars to stop and watch my act too! Finally I get tired of being so cute and decide to just walk Mom. She needs the exercise so I do it because I love her.

12:00pm - 4:00pm: It's a long day of hardly any naps and constantly taking my toys out that Mom put back in my basket. When is she going to learn that that is not where they belong? We play tug-of-war a lot and sometimes, if I'm bored, I will get papers off the table that she left for me and rip them to shreds. If I get lucky and get to go outside without the stupid long red lead attached to me I like to run out into the cow pasture and play in their doo-doo. It tastes so good. I know Mom likes it too because she comes running out yelling something and I'm pretty sure it's "Wait! I want to play too!!!" I have to have a bath when that happens though but they know that won't stop me from doing it again. Mom took a bath as well. I think she doesn't like the brown streaks I left on her when we were playing after she took me by my collar out of the pasture. I happen to think it makes her smell better.

4:30pm: DADDY'S HOME! Oh my God, holy crap, I don't know what to do with myself!!!!!!! Daddy and I play a lot of the same games that Mommy and I played today. He must be tired because he said something about being "put to sleep".

9:00pm: Mommy says it's bedtime. Sometimes I can tell she still wants to play so I run around and play chase rather than go upstairs. Usually I get a treat because of this after we get upstairs. She must appreciate the extra exercise at the end of the day. Once we get in bed, I step on Daddy's face while sitting on Mommy's face which means "I love you." Once we get settled, Mommy on the right side, Daddy on the left side, and me in the middle, I get lots of kisses and tummy pats and for some reason Daddy asks me if I retrieved any gold today. Then we cuddle all night long with my long legs in their faces. Sometimes I snore which makes them love me even more. Then we get to start a whole new day ALL over again! YAY!

2011-09-04T16:41:00.003-04:00

I'm officially addicted. This is how my day with Pinterest went:

9:00am - I wake up to an email reply from my sister-in-law who I asked to "invite" me to join (not sure why you have to be invited?)

9:00-10:00am - Browse Pinterest but not really sure what it's all about and am somewhat confused.

10:00am - Email said sister-in-law and ask what the heck I'm supposed to do with it.

10:00-11:00am - Browse Pinterest some more and come to understand why it is so addicting. I email back Allison telling her, "Nevermind, I get it now... Is it normal to want to run to Michaels and buy the stuff to make the DIY projects with?"

11:00-1:00pm - Continue to "repin" on Pinterest and start feeling very inspired about crafts and little neat things I find on there.

1:00 - 3:00pm - Jump in the car and head down to Michaels and browse for what seems an eternity. Spend VERY LITTLE money for 1 DIY project (that I did NOT find on Pinterest actually, but was inspired by a different project) and some burlap. Because apparently burlap is in and surely I will use it later.

3:00 - 4:00pm - Assemble my project just knowing that I would eventually fail and realize again why I don't do crafts.

4:00pm - Craft assembled and ready to hang:

I've found that taking photos of anything in a frame is a pain in the a** due to reflections. I'm officially crafty! Ha! Here's what I did:

Bought a white frame with matting already in ($4.99).
Wooden letter "N" ($1.99)
Background paper - It has small textured "pretties" on it so it's not just plain ($.47)
Cloth like paper to wrap around the "N" ($1.99)

Total project cost $9.44

If I do another one, it shouldn't take me an hour. The hard part was wrapping the "N" with the cloth paper. The texture was perfect but it still was hard to do. Next time I will use a glue gun. I used tape this time :) The next hardest part was centering the "N" and I feel like I looked at it for so long that the "N" looks upside down or backwards to me now. But it's not!

So now we have a cute little frame to hang (somewhere) that is multi-diminsional and pretty cute in my opinion!

Stand-up Comedy

2011-09-01T19:44:00.002-04:00

Andrew is really into stand-up comedians so last Friday night we went with another couple to see Jim Breuer (from the movie Half-Baked in the 90's). Andrew had some connections so we were able to go backstage before the show and meet him and have Andrew's old VHS tape signed by him.

Irene

2011-09-01T14:00:00.004-04:00

Irene turned out to be a lot more than just some rain and wind on Sunday. Vermont is full of rivers and streams and when it rains more than 6 inches in less than 24 hours, you're going to have some problems. Apparently Vermont has not seen flooding like this before. Slow trickling rivers became class 5 rapids by noon time and many people had to be evacuated. We were very lucky because we don't live on a river and are high up in the mountains. So other than the power being out for 25 hours and internet being off for 3 days, we had no problems.

At about noon, our friends from down the road who do live on a river, came racing up our driveway in both of their cars. They came in asking if they could camp out here with their cats because the water was up to the house. So we had them over for just the night. Our other friends that live only a couple of houses down from them on the river had evacuated too but to another home because they needed somewhere to put their goats.

The friends that stayed with us ended up having flooding problems in their basement and their backyard is completely re-shaped. The river is wider and there is a large sand bar back there too. They will probably have to replace their furnace, washer, dryer, some tools, and since Dave makes pottery, his kiln is probably a goner too.

If you've followed me on Facebook at all, you know that our other friends with the farm aren't so lucky. They had about 4 acres of farm that was beautiful and they had put so much hard work into it. They've done really well considering they only moved in there less than a year ago! They are already a big part of our small community and have done really well at local farmer's markets. The farm was their main source of income. That is what they do for a living. Sadly, due to Irene, the river was not kind to them. It didn't just put their crops under water, it completely restructured the land. All of their top soil is gone. It is just rocks, boulders, and sand. Go here for the Rutland Herald article on their loss.

Some small towns are inaccessible by cars because the road is cut off from both directions. They are having to have food, water, prescriptions, and other necessities delivered by helicopters.

Texas Summer Trip

2011-08-19T17:07:00.003-04:00

Where to begin? I was in Texas for 2 weeks visiting friends and family and also there for my high school 10 year reunion. I was also there HOPING that a last minute teaching job would open up but no luck :( I know it's a bad year for Texas teachers so all I can do is hope next year is better. I'm becoming too over qualified to even sub but at this point it looks like I will make a career out of it. Oh well, need to stay positive.
I started off my trip visiting my friends and family in Austin and San Antonio. And everyone - has - babies! Lots and lots of babies!

In Austin, I stayed with my sister-in-law and her husband along with their new baby, Davis (above). This is one cute little boy! I tried to cuddle him probably too much and he made the saddest pouty face you've ever seen. It only made me want to cuddle him more though! Love my new nephew! He's perfect! Emma (Andrew's oldest niece from sister Elizabeth) was in town visiting since their family recently moved to Dallas. So I was thrilled to be able to see her sweet face as well! She is about to start kindergarten and I honestly don't know where time went!?
Also while I Austin I visited my friend Kristen who has 2 girls, Maddie (6mths) and Kaylee (close to 4 yrs!). Kaylee is super smart and TALL and Maddie is pretty much the most chill baby ever.
I also spent time with one of my dear old friends, Melinda. She has a little girl, Izzy (2) and 3 month old boy Levi. Izzy is super tall and again, SUPER SMART. She talks a lot and you can totally understand her.

Back in San Antonio I have 2 nephews and a niece of my own. My niece, Ashtyn, is my sister's youngest and is 3.5 years old. She is at a really fun age and I was soooo *lucky* to get to have her sleep in my bed with me when she stayed over! Actually she did really well!

Spending time with Lindsey and Kristen. Kristen is the mama of 2 I was talking about above. These are 2 of my very best friends that I've known since high school!

Oops, so this is upside down. We did a tour of our high school the morning of the party and I'm glad actually went! This is my brick that I don't remember buying (my mom says it's because THEY bought it). Only the first few graduating classes got to buy bricks and they are at the entryway. Our school is only 11 years old! We were the 2nd graduating class so the building is super nice!

Since one of my BFF's, Kristen, was in charge of the reunion, I was lucky enough to help out and do some planning and set up for the party. This sign was made by a graphic designer at one of our other alumna's office and I think it turned out great! The mascot is a rattler and one of the 0's in 2001 is a snake. We tried to keep with the snake theme and had rubber snakes tastefully set out inside. This MAY or may not have been my idea. By the end of the night, yours truly was throwing snakes at people and it became quite the competition. I was reminded of how fun our class was and glad I've stayed in touch with so many people!

I'm back in VT now with my hubby and puppy and happy as can be. All those babies gave me quite the baby fever so stay tuned ;)

Below is my hubby after coming home from catching us some yummy trout! I loved it, but it was hard for him since he truly believes in catch and release! Probably won't get much more of those dinners!

Nicknames

2011-08-03T10:23:00.002-04:00

I know I've discussed on here before how all of the Nelson kids (Andrew and his 3 sisters) are really into making up random songs about things as well as having tons of nicknames for each other. This has somewhat rubbed off on me and Andrew and I are proud that Breck DOES know her name considering all of the other names that she gets called:

Breckenridge Colorado Nelson (not her official name, just what Andrew calls her), boo, boo-boo, Breckie (the main one), poo, poopy, booby, bubby, big girl, little, misses, Thomas (again, only Andrew uses this one, Andrew is a freak), pretty, red dog, booty, chu-chu....

I'm sure I'm leaving some out. Most of them are made up for no reason. They are just words that come out of our mouths after we say, "Come here _____". Or whatever. Just another thing we do to keep ourselves occupied up here!

My love

2011-07-30T17:55:00.005-04:00

Words cannot express how much my heart melts for this girl when I see her laying like this:

I know it is really strange and not very lady-like but I find the fact that she likes to sleep on her back SO.FREAKING.CUTE.

Proof

2011-07-30T17:53:00.001-04:00

Later that night, after I wrote the post underneath this one, Breck decided to play her little game again and I had Andrew take a picture to show how fun it is.

"Pet" Peeve!

2011-07-29T17:40:00.003-04:00

First I will update on my cleanse. I am on Day 4 of diet and day 2 of cleanse. I go back to shakes tomorrow. The cleanse is going well but I have given in a couple of times and eaten "real" food. Oops. I'm telling you, I have NO willpower!

I have to get something off my chest that is highly, highly annoying. When Breck plays with her toys (especially the smaller ones) she plays with them SO close to the couch or armoire so that it slips underneath. Then she whines and cries until we have to go in there and crawl down on the floor and try to see it and reach in and pull it out. To make us suffer even more, when we get on the floor and reach our arms underneath the couch or armoire, she starts nipping at our arms, faces, or hair like she is playing. This is a continuous cycle and drives us bonkers. If you don't come and get it out fast enough, she will lay on her side and scratch at the furniture as if that will make her toy pop back out. So on our wood armoire, we have scratch marks from our sweet girl. Drives.me.crazy.

Truckin' along

2011-07-28T13:27:00.003-04:00

I woke up this morning and had lost 2lbs from my start weight. So 2lbs in 2 days. I have also lost 3 inches total. I'm on day 3 which is my first of 2 cleanse days. I am hungry but it's not too bad because I'm pretty busy today and not in the worlds best mood and not wanting to eat much anyway.

Shake your booty

2011-07-27T11:31:00.002-04:00

....was the song I was just singing as I was making my first shake of the day. Breck was very impressed with my singing and was not embarrassed for me at all.
So today is day 2 of my diet and day 2 of shakes. I start off with 2 days of 2 shakes a day with a sensible dinner followed by 2 days of cleansing. So today I will have one more shake and dinner. Thursday and Friday are cleansing days so I will probably be a whiny mess.
Yesterday I did really well but did realize late afternoon how I just wanted to eat real food and not drink my meals. BUT I wasn't starving or anything so that's good. Because of this, we ate dinner at like 5:30 and I got in bed before 9 because I was already hungry again. The scale didn't move this morning but I did notice yesterday morning that my initial weight was 3 lbs off - in my favor! So that is a good thing, but my goal is still to lose 10lbs. My celebration will be when I get to Texas and see if my wonderful mother will buy me a new dress for my reunion. I have a couple of gift cards at Anthropologie so maybe she will pitch in the rest :)
On another note... I am hitting the Austin elementary school scene hard with my applications. I am now up to 10 districts that I've applied to and have a handful of leads that I have followed up on. Go ahead principals, call ANYTIME! The 10th and most recent district I have applied to is Eanes ISD which is the Westlake area. This is where Andrew went to high school. At first I ignored the district because I figured it would be too competitive and hard to get into until late last night I get a text from one of my BFF's, Melinda, about an opening at one of the schools that her friend works at. So this morning I broke down and put in my application and emailed the principal directly and this girl is supposed to be putting in a good word for me. It's things like that that I NEED because otherwise I am just a name on a LONG list of applicants. So - fingers, toes, nose hairs, eyelashes, arms, legs, etc are being crossed! I have big plans and hope to be out of here by September.
Please cross all of your extremities as well for me. I'll be in touch soon and let ALL of my readers know how my cleanse days go. Adios!

3 weeks to go!

2011-07-25T15:23:00.003-04:00

I woke up in the middle of the night with the realization that I have a little less than 3 weeks till my 10 year high school reunion! Unfortunately, this summer, I have eaten a bunch of crap. I would like to lose 10 pounds before the party so I start tomorrow!
I have some Isagenix left from the last time I did it so I will be doing that until then. Probably will have to have Mexican food the day before though since I will be back in Texas!
I won't post my weight but I will blog about my diet journey to hold me more accountable. My diet will consist of shakes and cleansing days. The first 9 days will be the most strict. My goal for that time is to keep busy. I'm very much NOT busy at the moment and spending a lot of time at home with the dog since going anywhere costs money in gas or whatever else. Our neighbors down the road who we have become good friends with own a large farm so I am going to donate my time to helping them out since it is their busy season. Other than that I will sit here and talk myself out of dieting and go straight to the fridge for a snack.
For now I will eat what I want! I will check in with all 2 of my readers tomorrow to let you know how Day 1 goes!
Bye Allison! Bye Amanda!

Quick Retreat

2011-07-22T16:34:00.005-04:00

Andrew and I left for a couple of days to do some things up here that we haven't done/like to do before we quite possibly leave the area. We went to the White Mountains in New Hampshire - uhhh gorgeous... and for the 3rd time went to the beach in Ogunquit, Maine. Here are a few pics...

Pic taken from the Kancamagus highway of the White Mountains

This resort bar used to be a speakeasy and it is super nice inside!

White Mountains...

Beach in Ogunquit, ME

Austin area teachers HELP!

2011-07-11T18:39:00.002-04:00

I'm hoping from other friends blog rolls that this post gets seen and maybe I can get a little help. I We are looking to move to the Austin area ASAP! I just finished my master's degree and am ready to get out of Vermont so I can teach (again). It is going to take ME getting a job first to get the move a 'rollin. I've applied to 9 school districts in and around Austin.
If I can use you or someone you know well as a contact, that would be awesome. They are serious about you not contacting schools personally so I'm trying to find contacts where I can.
Anyone out there able to help?

Check out my toys

2011-07-11T18:38:00.001-04:00

All tuckered out from a big day of playing with her toys. Yes, that is a toy beer bottle. She loves it.

Proof

2011-07-11T18:04:00.001-04:00

Here is proof of why I cannot make my bed. Yep, that is the dog "helping".

I cleaned my room!

2011-07-07T19:43:00.002-04:00

{I'd like to start this post by giving one more reason for being a boring/slow blogger. We are now down to 1 computer which is our desktop. My laptop, which was only 2.5 years old by the way, died recently and needs another motherboard which is code for - a whole new laptop. Donations are welcome. So I use my iPhone for 95% of my internet needs since Andrew is usually on our computer. HENCE, why I do not blog very much. There ya go.}

This morning I locked myself in my room and cleaned until it was nice and tidy. I was thinking about this later today and how it is so rare that this happens lately. It's actually a very strange thing if you think about it. You spend most of your childhood being told and nagged to clean your room and make your bed and when you are a grown up you can do what you please and when you please.
This is a little different for me though. I have always been a bit of a neat freak. I always had a clean and well organized room and made my bed every day without being told. I honestly don't remember being told to clean my room as a child or a teenager.
When I went away to college, my side of the dorm room was very clean and I made my bed every day. When I had an apartment I always had a clean room along with the rest of the apartment. After my sophomore year I lived by myself. I went pot luck for my freshman year and had a messy roommate but that was ok since she was never there and it didn't effect any of my things. My sophomore year I lived in an apartment with a friend of a friend. You see, I waited a bit long to find a roommate to move into an apartment/house with and by the time I started asking around, everyone had found someone. Ok, either that or I was just a dork and no one wanted to live with me. ANYWAYS, so after my sophomore year I lived by myself because I realized that I CANNOT live with someone else. I like things a certain way and didn't want to lose any friends over me being anal over organization so living alone seemed to work the best....and I loved it!
Ok, so what was I talking about? Oh yeah, so I am pretty much a neat freak. Until now... I feel like a slob. I work so hard at keeping my entire house "just so" that our bedroom becomes sort of a catch all. I hardly EVER make my bed anymore. My clothes get mostly put away after doing laundry but since I am running low on hangers I tend to leave the rest on top of the dresser for a while. Today I made a point to pick everything up and even make my bed! Making my bed is very difficult with a puppy - or any dog for that matter - because she hops on the bed and chews/fights the covers until I give up.
So I am now realizing that this post is very long and me rambling about a neat house and making my bed. But hey, I posted on my blog today so there!

Austin's Visit

2011-06-29T17:29:00.004-04:00

Austin is my oldest nephew who I've been close to ever since he was a teeny baby. He is 14 (!!!) now and we invited him up for a couple of weeks this summer. He has been here about 1 week now and we have kept him busy the entire time. He is really enjoying doing "guy" things with Andrew. When he first arrived he had red coloring in his hair. We convinced him that it actually looked bright pink and he looked like a weirdo. So this is me using a color remover... it didn't look so great after either.

Austin has spent his time.... Loving on Breck,

Learning to make fires with uncle Andrew,

canoeing,

bowling,

sight seeing,

(can't figure out how to remove this duplicate)
hiking,

and fishing.

More to come later!

New Hobby

2011-06-29T17:22:00.002-04:00

Badminton!

My nephew is in town for 2 weeks visiting us and yesterday he and I went out and bought a new badminton set. Andrew and I have always talked about what a great yard we have for different sport-like activities so I finally decided to just get one. It is GREAT exercise and we are having so much fun with it.

Breck is the officiator of all games.

Summa Summa Summa Time...

2011-06-22T14:53:00.002-04:00

Remember that awesome "track" by Will Smith??
Hello blogger friends who still read our blog even though I never update it anymore! I thought of a new name for our blog but am not sure how it will be received out in the blogisphere. "The Adventures of KEN and DAN". KEN are my initials and DAN is Andrew's initials. Pretty special, huh? I'll have to think that one over now that I'm out of school (teaching AND taking) for the summer. This summer is going to be a huge transitional summer for us HOPEFULLY. I have applied to pretty much every district in and around Austin, TX and have my fingers crossed that something will come up. My master's degree is finished and I've lived here 4 years with only long-term sub jobs here and there. No more!!!! I can't take it any longer!!!! Apparently the budget crisis in the teaching field is over with and not as bad as first thought and hiring should be picking up soon. Fingers crossed super tight.
Little Miss Breck Nelson is having a fantastic summer. She is 4 months old and 40lbs of pure N.A.U.G.H.T.Y! I am hoping this is just a puppy stage and she will grow out of it. I worry sometimes that we picked the wrong puppy out of the litter that does not have traditional "golden" temperament. We started training last week and I reallllllyyyy liked it! I learned so much just in that first class and left there feeling better. Basically I need to work harder on being the "alpha" because she clearly thinks she is the one in charge right now. Her biting on me is slowly starting to stop but I feel like once she loses one bad behavior, she picks up another one. Lately she drinks out of the toilet which is SICK in my opinion so we are working on leaving the lid shut. She likes to jump up to see what is on the counter, has found a new interest in chewing on shoes, doesn't come when called, etc. I finally went out and got one of those long leash type things that we attach to the deck and she can go up to 30 feet away. Why didn't I think of this earlier? It's brilliant and saves a lot of headache/getting pissed off. Andrew and I just hook her up to it and send her off with a evil laugh because she can't not come to us when we call her. She also has a new found love for beggin' strips.
Finally, check out my sister-in-law's new blog "kid-ingaround" which you can find to the left on my blog roll. Just in case you can't keep up, I have 3 sister-in-law's and she is the oldest. It is her day to day experiences having 4 children and their crazy antics. Quite funny.

Our life in subtitles

2011-06-02T17:49:00.002-04:00

I haven't blogged in a while and I was feeling guilty. I will just do a general "what's going on with us" blog post today.

Breck

The reason I get excited to come home every afternoon. This girl is just the best. I can't wait to have children and see how much better this can only get. She is pure PUPPY. She turns 4 months old on Monday and is around 35lbs right now. She is pretty tall and just realized she can jump up and put her paws on the counter to see over. This causes some problems - later on it will cause major problems. She is basically housebroken already. She hasn't had an accident in 8 days (KNOCK ON WOOD!). She shows a lot of signs of intelligence but definitely requires a lot of attention. We start training on June 16 (our 4 year anniversary by the way) for 8 weeks. I'm pretty excited to learn how to not be treated like a chew toy.

Job Situation
Erg. Not good. I continue to get crapped on because someone in the district that once left wants to come back now or some other stupid situation that forces me to lowest man on the totem poll. Andrew's (old) company has offered to pay our insurance again but that doesn't mean he will go back to full time. He will still only work when needed - which luckily has been quite a bit.

We are both looking for permanent jobs right now - me in only 2 states since that is where I am certified to teach - Texas and Vermont (even though Texas is having all sorts of teacher cuts going on...erg again) and Andrew in other states that are reasonable to live in that we can agree on. I basically want to be out of here before the snow comes....so some time in November.

Due to our crappy job situation I have found myself being very negative. I was reminded of how my poor sister-in-law is having the hardest time getting pregnant and a post she wrote one time about being happy for others who are pregnant but still a bit annoyed and put off (I'm sure she wrote it in a more tactful way. I am not as tactful as she.). I can completely understand that feeling but in my case it is about friends (or their husbands) getting jobs and talking about how "blessed" they are (thanks Facebook). Like she once wrote, I am happy for them especially in this economy but at the same time I really just don't want to hear/read it because it only reminds me of how physically and mentally upsetting our situation is.

Andrew
Tis the season for trout fishing. Andrew is out and about pretty much every day fishing. I am currently sitting at home at 6pm wondering if it's even worth making dinner or if he won't be home till after dark (8:30pm)?

---------

And that pretty much sums up the basics of what is going on. For now. Breck is behind me snoring and I just want to go gobble her up. Hopefully I will have a more cheery post soon!

Kelly Graduates

2011-05-16T20:26:00.003-04:00

The day has finally come (and gone)! After 3 long and hard years, I have completed my Master's Degree! Graduation was nice, although mostly boring, but totally worth going to. My parents came in town for a few days to celebrate with us. There is no way I could have done this without my mom and dad! Well, no way I could have done this without loans that charge interest for years and years! But really, not just financially, my parents were always supportive of my decision to get this degree and just knowing how proud they would be kept me going. There were a couple of times I could have just quit.

I was lucky to make some good friends throughout the process and most of all really get to know myself and prove to myself that I can really accomplish things if I just TRY.
You'll see in the pictures above that not only do I have an awesome cap and gown - but I now have a "hood". When you graduate with your Master's, you not only get to take your degree and shake hands with the president, you then make a stop at the dean of the education department and she "hood's" you. Ours was blue which signifies a Master's in Education. It felt good!

Thanks for the support of all of my family - my father and mother-in-law, my sister-in-law's, my grandparents, my sister, my husband, and most of all my parents!
*Side note: I just had to insert a picture of Breck and I playing on the floor one of the days my parents were here.... she is the sweetest, yet naughtiest (is this a word?) pup in the world!

Check out our new digs!

2011-05-08T19:58:00.004-04:00

It's no secret that I watch Home Alone no less than 8 times a year. Even in the middle of the summer if there is nothing else on I will watch Home Alone. It's just a no brainer movie that is easy to watch and always reminds me of being 7.

This is why I am saving my money to buy the $2.4 million home featured in the movie... So please be understanding when we have to kindly decline invitations to a night out with friends and have to cancel our yearly trip to Bora Bora. It has always been our dream to live in Winnetka, Illinois - isn't it everyones?

I can't think of a title for this post.

2011-04-30T20:42:00.002-04:00

Hello Children! Sorry, that is how I start my morning message off every morning. "Hello Children, Today is April 29, 2011. We have art today...blah blah blah" Not much to report because as usual, not much has happened. We are loving our puppy and because of that, we don't go out much. We have not gone out to eat since we got her. We come straight home from work every day and stay in on Friday and Saturday nights. It's not really boring yet because this little girl keeps us on our toes but not spending money is a definite plus!

I am completely DONE with my masters degree! All I have to do is walk the stage on May 14! My parents come in town in less than two weeks for graduation and I can't wait! I know they will love Breck just as much as we do.

No update on the job situation yet but we are doing all we can to stay a little longer because moving is going to be super super super super super (did I mention super) expensive.

On another, very exciting, note we are now aunt/uncle x8 as of yesterday! My sister-in-law Allison had her baby boy, Davis, on April 29 after a long, hard day. We are really excited to have another baby in the family since we are still probably not even close to ready yet. Congratulations Allison and Wade!!!

jobs, dogs, and a messy house

2011-04-19T10:42:00.002-04:00

I'm home sick today with the worlds worst sinus headache so I thought I'd update the blog. Having a 2 month old puppy at home doesn't make staying at home sick very relaxing, FYI.

Here is an update on Breck:
We are convinced that she grows by the minute. She is getting taller and longer. She does a great job letting us know when she needs to go out. She goes to the door and whines when she needs to go out and pee and does a shriek - type bark when she needs to poop. She still has tinkle accidents in the house sometimes though but that is mostly our fault when it happens.
Yesterday was our first day for both of us to go to work and leave her at home alone most of the day. I was really anxious and upset about it on Sunday night. Monday morning I fed her her breakfast and put her in the pen that we set up in the kitchen. We figured having a pen would give her a little more room to play and be more comfortable rather than leaving her in the crate all day. Well I just put her in there so I could take a shower and when my shower was coming to an end, I heard her running through the house. Super! I got out and was greeted by her licking the water off my legs. I got dressed and put her back in her pen to see how she got out. After a couple of minutes she climbed OVER the pen. I didn't realize we bought a cheetah. So I freaked out and at the last minute before we had to leave for work, Andrew and I had to figure out what we were going to do with her while we were gone. We have a nice sized laundry room and it doesn't have much else in there to ruin so we set that up as her room. Luckily our treadmill can be propped up and moved out of the way so she can mess with it. We had to take the laundry baskets off the floor and put them on top of the machines. We had to take out anything else that could be destroyed and it is all now on the landing of our stairs. If you know me, you know that everything in my life (car, house, classroom/desk) has a place. Sometimes it can get messy, but when it is time to put things away, it all has a certain place to go. So this really bothered me. We will continue to leave her in there until we see she is starting to chew on the molding or door then she will have to go to her crate. I would just like for her to be able to hold her bladder a little longer before we have to do that.

An update on our jobs:
As some of you know, and as some of you have read on here, Andrew was laid off right before Christmas. He still works quite a bit for the company but not as an actual employee - he just does contract work so therefore doesn't get benefits. Luckily, I was offered my job at that time and we were able to deal financially and I could take my work's insurance. The district I work for has a couple of job openings for next year. However, there were some employees that had lost their jobs due to cuts and they could very well take those openings because they would have seniority. Hopefully that would leave one job open for me but there is no guarantee. I was told they are going to move quickly on this and I should know soon. But I still have a feeling I won't know anything till mid-May which stinks. SO, if the job doesn't work out for me it will mean the Nelson's are moving back to Texas. Which is a great thing because I've been wanting to go back closer to friends and family but at the same time, it will leave us both unemployed with NO prospects. Which means... we would get to move in with my parents until we get things figured out. We are incredibly grateful to have parents that will do anything for us but it obviously isn't ideal for either parties involved. We don't want to give up the independence we've gained through living so far away from everyone for so long and I'm sure they don't want adult children living with them. We will just have to do some cooking, cleaning, and yard work to earn our keep! :) We shall see ... either way, it will all work out for the best. It isn't in our hands anymore and we have both done more than enough to try and make things work out here. We will keep you posted!

I see Breck nodding off now so I will try to nap too!

True Love

2011-04-13T15:56:00.004-04:00

Breck has started getting "romantic" with her caterpillar. It's actually pretty funny. I honestly thought she was too young to start stuff like that - I was wrong. Oh, and PS - She is only attacking the caterpillar in the picture above, I will not (yet) show pictures of her getting frisky with it.

Breck's First Bath!

2011-04-11T17:28:00.003-04:00

I won't go on and on about this sweet girl in this post. Even though this sweet girl has the nickname Mistress Evil (pronounced same as in Austin Powers) because she continues to chew on my hands and arms (and toes, pant legs, shirts, anything and everything). I have been to the store twice in two days to get more things for her to chew on that will occupy her!! Oh, and she is growing FAST!

I will leave you today with pics from her first bath.

The Honeymoon is Over

2011-04-08T20:36:00.002-04:00

This little girl could not be any cuter. She is so soft, has sweet puppy eyes, puppy breath, and makes us feel loved. Butttt....... Now that Miss Breck has become more comfortable being part of the family, her true personality is showing. Actually it is probably just us finally figuring out her personality. She is super sweet and LOVES to play (and chew) but she can have some attitude at times. We are constantly saying "NO!" and trying to redirect her when she chews. Well, today when I picked her up to move her to a new spot when trying to chew, she gave me a really mean, ugly growl. It actually upset me a lot and I went to work sad thinking she didn't respect me and is going to rule the household from here on. After I got home this afternoon, Andrew did the same thing - picked her up to move her to a new spot because we didn't want her going upstairs. He put her up near his face and was saying something along the lines of 'Let's stay downstairs' in a kind voice and she growled and snapped at him. When she doesn't want to be picked up, she will let it be known. We decided that is just her way of being annoyed. Just like we get annoyed of her trying to get into e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g, she is getting annoyed of us not letting her! House training is going well. She knows that outside is where you are supposed to "go". That doesn't mean she doesn't still have the occasional accident though. It's like I told someone today, I would rather deal with house training any day over all of the chewing. She is getting bigger by the day. When we took her to the vet for her first round of shots/micro chipping on Monday, she weighed 15.3 lbs. Today, we took her to another vet (long story, we hated our first vet and are changing) for something we were worried about (another long story, she has a pea-sized lump on her belly but is OK!) and weighed 17.6 lbs. I can already tell that she looks taller. So that is the latest on us. This dog rules our lives. We have scratches and bite marks all over our hands and arms. Fun times for all! She is lucky she is so cute!

life with pup!

2011-04-05T20:08:00.002-04:00

Every day Breck is becoming more and more part of our little family. She is getting a little bit more comfortable with us and starting to do some naughty things. Walking is quite difficult when there is a 15 pound hyper pup trying to eat your toes and bottoms of your pants. She tries to chew on EVERYTHING. We knew that was going to happen with a puppy but it gets tiring saying "NO!" and constantly redirecting her to a toy. She is super soft and the best cuddle buddy. She still isn't too sure of strangers or strange noises. When our friends have come over to see her she runs to us and hides. She seems super sweet and lovable when napping but is quite the little hellion when awake and ready for action! We had our first vet appointment yesterday and I was not pleased at all. All she asked was "How is it going?" and when we replied with sleeping issues she answered the question well then said, "Alright, I'm just going to give a quick shot" which was very quick. Weighed her. Said, "Ok so you want a microchip? I will take her to the back and meet you out front." We were like uuuuhhhh, ok? She brought her out front to us in the lobby and I was just baffled that it was over just like that! We were speechless at the fact that she didn't do anything for us. We aren't dog illiterate or anything but this is our first puppy as adults who actually have to care for her and would like a little bit more attention than that. I expected her to talk about her food, potty training, beginning heart worm/flea treatments, very general stuff that I just would feel comfortable hearing from a Veterinarian! I literally wanted to cry when I was paying. So today I made an appointment at another clinic that I've heard wonderful things about so we will just go there starting at her next vaccine which is only in 3 weeks. I am a very thorough and detail oriented person and I need my Vet to be as well. I don't think that is too much to ask. Anyways, life is good. Life is busy. If only we could get rid of winter and let spring come out and play... boo for cold/wet/snowy weather!

I LOVE THIS GIRL!

2011-04-03T15:10:00.003-04:00

this seems like a comfy way to nap!

very tired after a long day of driving

stealing her from the breeder's arms! love at first sight! (i like his shirt by the way)

How on Earth have we been married almost 4 years and are just now getting our first dog together?!?! We are both dog lovers and have always found reasons to put off buying a dog. One of the main ones - money. So I must admit, going to the grocery store today was kind of depressing after I paid (having paid for her yesterday) realizing how frugal we need to be with the little one in our lives. HOWEVER... I thought of her the whole time I was gone and missed her! I'll start from the beginning -

Yesterday at 1:00 was our pick-up time. There are 2 main ways to get to the town she was born in and we took the shorter route to get there. For those who don't know, I can get a bit car sick sometimes. I've never actually thrown up (or tossed my cookies as my father puts it) but the older I have gotten, the more I cannot stand winding roads or bumps unless I am the driver. So this route took us through dirt roads (aka: muddy roads this time of year with the snow melt) with pleeennnntttttyyy of pot holes. Once we got to the house, I was nice and PO'd from the ride and just wanted to pick her up and go home the other direction.

Picking her up wasn't a long ordeal like I thought it would be. The "mom breeder" wasn't there at the time so the "dad breeder" is the guy we had to deal with. So that is probably why it didn't take so long. I'm sure the mom would have talked to us longer. We were able to see her mom and dad which was nice. Dad is HUUGGEEE and mom is actually pretty small for a Golden Retriever. So Breck should be a nice size. We were the first to pick up our puppy so when we walked in, he asked who we were getting and we said "pink girl!", since that is how they determine which dog is which, by their collar. He went back to get her and as soon as he came out with her I was in love! She was bigger than I expected her to be at 8 weeks but all I wanted to do was love on her. I'm pretty sure I grabbed her out of his hands rather than him handing her to me. Oh well. She's mine now. We got our AKC paperwork and the breeder gave us some toys, a leash (that is pink- so we will be using our green one we already purchased... I love pink, but not enough to have a baby pink leash for my dog), some food/treats, and a litter scented blanket.

Car ride: The ride was 2-3 hours long. We took the longer route but it was mostly on a major highway this time to avoid the windy roads. After a little less than an hour in, she threw up. Luckily I had two towels with me and it didn't make a mess but was still sad. We stopped twice to let her pee just because she was quite nervous and unsure of what was going on. The traffic noise and everything else didn't help her pee any faster. We stopped as soon as we got back to town at Petco to pick up one last minute item. Andrew had to run to the grocery store so I took her in by myself but made him come back inside for us when he was done because I didn't want to deal with paying if she was still nervous and freaking out. She actually did a great job at Petco. She laid down on one of her towels in the front of the cart while I shopped. Every toothless person from Rutland was there and they don't ASK before they pet. They just come up and help themselves. What was I supposed to say!?!? Andrew came in and was like, "Let's get the hell out of here" so we got back in the car and headed home - but for only 15 minutes this time! Home: Once we got her home, I took her straight to one of the very few grassy spots we have in our yard right now to let her pee while Andrew unloaded the car. Well, by then she was ready to play! That made me happy but I still wanted to make sure she knew it was time to pee and not play. We did a bit of exploring and playing for the rest of the day. She had only one accident inside but luckily it was on the kitchen floor. She ate her dinner well and I was worried she wouldn't because of nerves so that made me happy.

HERE IS THE BEST PART!!:: Our girl went in her crate at night and went right to bed without a PEEP! She only started crying at 3am so I took her straight to her pee spot then right back to bed. She cried for about 5 minutes then I didn't hear her again until 6am. I was shocked! I was so surprised and proud that she didn't whine in her crate.

I think she is adjusting well and at this point, a bit of a momma's girl. Dad plays with her and took her out in the woods today while I was at the store. I think she is still afraid of everything though...like wind and loud noises so the woods were scary at times when the wind would blow loudly through the trees.

Just realized this is a super long (boring for most of you) post so I will wrap it up. I absolutely am in love with this dog and have not once yet (it's only been 26 hours though :) regretted our decision to get her. When she looks up at me sometimes with those sweet golden retriever eyes I think she looks just like my parent's old dog Kaydee. I realize they all pretty much look the same but I really do see it! We definitely picked the right dog!!!!!

some thoughts

2011-03-30T18:54:00.002-04:00

I've been better at blogging more often, right?! Right now I have a few thoughts running through my mind/things going on around here so today's post will be a bulleted list of random information:

I finished my thesis a couple of days ago!(!!!!!) There are 2 drafts that are due and that was the first one. Since I've stayed in close contact with my thesis readers, I already fixed most of the errors. I'm sure there will be a few more things to correct but other than that, I am pretty much DONE with the writing process. Final draft is due April 11 and my presentation/defense is on April 26.

Andrew's 31's birthday was yesterday. We don't ever do too much to celebrate other than have dinners out sometimes so we just spent the evening at home. I actually came home from work not feeling well and spent the entire night on the couch then straight to bed at 8:30. Andrew had the day off so he went down the road to our farmer friends house and their goat had just given birth right before he got there. So those of you who are friends with us on Facebook, you already know how excited and preoccupied he was with that yesterday.

We pick our puppy up on Saturday. She will be exactly 8 weeks old. The breeder had an appointment scheduled for all of the puppies to go to the vet for their first shots /well check/ and microchipping on Friday but now we have a "major winter storm" coming that they are calling the "April Fool's Storm" (annoying) and she has canceled the appointment. It's not too big of a deal since she will be going to our vet on Monday. Plus, we get a little bit of money back that we paid for her for vet fee's and microchipping. Andrew thinks it is dumb but I don't blame her. It is difficult to drive 30 miles in bad weather with 8 large breed puppies. Oh, and also her friend who was scheduled to help her transporting them canceled on her due to the storm as well. So the annoying thing about the storm (well, everything is annoying about a snow storm on April 1st) is it is going to dump a foot of snow. I am already dealing with melting snow creating major mud in our driveway and my anxiety of house training a puppy in that mess. Now if we get another foot of snow, that is just more crap to deal with. I'm really missing those southern warm (hot) temperatures lately. 30 degrees is just not warm enough for the end of March.

Why does Oprah have re-runs when this is her final season? I find that annoying and I'm not even a super duper major Oprah fan. I think it's lazy. If you are a die hard Oprah fan, please refrain from commenting on this post to tell me how rude I am.

I need to figure out a way to stop biting my nails. I'm starting to realize how ridiculous a 28 year old woman looks when she chews her fingers, especially since I am in a germ soaked classroom for 8 hours a day.

Back to the puppy subject: We have continued nesting to prepare for the little one. Her basket of toys is filling up! I actually only bought a couple of tennis balls and a rope for her. My awesome BF Lindsey sent me a lot of cool training treats and toys for my birthday . I appreciate that it is something I can use for Breck since that is where a lot of our money is going right now. I found a place with the same if not better things than Petco for a dollar or two less - including her food - so I got some things from there. A container to keep critters out of her food, brush, collar and leash (green, my fav color!), and a couple of toys. I DID go ahead and get a new shower head for the tub so we can take it down to give her a bath. I'm still not sure how we are going to do that with such a big dog. May have to break down and just pay for her to be groomed in the winter time. Of course Andrew thinks that is silly and it would be easy but Golden Retrievers L.O.V.E water and she is going to shake and splash then run around the house soaking wet. I don't like messes...

So I am realizing now that I am rambling, mostly about my dog that no one other than Andrew and I care to hear about 24/7 so I will call it a night. The next time you hear from me, Breck will finally be part of our family. I will gladly post pictures!

Feeling the Love

2011-03-27T16:09:00.003-04:00

Ever need a quick pick me up or in the need for a self-esteem boost? You should be a kindergarten teacher! On a daily basis, cute little ones tell me that they love me or that I look pretty today. It never gets old! They color me pictures during choice time and even when they are at home so they can bring me a drawing the next morning. They ask if they can scratch my back and will do anything to please me. In a split second, on command, they will straighten their little bodies and sit straight up, criss-cross applesauce, hands in their lap, eyes right on me. They get so excited when it is my day to have lunchroom duty because I get to hang out with them when they eat their lunch. They giggle at my jokes and have even started using the same phrases that I do sometimes. For example, when someone does something that is not showing "star student behavior" I will gasp and say, "Oh my, Johnny is making me so sad right now because he is not keeping his hands to himself". So when the kids tattle on one another (all day long) they use the same vocabulary and tone as I do. I get hugs not only first thing in the morning and when they leave in the afternoon, but at random times during the day when I least expect it. They will put their heads down and make their table be quiet when I bribe with candy or allow that table to choose first for choice time. They always notice when I have new shoes, boots, clothes, whatever and tell me how beautiful I look. They want to sit in my lap, and as one student says "love on me", if we are listening to someone else read a story. They are now doing such an awesome job writing in their journals every day and it makes my heart smile when they write "I luve Mrs. Nelson" or "Mrs. Nelson is the best techr". So come to my classroom if you are in need of some positive affirmation. Their love is unconditional!

Breck at 6 weeks

2011-03-22T18:02:00.003-04:00

Our furry baby will be able to come home soon!! She turned 6 weeks on Saturday. In the picture above she is the one standing on the right. I get jealous of the other dog owners who get better pictures of their pups. She never looks at the camera!

Our pick up date has been moved UP to Saturday, April 2nd. So that is a bit easier than picking her up on a Sunday when I have work the next morning - and the town is 2 hours away.

We have continued nesting and preparing for her arrival. I picked up dog food bowls and a toy yesterday. I got a large basket type thingy that has a lid on it for our shoes in the entryway. Andrew's collection of shoes just stays right by the door and if the weather is bad, sometimes I might leave a pair of boots or rain boots next to the door too. So from now on we will stick our shoes in the basket so it will be one less thing for her to chew. I priced out her food - $32 a bag - I wonder how long it will last? When we pick her up she comes with a puppy collar and leash so we won't have to buy those for a little while. The next "big" thing we need to get is a new shower head. Ours isn't the kind with the handle that you can take off and I really think we need one for winter when we can't bathe her outside. I saw a pretty neat one at BB&B for only $30 so that should work.

I have finally chosen a vet and made her appointment for the following Monday when I get off work so Andrew and I can go together. I really wanted to go to the vet closest to our house who uses a lot of natural and holistic treatments but he charges out the a**. Oh well, modern medicine it is.
Now I am just rambling and basically thinking out loud so I will stop now. April is going to fly by with us picking her up, my spring break, and ending the month with my thesis defense. Fun times for all...

So close - yet so far away

2011-03-18T17:10:00.002-04:00

I will officially graduate from grad school on May 14th! Less than 2 months away. Yikes. I still have two sections of my thesis to complete, one of them being a bit easier than the other. My thesis "defense" is on April 26th. Double yikes. So I have to have it completed by the beginning of April so my readers can have a final copy. For those who don't know, "readers" are professors who read through your thesis and check for errors. Sometimes it is grammatical but a lot of what I am doing now is just making sure everything goes where it needs to go and making sure I am doing it right!
My parents are coming up for 4 days for the ceremony. I didn't walk the stage for my undergrad but I think this is a little more important. Plus it won't be near as long as a Texas Tech graduation. I never want to write another paper in my life...

Puppy pick-up date!

2011-03-17T16:58:00.002-04:00

First of all, I want to give a big shout out to my sister-in-law's Amanda and Allison for sending Andrew and I a Petco gift certificate for our birthdays (we share a birthday month - it is actually quite convenient)! It was super thoughtful and can certainly be put to use soon. I pretty much lucked out in the sister-in-law department. Although it was quite intimidating at first... but I'm pretty sure they like me better than their own brother so I'm all set.

We found out recently that we can pick up Breck on Sunday, April 3rd! First of all, Sunday...??? How annoying is that? Very exciting though! At first I asked the breeder if she would hold the puppy an extra week so that I can be home with her for her first week at home - my spring break. Now Andrew knows that he won't be working that week - he works quite a bit for someone who is unemployed, again, so annoying... the unemployment part. So, BACK on subject... he can be home with her that first week and I can be home for another full week with her. I am pretty happy about that situation - however, I am not going to lie, I am a little worried about leaving her home with Andrew for her first week at home. I know he will be a whopping 31 years old by then but let's face it, it IS Andrew. :) Actually he is very responsible but I really only trust myself when it comes to important things like keeping a living creature alive. My main concern is that she needs to go get checked by our vet as soon as possible so hopefully we can get the latest time of the day on that Monday. I really don't want Andrew to go alone and forget to tell me every last detail. Controlling? Yes, I am, thanks.

We should get new pics of Breck tomorrow - I look forward to Friday's for updated puppy pictures!

Going crazy

2011-03-17T16:50:00.002-04:00

Hopefully I don't have early onset Alzheimers...

About three weeks ago Andrew and I could not find the remote control for a day and a half. I was super frustrated because I knew somehow it was his fault. Finally after a while he asked, "Could it be in the trash can?". I knew there was no way it could be there but we looked anyway. And what do you know, there it was! Under a huge pile of discarded coupons I had gone through the day before. I guess I just scooped up the pile, remote included, and tossed it all in the trash at the same time.

Last week was the worst though. It was a Friday night and I went to grab my "thesis folder" so I could put it right next to the computer with all intentions to work on it the next day. It wasn't in the last place I had set it. I frantically looked all over the house for about 10 minutes then Andrew joined in the search. We looked EVERYWHERE at least 4 times. Finally, he asked "Could it be in the trash?". I thought, why on earth would I EVER throw away a huge folder full of super important papers? I let him check anyways. He started to go through OLD trash from about 2 days ago and............ THERE IT WAS! I had gone through the folder a few days earlier throwing out anything that I didn't need so it wasn't so cluttered - scooped up the pile of papers, folder included, and threw it ALL away. Now my very important papers have dark "trash juice" stains on the bottom corner of the pages. Barf. I dried them out and put them in a new, cleaner, folder.

Andrew was quite worried...

Snow day, Shmow day

2011-03-07T17:15:00.002-05:00

Today we had our 4th snow day of the year. I do enjoy sitting around and being lazy but making these days up in June is not going to be so much fun in a non-air-conditioned school. Andrew ended up going in to do some contract work for his old company (he was laid off - yes, the same company we moved 2,000 miles for) which he has been doing a lot of since the beginning of February. I thought he would have stayed home because the news kept saying to stay off the roads because they were "treacherous".
I slept in, did my lesson plans for the week, worked on the thesis, and tried my hardest to get SOME shoveling done. It was a pain in the butt though since the wind is brutal and the snow is super heavy. I didn't get much done and poor Andrew had to do it when he got home from work. For some reason, we aren't getting plowed this year very much. That's a whole other rant and rave though.
After getting those things done in the morning hours I decided to take a bath. Once my bath was almost full, the power went out. We lose water during power outages so I tried to get the most out of my bath as I could and the heat from it too since it was cold in the house with no heat. So I got out of the tub and put on layers of clothes and got under some blankets. With my wet hair I fell asleep for an hour or so. 2.5 hours later the power came back on. Right before Andrew got home too and I was starting to think about getting a hotel. It was not very warm in the house.
Now we are inside and warm and I look super awesome with my hair that dried while taking a nap.

I only talk about the puppy in 2 of these paragraphs... promise.

2011-02-25T18:59:00.003-05:00

We got another snow day today. That is day 3. 3 days to make up at the end of the school year... which means the last day of school will be June 20something. YUCK. However, I DO love the time off. Andrew and I can get things done inside the house and I wrote 5+ pages on my thesis. Doesn't sound like much but I did get quite a bit done. My parents bought their tickets to come up for my graduation. I can't believe the end of these 3 years is so close. I feel like it was forever ago when I started this program and called home crying because I didn't want to write a thesis. Look at me now! Ha!

This week at school we are all back from our "winter vacation". It's funny because before I left everyone knew I was going for Lasik the next week so they are all asking how my eyes are. Basically it goes like this, "Umm, wellllll...... I'm getting a dog instead.. I know it doesn't cost the same as Lasik...but, I thought I'd just hold on to the money and Lasik will always be there." I hope the days of me feeling like I have to explain myself to everyone are coming to an end.

We continue to get weekly updates about the little girl. We received her 3 week picture today (below) and I just want to nibble on her sweet big girl paws! HA! Hi, my name is Kelly. I am a freak. Sometimes I think about my dogs back home with my parents and how in love with them I am. I kind of feel bad about my love for this new puppy that I haven't even met. They know how much I love them too though, right!??! OOhhhh I need help. Enjoy the 3 week picture of our little Breck.

Not going private

2011-02-17T08:30:00.002-05:00

I've decided to not make the blog private. I will keep the emails that were sent to me just in case in the near future I change my mind again.
I'm wondering how I'm going to make it through the next 7 or 8 weeks without having to be put in the nut house. I am SO overly anxious about little Miss Breck coming home! I don't know how moms-to-be do it for 9 months. I figure though, the baby is in your belly for the whole time so you at least already HAVE him or her with you wherever you go. So now I am one of those annoying people who talk about my dog all the time. You'd think no one else in the world had dogs. I'm now a crazy dog lady. When we were at Orvis picking out her bed I was browsing through other parts of the store at golden retriever pillows for your couch or ornaments for the Christmas tree. For those of you who don't have to be dragged to Orvis multiple times a year, they are really into dogs, not just fishing.
So hopefully going back to school next week (I am on winter vacation) will get my mind off of it. Oh, and the huge thesis that isn't going to write itself needs to be completed too...

I think I found something new to blog about!

2011-02-15T17:17:00.004-05:00

So since I don't have much to write about lately, I went and bought a dog. Well, maybe that isn't the reason we got her but it may mean I have a new reason to post on here.

I've been researching golden retriever puppies in the area and finally found a new litter of puppies and just fell in love. I've wanted a golden since my parents got their dog, Kaydee. If you know me or have read this blog for a while, you know that Kaydee passed away pretty suddenly in 2007. That was the worst day EVER. My parents had Kaydee when I was in college but I was one of those college kids who went home often and even moved back in after I graduated (they are so lucky...). I had never met a more loving, friendly, simply amazing animal. Yes, she shed a TON and even would drag her hiney on my bedroom carpet and leave streaks (sick!) but I couldn't help but fall in love with her.

So here I am a big girl adult now and know that that is the dog for me - us! The breeder had 3 girl pups left when I contacted her but I had the issue with making sure it was OK with my landlord to have a dog and be smart and figure things out financially. **Here's the part where I tell you that I canceled my Lasik... :( I am NOT happy about it, but Lasik will always be there and this pup pulled on my heart strings at first sight.**

After some convincing and stomping my feet to Andrew and talking to my landlord about having a dog - I put down the deposit and she is officially OURS! Now Andrew talks about her all the time and we already went to Orvis to buy her a big fluffy bed to sleep on.

Her name is Breck and she is 1 week and 2 days old. We won't be able to take her home until mid-April but the timing works out. That is my spring break so I will have the week to help her adjust (oh, and finish writing my thesis... yuck). Her little eyes aren't even open yet. The breeders post pictures every week of the puppies and she even email's the "new parents" video clips every once in a while! Below is her latest picture. I'm in love....

oh, hi there!

2011-02-01T19:54:00.002-05:00

Hey there, all 5 readers of mine! I thought maybe I would get some posts or FB messages from people I didn't know that followed my blog for me to keep them on my blog once I go private - but nope! Actually, a few minutes ago I got a FB message from someone I don't know asking me to keep her in the loop which reminded me to update the blog. Just to let all 5 of you know - I DO keep up with your blogs! I just have a hard time updating mine. When I discovered only 5 people read my blog, I thought, "Why go private when no one reads it?". So I am still not sure what to do. I'd like to share some other things that are going on but don't feel comfortable doing it when there are certain people out there that I just don't want knowing!
My job is going GREAT! I love it so much! I never thought going from 3rd grade to Kindergarten would be so easy. I love it just as much as I did teaching 3rd grade. This is the happiest I've been in the almost 4 years I've lived here. There are definitely some behavior problems in the room but other than that it is going beautifully. The principal told me that I'm doing an "awesome job" and they are really happy to have me there. I get observed next week and I'm really excited about it. I didn't think they would have to observe me since technically I am a long-term sub but since I'm there for more than 1/2 the year they have to. I'm really not nervous at all.
Andrew is doing well and loving going out and snowshoeing. He has done a ton of it and loves taking pictures while he is out there. Thank the LORD for waterproof cameras.
I have my winter break coming up in a week and a half and I am planning on having Lasik done during that time. It is all scheduled and ready to go but they still have to clear me at the consultation which is the day before the surgery. I'm sure I will be fine because I've been told for years that I'm a great candidate for Lasik. I feel like I need to have it done while my insurance actually helps with the cost. How often does that happen?! I am SO ready to be done with contacts. I think my body has started rejecting them in the last year or so. I just can't make it a full day without them starting to bug me.
So that is what we have been up to between Christmas vacation and now. Oh wait, I figured out how to have the TV display who is calling when the phone rings too. That was a pretty exciting day.

getting private and personal

2011-01-18T19:26:00.002-05:00

Doesn't that sound like fun?? Ha! I'm thinking of jumping on the bandwagon of making my blog private. I haven't written much lately because a lot of what is going on with us is a bit personal and I don't want any joe shmoe reading it. I (think) that I made my blog "un-searchable" when I first started it so if you typed in our names it wouldn't pop up. However, I still feel really out there. I promise to start blogging more and not be so lame. Maybe one day when all I do is talk about my babies and post pictures (when that day comes) I will make my blog public again.
So if you are a follower of this blog or just happen to stop by from time to time because you are SO interested in seeing what The Nelsons are up to in Vermont... then leave me your email address or facebook message me your email so I can add you to the "invite" list when I do go private. I will try to delete your comments as soon as they are posted so they aren't available for all to see.

gaining some perspective

2011-01-03T20:01:00.003-05:00

So, by the way, I suck at blogging. I honestly don't feel like it lately and I feel the people that care the most keep up with me on Facebook. I did want to share this though...
This morning I woke up for my "first" day of work in my Kindergarten position. I woke up at 6am which was difficult considering towards the end of Christmas vacation, I was able to sleep in until 10:30 some days. I did NOT want to get out of bed even though I couldn't sleep any more. I thought about how awesome my bed would feel later that night when I got back in it (thought about my sister-in-law's blog post about something similiar - sorry, I suck at linking them up, but she is at "The Joiners" over on the left). I took my shower knowing that it wouldn't be so bad after I was actually "up". When I was getting dressed downstairs, so I was not to wake up my sleeping hubby upstairs, I looked at the couch and longed for the days where I would stretch out and just catch up on DVR and play on the internet. Yes, I do realize that I sound like a lazy bum. THEN, I turned on my computer where I had to catch up with Facebook from the evening before. I noticed a friend's status update: "I am thankful I have a job to wake up to in the morning."
THAT is when I started feeling like a brat. I have worked so hard for this day and I am moaning and bitching in my head about how much it sucks to wake up early and not be able to lounge on the couch all day. I even had wondered if it was worth the money - uhh and HECK YES it is! It made me super grateful for what I do have because there are so many that are close to me that are struggling and having hard times - and I'm not just talking about financial. It's tough on your ego, soul, and basically your self-worth. I've heard people say that they felt bad before about taking this for granted but this was more. It truly turned my day - hopefully my year around.
I had a WONDERFUL first day at my new job. It was an easy transition and the students did amazingly well. I was reminded of the lesson that I always knew: The more prepared you are, the more you will succeed. In teaching this takes HOURS of planning and preparation but it is so worth it in the end.

Quick Recap!

2010-12-16T20:23:00.003-05:00

Hi (Dad, Allison, Amanda) Readers!
I have been super duper busy lately hence the no blogging. I've been trying to wrap up the semester of grad work and getting a new job this time of year has been hectic.
Tonight I had my last "class" - we actually met at a professors house and had food and alcohol - and I'm feeling really good about it. Nights like tonight remind me that I am so lucky to have such a great group of professors and I love my cohort so much. Like I've said before, these professors really have gotten to know me and it is so comforting to have so much 1 on 1 help when I need it. I couldn't have chosen a better place to get my master's degree! I'm so glad I made that decision 2.5 years ago. I have one more semester to go but it is my "thesis semester" so I don't have classes. I couldn't imagine 2 years ago what today would be like. I will meet with my readers throughout the semester to keep me on track, defend my thesis in April or very early May, then graduate mid-May!
The new job is going great. The transition has gone very smoothly. The teacher is still in the class until the last day this semester. Luckily, I am friends with her so I feel very comfortable asking questions and taking over. The kindergarten team has been so wonderful and welcoming to me. I'm very lucky to have gotten this job at the school that I've been at this whole time so I am comfortable with the programming, students, and staff. I feel really good about the change over.
Saturday, we are on our way to Texas for Christmas festivities in San Antonio and Austin! Can't WAIT!

I'm Employed!

2010-12-06T18:54:00.003-05:00

I haven't been blogging much lately because I've been VERY busy sitting around thinking about doing thesis work - but not doing a single thing. Also, there has been a job opening that I've been after for the past couple of weeks and today I found out that I got it!!!
It's a kindergarten position that will last through the end of the school year. There is a 50/50 chance that this will turn into a permanent position, but at the time I am considered a long term sub. If this does turn into a more permanent position, Andrew and I will have to make a decision about staying here or moving somewhere where I may, AGAIN, not find a job. I'm not going to worry about that right now though.
Although this is considered a long term sub position, I will still get paid teachers salary (THANK THE LORD ABOVE! MY BANK ACCOUNT WILL BE SO HAPPY!) and will be able to take their benefits if we choose to switch from Andrew's.
I am SO excited to have been offered this job! I worked really hard at nailing the interviews, and I must say, I rocked! I have lived here for 3.5 years and have been waiting for this opportunity (except for the 3 months that I did another long term sub which was awesome!)!! Thanks for letting me share my exciting news with you!

O Christmas Tree

2010-11-27T16:12:00.000-05:00

Turkey Day

2010-11-26T19:42:00.002-05:00

This year we didn't have any family come up to visit for Thanksgiving so we were forced into making our own plans this year. So we had our friends, The Emmons, over for dinner. We ordered a pre-cooked turkey from the grocery store that had a couple of side dishes with it and added a few of our own sides as well. Even though it was pre-cooked the turkey still required a couple of hours of heating plus all the work of making sides to go with it. So being the anal person I am I created an oven/stove schedule. This really helped the day go by pretty smoothly. I have to say, even though I didn't cook the turkey myself, I think I did a pretty good job of playing hostess for Thanksgiving this year! This was before I even got started. I got to wear my apron for the first time!
This is what Andrew did all afternoon.

I got to use my china for the second time.

Today it was time to put up the tree! Our tree is skinny and not impressive considering we live in Vermont but we sure do love it! Above is a super awesome picture of me making sure there were no holes. We took it slow and aren't done putting out the decorations. We still need to put the garland around the stair railing and the garland outside on the porch.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the ones you love the most!

Is this turning into a running blog?

2010-11-23T20:44:00.003-05:00

Maybe for now until something exciting happens in our lives.

So today was Week 2, Workout 2. I am still jogging 90 seconds and walking for 2 minutes for 30 minutes but this morning I made a change. I was subbing today so I thought I'd get up early and get it over with so it wasn't on my mind all day. Getting out of bed was pretty hard but once I was up I was good. I put in my contacts and put on my workout clothes and immediately hit the treadmill. After my first 90 second jog I was feeling wiped. I figured it was because I hadn't drank any water since the night before so I paused my iPod and went to get the water bottle. That helped a little but getting through today's workout was not fun. It wasn't that I was sleepy - I was more like "sluggish". I considered quitting less than half way through it but then I was afraid I'd have to start all over again so I pushed through it. Maybe I am just really out of shape! I'm going to walk on my "off" days so maybe that will improve my stamina.

The good news is, and maybe it's all in my head, but my pants are already fitting a little better. I'm not completely popping out of them with my muffin top!

Week 2

2010-11-21T12:40:00.002-05:00

Today I started week 2 of my couch to 5k program. It wasn't too difficult but my calves were burning a little bit after a while. I think that's a good sign that I'm building muscle though. This week the program has me jogging 90 seconds and walking for 2 minutes.
Like I said before, the podcast really does help because there is a girl who tells you when to walk and when to run so you aren't having to keep track of time yourself. However, the music is really strange. So after today's run I started searching on the internet for other podcasts people had made themselves and I actually found a bunch of stuff. They said the same thing as me, that it's a great tool to use but the music sucks. The podcast I decided to use for this week is off of a website called www.kissmyblackass.org which made me laugh but it was really good!! If my next 2 runs this week go well I'm sure I will use this girls podcasts for the rest of the time.

It's a real head scratcher.

2010-11-19T07:29:00.002-05:00

I'm just going to jump right in on this one...
Last night at about 6:30 I was sitting on the couch chatting on the phone when I started to smell something burning. I knew it wasn't dinner because we ate at 5pm because we are elderly. I yelled at Andrew (who was in the bathroom) that I smelled something burning. He came out and was like, "You smell something burning?? The whole house is filled with smoke!!!" I freaked out and hung up on my friend and we both frantically started running around the house trying to find the source of the smoke. We unplugged almost everything in the house and Andrew ran down into the basement to check the furnace because our house is heated with oil. It wasn't smokey down there are everything seemed fine. I was like, "Should I call 911?". He suggested to call our landlord first. He shut off the heat as I called them. She called the fire department and by the time they got here the smoke was gone. There were 3 fire trucks and as I've said before, we live in a very rural area so every car that drove by had to stop and get out and watch the scene. The firemen had no clue where it came from and all of their tests they ran checked out fine. They thought it was odd that it smelled like burnt wood though. They were super friendly which made me less embarrassed that they had to come out. They were pretty concerned and said not to hesitate to call if it happened again. One fireman even gave us a call a couple of hours later to make sure everything was ok and that the furnace man came out.
So after the firemen left, our landlord had someone come out and check the furnace. He was here for a while and cleaned a couple of things but said it was running perfectly fine. That's great to know but still scary because we have no idea why our house filled with smoke!! He said his best guess was that a piece of wood fell onto the furnace and got really hot. He said even then he was just pulling at straws because he had no clue.
After he left we let the heat run some more and everything seemed fine. We turned it off when we went to bed so we didn't have any problems during the night. This morning when we woke up I turned on the heat and took my shower. The house started to smell like a bonfire again so I called and canceled my sub job for the day because I'm too afraid to leave the house.
The Shrewsbury fire department is a volunteer fire department and those guys were awesome. Next time I have a few extra dollars we will be sure to make a donation.
So for now, we still don't know the cause and are just hoping it doesn't happen again.

Short Texas Trip

2010-11-16T18:04:00.003-05:00

Oh yeah, so I was in Texas the weekend before last! I feel like it's pointless to do a post about it because all the pictures were posted on Facebook. I had a super duper fun time and enjoyed being with one of my favorite girls in the entire world, Allison Estep Ballard! Andrew stayed home because 1) He really doesn't care too much for football and 2) he is saving up his days off for more important things! I love that Tech won their Homecoming game and I must admit I was a bit jealous of all the COOL student housing that has been built since I left!

On Sunday Allison, her husband, and I drove back to their house in Forney and I was scheduled to leave out of Dallas on Monday morning. Sunday night I was able to see her sweet baby girl (who I didn't get a picture of! doh!) and we drove into Dallas to meet our other friend, Lindsay, and her new baby Cash at Starbucks for a quick HELLO! I loved catching up but it always makes me even more sad to leave all my favorite people back in Texas.

The Monday morning commute was a bit rough in Dallas due to an accident and.. because it's Dallas! So I got nervous about my flight. When I got to the airport they said I would make the flight but my bags might not be there when I got in. Since I flew in and out of an airport that is about 3 hours from my house and the weather was nasty that day, I said, "Can you get me to San Antonio then?" I got a strange look but the lady put me on the next flight to San Antonio and I called my parents and told them that I would see them in an hour and a half! The quick detour to San Antonio didn't disappoint as usual. Got to eat at my new favorite place, The Yardhouse, and spend a little bit of time with my mom and dad... oh, and of course the dogs. Tuesday morning I got on the plane and headed back north.

Below is a picture of probably one of the most attractive newborns I've ever seen. His head was not a weird shape and he has great coloring. Lindsay knows how to make some cute kiddos! Baby Cash...

W1D2

2010-11-16T17:58:00.002-05:00

Week 1 Workout 2 ... In all my research on Couch to 5K I've noticed that's how everyone identifies what week and day they are on.
Today I did my workout on the treadmill because it was pretty much almost dark when I got home at 4pm. I downloaded a really neat Podcast from Couch to 5k on iTunes that has music and a person to tell you when to walk and when to run. That was super helpful so I didn't have to focus on the time! The only thing I didn't like was trying to figure out and adjust my speed on the treadmill. I wasn't sure what speed I liked for a "brisk walk" and what speed I liked for jogging since I'm still jogging like a grandpa. The good thing about using the treadmill is I can dress like a complete idiot and no one knows or cares! I didn't want to wear shorts so I wore an old pair of leggings (not exercise leggings) and a tank top. So every where I have a bulge showed beautifully. I was pretty hot.

Couch to 5K

2010-11-14T12:23:00.002-05:00

I've never been a runner. Even when I am in pretty decent shape I still cannot run. Lately I've been seeing a good number of my Facebook friends who are doing half-marathons and marathons. Some of them I am quite surprised by. So I decided, if they can do it, I can do it too! I don't know about a marathon or even a half-marathon, I just want to be able to run a good distance without passing out. I honestly cannot even run a full mile without stopping to walk. I'm a wimp. When I tell runners that I just can't do it, they suggest that perhaps I'm trying to go too fast. So now I'm trying a different strategy.
This morning I downloaded the Couch to 5K plan and printed it out. When I told Andrew about it he said, "Yeah right" then went on to tell me that I always talk about starting a program then he never hears about it again. Although he is totally right, I am determined to finish this one and prove him wrong. The program only has me walking/jogging 3 days a week for 9 weeks. I started Week 1, Workout 1 today. We've had a nice weekend so today I went outside but I know by week 4 I will be doing this all inside on the treadmill staring at the boring wall. I HATE our treadmill.
So get excited about my newest blog topic... Couch to 5K...
Today I started Week 1, Workout 1:
This week for each of my workouts it has me walking briskly for 5 minutes then alternating jogging for 60 seconds and walking for 90 seconds. I used my old Timex watch. Today I decided to go without the iPod because I knew I would be so focused on my watch and I didn't want any distractions. Because it had been suggested that maybe I am trying to run too fast, I made a point to jog super slow where I look like an old man. Luckily, I live in a very rural area so no one can see how awesome I look when I'm jogging except for a stray car or two. My neck started hurting near the end I guess due to my posture. Other than that, Day 1 was a success. Oh, and when I was about 5 minutes away from being done, a thought struck me as a truck with men in camo passed - Yesterday was the start of deer hunting season. Crap. I'll have to remember to wear bright colors next time so I don't get shot.

Halloween Part II

2010-11-02T19:00:00.002-04:00

Here are a few more pics from the party we went to on Saturday night. There were no costumes but everything else was Halloween themed. I wore my bat earrings to be festive though! As I said in the earlier post, Laura made pumpkin fondue... and served it right out of the pumpkin. YUM-E!
All the Jack-o-Lanterns (minus the one that won). The bottle of black vodka sitting in the middle was the prize.

Andrew carved out our pumpkin in less than 10 minutes... freehand.

The set up. Well, less than 1/3 of it anyways. Laura and Dave made HOMEMADE caramel corn...who makes homemade caramel corn??? They do! (Notice the place cards telling you what kind of caramel corn it is underneath? Love the organization!) It was fantastic!!! Maple cupcakes and maple whoopie pies for dessert.

This picture is to prove that I had a hand in carving the pumpkin too. I cut the top off (in a fancy fashion, of course) and cleaned that puppy out. I rock.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T13:41:00.002-04:00

For some reason, Andrew and I have never carved any of our pumpkins until this year! We like to keep them out for as long as possible to keep the porch festive through (hopefully) Thanksgiving. This year we were invited to a Halloween party where we carved our pumpkins for a contest. I carved the top off and cleaned out the pumpkin and Andrew drew the face free hand and carved it. I think he did an excellent job! We thought we had the contest in the bag until someone showed up with a SUPER fancy carved pumpkin. Oh well, we can do without the black vodka prize anyway! We had a blast - Thanks to Laura and Dave over at A Dozen Eggs for throwing such a fun party! Laura is super creative so of course we had Halloween themed drinks and snacks... even a baked pumpkin fondue! YUM!

Stop, Drop, and Roll

2010-10-28T08:49:00.002-04:00

I remember that is what I'm supposed to do if I ever catch on fire. Thank goodness, I didn't catch on fire. However, something else did while I was at the school library last night. I met a friend/classmate up at school last night so we could work together. More like work parallel since all of our thesis work is independent. We were at a table with all of our work spread out with papers and note cards everywhere. It was about 5:55pm and we were talking about getting ready to leave when the fire alarm went off. Everyone in the library just kind of sat there looking around for a minute. Slowly people started to stand up and go outside. We looked at each other super confused because, let's face it, 9 times out of 10, when the fire alarm goes off, someone accidentally hit it or it's a drill. I doubted they would do a drill at that time of day and didn't really think colleges did drills like in grade school. So I decided to pack up ALL of my stuff (and there was a lot) before I went outside. I threw everything I've ever learned about fire safety OUT the window. In the event of a fire, you are supposed to quickly and safely get your self out of the building not worrying about your things. Well, I'll be damned if all of the hard work I've put in to this thesis gets charred and it's gone forever. So screw everyone else, I'm taking my time to get my things together and then I will leave. Plus, it's not like a computer was on fire 10 feet away from me where I was in immediate danger. We just ended up leaving after that, not standing around to see what the problem was. It turns out that someone left one of those single burners on in the basement of the library and it had caught on fire. Some students were good kids and left everything right where it was when they left the building, even their laptops. I think that's crazy. So next time you are looking for someone to set a good example - I don't think I'm the best one to look to.

"Adventures in Vermont"

2010-10-25T10:16:00.002-04:00

I thought I'd do a "Vermont-ish" type post since our time here is coming to an end...and the subtitle under "The Nelsons" says, "Adventures in Vermont". Can't give specifics right now on the bloggy blog but I also really don't have specifics to give anyways. Way to be vague, huh? Anyways, on to the post...
We visited with our neighbor last night because she is leaving tomorrow to her Florida home for the winter. We didn't know if/when we would see her again so she invited us over for wine and cheese. She had this old book about the farm we live on so Andrew ran over to the house and scanned a couple of neat pictures so we could have these memories.

cover of the book

Andrew photoshopped this so you could see our house the way it originally stood and how it looks today. It used to be where they kept the hay on the farm. There has been many changes made since then to make it into a home.

If you are interested, you can probably click on this picture to make it bigger so you can read whati s underneath it. This shows our house (as a barn) and our neighbors home. Our neighbors home was an old school house at one time and has gone through many updates and additions as well. The white fence is not there anymore. Their home (other than the addition) is originally brick which is pretty rare up in the north.

Pictures

2010-10-23T08:44:00.004-04:00

Just thought I'd share some pictures with everyone. Fall is basically on it's way out and winter is on it's way in already. Most of the leaves are gone and it's already snowed twice. All of these pictures are Andrew's work except for the last two. Those are obviously mine taken from inside the house because it's too cold to go outside!

Woke up to a little bit of snow this morning.

Merry Christmas to ME!

2010-10-22T15:28:00.002-04:00

I've said it before and I'll say it again - Growing up stinks! I just received my (more than generous) early Christmas gift from my parents... new tires! Woohoo! I am very thankful for them and could not have afforded them on my own. My parents are awesome for being so helpful. The tires I had were so worn down and the back tires were basically bald! I think they would have lasted a bit longer if I hadn't lived in a place that has snow 5 months out of the year. So my parents were nice enough to give me my present early before anymore snow fell. Although it felt awesome to drive out of the parking lot this morning with my new tires with nice thick tread on them and not having to worry that maybe one would blow out at any minute, I was kind of sad that Santa wasn't going to be bringing me anything on December 25th this year. I don't know about most of you, but we still go home for Christmas and wake up at either Andrew's parents or my parents house on Christmas morning to open gifts. That will change once we have kids but for now that is still a big part of our holiday traditions. I know my parents will be awesome and still fill my stocking with fun things - but I guess I need to be a big girl and realize that my presents are 4 round (very expensive) pieces of rubber on my car that are saving me from running off the road in ice and dying in a fiery car crash. Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Claus for my early Christmas present!!

Come on ride the train

2010-10-19T18:12:00.003-04:00

We had Blake and Karin Haas in town this weekend. Blake was Andrew's "Big Brother" in the fraternity and is one of my favorite friends of Andrew's. He is so polite and just an all around GOOD GUY. Karin is super fun and I just love her! It was really sad when they left because we really had a BLAST! They were here Thursday through Monday and by Sunday night we giggled for hours about dumb inside jokes we had made throughout those few days.
Although there are probably a lot of things I can post about from their weekend, I am choosing to post about the Sunday evening train ride for now. Blake paid for us to all take the foliage dinner train out of Rutland into Fort Edwards, NY and back because Karin's 30th birthday is this week. This truly was the most fun I have had in a long time! It was so neat to ride in the train, chat with friends, laugh about dumb stuff, and eat a four course meal! The train stops in Fort Edwards where we switch to another train to come back. Dinner is over at that point so we brought UNO with us to play. We still had a bottle of wine left over from dinner to drink so that was pretty fun too! It all sounds so simple but I can't express how much fun I had.

Holy Snow!

2010-10-15T21:00:00.002-04:00

Yep! It's October 15th and we got some snow, and a lot of it in certain places! The northeast got a nor'easter which created a ton of rain and wind for most of us. In the higher elevations, though, there was quite a bit of wet snow which made the roads super dangerous. The following are just a few pics from my phone's camera. Andrew took a lot more because we have guests in town... but those will come later.

scaredy cat

2010-10-14T17:56:00.003-04:00

Just a quick post to let everyone know that it took me 3 days to get through Halloween I. Halloween II came in today so we will see how that goes. It would get too dark outside or too close to bedtime and I would have to turn it off and watch something else before I went to sleep.
On another "creepy" note, Andrew is reading "The Stranger Beside Me" by Ann Rule. I have known Andrew for 8 years and have not once see him actually READ a book. He is somewhat fascinated by Ted Bundy (the serial killer from the 70s) so maybe that has sparked his interest in reading about him. Most people may find it strange that he is fascinated with a serial killer but I have to admit, I kind of like to learn about those things too. That doesn't make us murderers. So, if anyone ever wants to get Andrew a cool gift that you know he will use, go for a really interesting book on a serial killer! Ha!

Hello Clarice

2010-10-12T18:10:00.004-04:00

Ok, I'm talking about a different movie in this post, but I just felt the urge to do my best Hannibal Lecter impression.

Lately I've been watching a lot of Netflix movies because we got rid of a bunch of our channels on Dish Network. I'm not complaining though, I really like paying less than $20 a month for TV. I put some Halloween movies on my "Queue" and today I got my first one, "Halloween". Did anyone else watch these growing up? I think my parents must have been out of their minds for letting me watch them or I did it without their permission (which happens a lot when you have a sister 6 years older than you). Michael Myers (in my opinion) is the scariest villain on any movie ever made. Period. I am still scared as I am about to watch Halloween I and after I return it, I will watch Halloween II. Not sure how far I will get because aren't there like 40 of them out now? The creepy theme song doesn't help either. It makes my skin crawl. Anyways, I am doomed and will probably sleep with one eye open tonight.

Who do you think the scariest villain in a movie is?

Wedding

2010-10-11T11:19:00.003-04:00

This weekend, our friends Summer and Mark, got married at a lodge in Killington, one of the major ski resorts in Vermont. Andrew did them a (huge) favor by being their wedding photographer pro-bono. Most of you know that photography is one of Andrew's hobbies. He's never really done much photography of people but more of landscapes and nature. He totally expected to hate it and not really want to do it again. Turns out he didn't hate it as much as he thought, BUT, that is something he will not do for free again. Those of you who have been married recently know that wedding photographers range from 1,500 to well into the 3,000's if not more! With us being more than broke these days we cannot afford to do favors like that anymore! I will leave you with a picture of us from later on in the evening so we are a little sweaty and tired. If anyone cares to see the wedding photos, Andrew created a page on Facebook called "Summer and Mark get hitched".

blogging slacker

2010-10-05T16:18:00.004-04:00

I've been slacking in the blogging department lately. Mainly because I have nothing of importance to say and have actually considered deleting my blog - but also because I have a huge thesis paper looming over me. I just finished with the proposal - a 6 page paper that has to be turned in to some important folks at the college so I can be approved to do my research. Once that is approved, I will start my research...which will end in December. Then I have January - April of next year to get a 30+ page thesis written and turned in so I can finally graduate with my MASTERS! The following picture is of my living room while I am working diligently.

Weekend Guests

2010-10-03T19:27:00.003-04:00

This weekend a sorority sister of mine came to visit. Katy was in the pledge class before mine and we had stayed in touch through facebook. She has been living in New York City with her boyfriend and I had been trying to get them to come on the train to visit and so they decided to come and see the fall leaves. They weren't here very long. We did a lot of site seeing, some shopping, the boys took out the canoe, went to the brewery (of course), and took the gondola up to the top of the Killington Ski Mountain. It was great to catch up! We were goofing around...Andrew thinks he is making a funny face, however I feel that his face says "You are too heavy". I'm not self-conscious or anything.
Long Trail Brewery.

Katy and Kelly and a major sun glare.

FOYUL-I-AGE

2010-09-23T20:09:00.010-04:00

COLORES...

ARBOLES...
DE COLORES...
PESCADO...

LAS MONTANAS...

AGUA...

MAS ARBOLES DE COLORES...

ES BUENO...

cheesecake does not = weight loss

2010-09-22T08:06:00.002-04:00

Weighed in today. I'm basically almost back to my original weight when I started. I was pretty naughty all week. I was invited to a dinner party where I was served lobster ravioli and cheesecake. We had a couple over for dinner on Friday and I served apple pie for dessert. Saturday was just a disaster. I started the day off with 2 breakfasts... that's right, 2. Oatmeal then later on I ate a huge burrito. I went to a bridal shower and didn't eat much but had some drinks. Tech played UT so that means pizza and guacamole. I'm also on a lot of medicine because my allergies are killing me so I swear that I'm retaining water. So today starts a week of no cheating. Absolutely none. We are staying home this weekend so that will be easy to avoid social eating and drinking.

Memory Walk

2010-09-19T17:59:00.003-04:00

This weekend I participated in the Rutland Memory Walk supporting a cure for Alzheimer's Disease. My grandmother had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's several years before she passed so the disease is definitely something that has had a huge impact on my life. I woke up early Saturday morning and met my friend Melissa (BIG shout-out to Melissa for being such a trooper and going with me! Thank you times a million!) in Rutland for the walk.

I was the Top Fundraiser in the individuals category - So another BIG thanks to those who donated and supported me. My mom is convinced my name will be in the paper so I'll have to look, but seriously doubt it.

We will hit 'em, We will wreck 'em...

2010-09-17T22:40:00.004-04:00

...Hit 'em! Wreck 'em, TEXAS TECH!

My friend Allison from "The Gilmore Family" just posted this, but I had to share with my readers who don't also stalk other blogs on my list.... I am SO ready for tomorrow, especially after this youtube video!
Wreck 'Em!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqmlVLUBvbw

Weigh-In Day

2010-09-15T08:32:00.002-04:00

Today is Wednesday, my weigh-in day according to WW. My official loss for the week is -3. Woohoo! I'm pretty proud of myself. At this rate, I will have lost the weight and be ready to pack it back on during the holidays. (Let's hope not)
I realize that is more than the average amount to lose every week so I still need to focus on eating healthy before I get stuck and just can't lose at all.
Happy Hump Day Everyone!

It's working...

2010-09-14T08:20:00.002-04:00

This week I'm feeling like I should be a spokeswoman for Weight Watchers. My weigh in day isn't till tomorrow but I went ahead and weighed today because I swore I hadn't lost any weight and I didn't want to be disappointed tomorrow. I'm not going to post how many I've lost until tomorrow because I want to see if I can get an extra .5 pound off today by being super good. I haven't been as strict this week as I first said I was. I did have some wine and even a couple of beers (naughty!) but my carb intake is way down and I am eating more fruits and veggies. I have also really cut down my portion sizes - especially at dinner.
I have been eating my dinners - if it is soup or a casserole - in a large mug rather than a bowl. That has helped cut down on how much I eat. My snacking is way down and I tend to eat canned asparagus, jello, or something with very few "points". I've also been eating salad for lunch.
I haven't exercised ONCE this week. So I do need to pick that up again. I'm trying to work a lot because if I haven't mentioned it lately... we are b-r-o-k-e. When I'm not working I either fret about trying to get my thesis proposal done or actually try and work on it. I never realized how much of a procrastinator I am.
Anyways, so I will post my loss for the week tomorrow, should you care.

Friends, Cheese, and Pottery

2010-09-11T15:48:00.002-04:00

Andrew and I recently made new friends who just happen to live maybe 2 miles down the road from us. They are Dave and Allison, from just south of Boston, who came to live in Vermont 3 years ago. Allison is in the education field and Dave makes beautiful pottery (but works at a local cheese factory as a daytime job).

Last night we were invited to their home to see Dave's pottery shop, their cute home, and have some local Vermont cheese and wine. These two are so wonderfully nice and they love to share. When Dave talks, he reminds me of the movie "Good Will Hunting". Think of how all the guys in that movie talk...a thick Boston accent - it cracks me up. We left that evening having enjoyed their company (and cheese!) with large bags of stuff to take with us! We admired Dave's work and he gave us quite a few pieces for free! We did buy one piece though because I thought it'd be a perfect Christmas present for someone who doesn't read this blog. They insisted we take the rest and in turn Andrew is doing photography of his work for a website and some sketches. Gotta love being married to an artist who can trade his work for other beautiful work. Oh, and Dave gave us two huge blocks of cheddar to take home as well! Yum! All of us in the studio. I don't think we were all ready for the picture. You may notice wine in my hand... I limited myself but obviously didn't make it to the end of September! Ha!

These are the goods we came back with. 2 large triangular bowls, 1 smaller bowl that is PERFECT with our blue and white kitchen table theme, 2 "whiskey cups", and a triangular mug that I just had to have!

I like donuts.

2010-09-09T08:15:00.002-04:00

So...forget what I said about having everything under control and having less stress in my life. Geez. If only I could share this with my blog readers. One day, just not yet. We have our health though, right?
I thought I'd share my eating behaviors yesterday. I promise not to bore you with it every day but I was a very good girl. I didn't even eat all of my points which is nuts because I usually try to find a way to cheat. I subbed yesterday for the first time this school year and it just happened to be one of the custodians 60th birthdays. Super. If you have ever worked in a school (which a lot of my blog readers have) you know that teachers celebrate everything with lots of FOOD! I walk into the teachers room to find a huge cake. Mmm cake. Donuts... mmm donuts. Very large muffins...mmm muffins. Then some pretzels. I just popped a couple of pretzels in my mouth and kept walking. I so badly wanted the half of a donut that someone had left. I was good though.
I came home and fixed popcorn as a snack and started to prepare dinner. I didn't have a glass of wine even though certain issues that popped up made me want to drink the whole bottle. :)
Like I said in my earlier post, when I am such a good girl the day before, I tend to weigh myself more often (I obviously need to not do that) so this morning I got on the scale .. anddddd... NOTHING! ARG! I should have totally lost a pound because I didn't eat that donut! If only it worked that way.
That's it for yesterday. Again, I won't bore you with my food stories every day. Just sometimes :)