Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Things I miss about living on my own:
-Having my own place in general
-My furniture. Mostly my big 4 post bed, and my couch
-Inviting friends over
-Having quiet time when I want it quiet
-Coming home late and not being worried about waking anyone up
-Having a kitchen that is mine that I can cook in all the time (mom - I know I can cook in your kitchen when I want to, but it's still different)

Things that are great about living with my parents:
-Saving money so that I can look forward to owning my own place
-Having built in babysitters and not having to get Will ready to go to Grandma's house every morning. We just wake up and we're there
-Having a yard for Will to play in. That is safe (minus this little thing) so I don't have to watch him while he plays
-Having Mickayla around so that will gets a little bit of a taste of what it would be like to have a sibling, so he doesn't grow up not knowing how to share
-Being surrounded by people that I love. Having someone to come home to and tell stories to.
-Hearing "bye, love you, have a good day" when I leave for work
-Knowing that Will is in a place that he loves when I leave for work (although he still asks me every morning to not go to work)
-And this! (below) As I get ready for work my mom brings me my breakfast. And then when I go upstairs to leave for work my lunch is sitting by the door waiting for me. And when I get home dinner is usually almost ready.






Awe, the good life! My mommy loves me! :)



Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Can you tell what I do for a living?

Our Disneyland trip is in 3 days (and counting.) I realize this is just a vacation, but I like to be prepared. So I made a note book with the information that I think that I will want easily available.

Flight info: for Mom, Mickayla, Will and my flight. As well as for Aunt Cathy and Maddies flight, just in case they call in a panic.

Car reservation: So we dont run into the off chance of getting to the reservation counter, just to have them say that they don't have record of our reservation.

Hotel reservation: same as car reservation

Show times: This includes park hours for each day for Disneyland, California Adventure and Sea World. Along with the times of any parades or shows.

Driving directions: Even though we have addresses for all of the places that we are going, and I have a GPS on my phone. I thought I'd print out directions (to and from, everywhere we are going while in CA,) just so they are easily accessible.
Then in the back there is a clip that holds all of our tickets, which have been prepaid and printed out so we dont have to stand in line. (Disneyland, Seaworld, parking at Sea World, Medieval Times)

And you dont even want to know how many other lists I've made. And I'm sure I'll make many more in the next 2.5 days. :)

Monday, March 23, 2009

Ikea and Bribery

On Saturday, Mickayla and Will came with me to Ikea. I told them that they needed to show me that they could get along, as practice for Disneyland. They did a great job. Once they got tired of walking they both decided to get in the cart so that I could push them around. People kept commenting about how cute and well behaved they were all cuddled up in the cart. And I got a great work out by pushing a super heavy cart around the store. (By the way, that is not a large rat that Mickayla is holding. That is Decko. Ikea allows pets in the store, so he got the pleasure of accompanying us. He was a good dog and just sat in the cart quietly. )

Because the kids were so well behaved I bought them each a $1.25 cent frozen yogurt cone. Here is a pic of Will eating his cone in the car. I tried to minimize the mess by making a bib typed thing out of napkins.
On another note:
Mom had the great idea of bribing the kids with Disneyland money. Well ok, she has them do jobs for her around the house and they get money to spend at Disneyland, but I use the same idea as bribery to get Will to do what I want him to do. I figure I'm gonna end up spending the money anyway, so I might as well get something out of it. Mostly I've been bribing him to finish his dinner or sleep in his bed through the night. "Will, if you eat all of your chicken nuggets then I'll give you $1 dollar for Disneyland."

Well he's caught on to this idea but not really in the way I had anticipated. On Saturday he was down stairs watching a movie. I walked in the room and he said to me, "Mom, if you go get me chocolate milk, I'll give you $5!" I laughed and then went and got him chocolate milk.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Yoga Pretzels


Lately Will has randomly decided to do some weird poses and stretches. I asked him if he was doing Yoga, to which he replied, "What's yoga." I tried to explain in 3 year old terms so he'd understand, then he confirmed, "Yep, I'm doing Yoda!"


So yesterday we went and bought these Yoga Pretzel cards. Last night Will and I tried some of the yoga poses out. Although I have to admit, I thought it would go over better. Will doesn't really get my instructions. But we still had fun.


(I really need to charge my camera... my phone camera is just not cutting it.)

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Random things

People keep posting these "random things" on facebook and stuff. Maybe it's dumb, I dont know. But when I read other peoples I found them interesting, so I decided to try it myself. Here you go. {Steph - you probably already know all of these things, and you probably know even more random things about me than I do. :)}

1. I think I might have a slight case of OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder.) I say slightly because first of all, I don’t think I would be diagnosed as this because I don’t do anything that really interferes with my daily activities. But just enough to be a bit odd. For example, the other assistants in the office make fun of me, because this is how it looks when I stock the work refrigerator. Everything needs to be facing the same direction. {oh my goodness! I just realized that the 7ups in this picture are not straight. You have no idea how much that bothers me.}

2. I am an executive assistant to the Vice President of an aerospace company. Sounds cool, but it’s not that cool. At least not as cool as my sister’s job of being EA to the CEO of Google. Really I just do a lot of travel arranging and answering phones and e-mails…. And other than that I have a lot of time to blog stock people and shop online.

3. I went to school to be a massage therapist. Every guy I have dated has really enjoyed this fact about me. But usually I only give someone a massage if I think I can get one in return. And when anyone else asks for a massage I remind them, “I dropped out.” I only went for 1 term. And although I learned a ton (there is a lot more to it than simply a “back rub”) I decided that I liked it as a hobby {if you can call it that} but didn’t want it as an occupation.

4. I don’t really like children. Yes, I know, this sounds horrible. And don’t worry; I of course love my own son. And I even love my friend’s kids, and kids that I’m related to. But in general I don’t seek out children. Oh, and I HATE it when kids try to tickle you. It hurts! Ugh.

5. Apparently I’m a flirt, or for some reason guys just like to ask me out. From my current job I’ve gone on dates with the FedEx guy, the mail man (he was only a sub for 2 days), and the heating and air-conditioning guy. I don’t intend for them to ask me out. And I don’t mean to be flirting. But they always come back and ask me out. :/

6. My biggest fear in life is that I will never marry again. Sure there are lots of guys to date, and some of them would even marry me. But I want to be sure that I find someone who is my best friend, that I can truly say I want to spend the rest of my life with. Because I NEVER want to go through a divorce again.

7. I really do think my dog is cute. People say all the time that he is ugly, or that he looks like a rat. Ok, I get the he looks like a rat thing, but I really don’t think he’s ugly. He was cuter as a puppy, but I still think he’s cute. Maybe it’s just because of my emotional connection to him. But I love my dog… huge ears and all.

8. I have a really hard time buying clothes that have color. You know the store White House Black Market ? I love that store, and I wish it was my closet. I love black and white (mostly black.) I have to consciously tell myself that I have to buy things with color. And then consciously tell myself that I need to wear color, because other wise I wear black and white every day.

9. I am currently living with my parents, trying to save up money for a down payment on a condo. Although I obviously wish I was living in my own place, I actually really love living with my parents. I think my relationship with my parents has really improved over the time since I’ve moved back in. I feel like my parents are not only my parents but also my friends. (And I also love that my mom spoils me and makes me breakfast and lunch every day.)

10. I can’t stand the feeling of a news paper. I hate how the news print comes off on your fingers. It’s like nails on a chalk board to me. I hate this feeling so much that when the mail comes at work and I’m bringing it around to people I make sure that I don’t actually have to touch the news paper. I strategically place the normal mail on the outside so that I can grip the newspaper without actually touching it.

11. I have a bad habit of finishing people’s sentences. It’s completely rude. And I realize that. I don’t mean to be rude, and it’s not that I think what I’m saying is better than what they are saying. It’s more like at the time I am trying to show that I am listening, or that I understand what they are saying, by finishing the sentence. UGH! Why do I do that? It’s so dumb. I’m sorry everyone… I’m trying to work on it.

12. I put a clean pair of socks on every night before I go to bed. I don’t like that the bottom of the bed is cold, so I put the socks on to keep my feet warm until the bed warms up. And then right before I fall asleep (or sometimes in my sleep) I take my socks off. But then in the morning I can’t wear those socks, not because they are dirty, because I only wore them in bed for a few minutes, but because they are stretched out and I want my socks to have that tight feeling of clean socks.

13. I love steak. Just thinking about it makes me want steak. Mmm, and I like it medium, sometimes medium-rare if I am feeling daring (or if I want to impress my date.) But the crazy thing about this… I used to hate red meat. I thought it was super gross. Keith – my now brother in law, once took me to Daniels. I don’t remember why we were there. But I was having chicken (which I would NEVER do now! Chicken, at a steak place!) and he told me that I should just try a piece of his filet mignon. It took some convincing, but eventually I tried a bite. From then on I’ve been hooked. But guess what? Keith is now a vegetarian! Weird, right?

14. I have really wrinkly palms. They look like an old persons hands. They have always looked that way. I remember having a conversation about them with a friend back in Jr. High.

15. I think I have a sugar addiction. I love sugar. I’m not huge on candy really… more like baked goods. And as my coworkers and my best friend like to tease me about, I like my coffee about 1/4th coffee creamer. And the thought of drinking coffee black makes me want to gag.

16. I have a motorcycle. A Kawasaki Ninja 250. I love it. I bought it for myself for my birthday last year. I wish I had more opportunity to ride it, but the weather around here doesn’t get along with my “fair weather rider” status.

17. It bothers me if the toilet paper roll is on backwards. “What way is forwards?” you ask. It should roll over the top to that the loose toilet paper falls in front. I don’t know why this is the right way, it just is. And I am not above changing it if I notice that it’s on the wrong way while I am using the restroom at someone else’s house. I figure that it’s not that they wanted it the other way, they just didn’t know there was a right way.

18. I love law/crime shows. CSI, Criminal Minds, Forensic files…. I think that they have change the way that I view things, and my brother in law has the same problem. As an example, here is a text conversation that Keith and I had the other day: Me: “I just saw part of a garbage bag sticking out of someone’s truck. First thought?” Keith: “It’s a body!” “I bet they could get a partial print off that bag...” Me: “That was totally my first thought too!” Sad, huh?

19. I don’t have a middle name. And I don’t really like either of my other names. My parents didn’t give any of their girls middle names, with the idea that we would keep our maiden name as our middle name when we are married (which I did while I was married.) I don’t like my first name because I think it’s too simple and doesn’t sound feminine. You can say it with out moving your mouth. Go ahead and try. Erin. See! Lame! And my last name, people can never understand it, and I get sick of spelling a name that they should be able to figure out.

20. I get more headaches than anyone that I know (other than my mom maybe.) I almost always have some degree of headache. Usually Tylenol can get me through. But if they get bad then I {with the help of my drug supplier mother} break out the heavy stuff. And if you ask Steph, she can spot a migraine coming before I even tell her that my head is killing me. How? Because I’ll drink Coca Cola (note: the real stuff, not diet), and I never drink soda unless my head hurts.

21. I’m almost never thirsty. I have to make myself drink anything. Right now it’s a little after 3pm, and I have had less than a 4th of the 16oz water bottle that is on my desk. I just don’t feel thirsty. Ok…. I’m gonna make myself chug this bottle of water before I continue…..blah, that was painful.

22. I can watch movies or tv shows that I’ve seen before and not remember the ending. Sad, right. But it’s also wonderful. Because I am surprised all over again. Usually you’d be disappointed when a show is a re-run, I still am a little bit, but not too much because I can watch it again and still be entertained.

23. I memorize things more easily if they are put to song. I’m not active in church anymore, but I still remember all of my Articles of Faith, because I memorized them in song form. Oh, and in second grade good ol’ Mr. Johnson taught us how to spell because with a little song, and I still remember it that way, “B-E-C-A-U-S-E, I can spell because you see.”

24. I’m left handed. I guess. I eat left handed and I write left handed. But I do every thing else right handed. I play all sports right handed. The old man that delivers our pay role checks every-other week likes to remind me, as I’m signing for the delivery, that being left handed is a sign that you are evil. Really?! Who says that? Plus shouldn’t he be nice because if I were evil then wouldn’t he want to be nice to me?


25. My best friend and I are complete opposites. (which, I think is why we get along so well.) She loves girly movies - I’d rather not go to them. I love to wear dangly earrings – she doesn’t even know if her ear piercings are open because it’s been so long since she wore earrings. She loves pink – I hate it. She loves diet coke – I refuse to drink diet anything. ….. but although we are completely different we both think the other person is great! Which is why we’ve been BFF’s since 5th grade.