Things I am thankful for

1. My sister. She is my best friend. I love her with all of my heart. She takes great care of me, makes yummy dinners, keeps the house clean and makes me laugh daily.
2. My parents. Even though I was a monster of a teenager, they raised me right and taught me so many valuable lessons that made me who I am today.
3. My dogs. It may seem silly, but they bring light and happiness to my life...so much joy can be found from unconditional love...now if only they'd let me sleep through the night...even just once!
4. My friends. They love me for me, and tolerate my faults. They have accepted me in to their families and share their family time, homes and lives with me.
5. My freedom to choose. To choose anything. To choose a President of our country. To choose right over wrong. To choose what kind of person I want to be, what morals and values I want to have, where I live, where I work, what religion I practice.
6. My Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. For the blessings in my life that have been given to me and for those that I have not yet received. For the knowledge that this life is just a test. That I have the ability to repent for my mistakes and will be forgiven. That some day I can live with my family again in Heaven.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and may you remember to be thankful every day of your life.

Things I need an intervention for

I have a problem. I have an addictive personality. (I blame my mother). My vices, in no particular order, are:

1. Oreos
2. Kit Kat bars
3. Caffeine free diet coke, 1 squirt of lime, and the delicious little ice from the corner Circle K
4. Ice-cream...any kind really, but particularly peppermint at this time of year (scooped on top of a warm brownie with crumbled up oreos....mmmmmmmm!)
5. Warm Brownies with peppermint ice-cream and crumbled up oreos
   
6. Rescuing (and subsequently adopting) dogs
7. Facebook
8. Oreos
9. Paradise Bakery Cookies
10. Jon and Kate plus 8
11. Wearing sweat pants to work
12. Planning vacations that I will never EVER be able to afford
13. Cookbooks
14. Driving around town looking for the cheapest gas
15. Blogging when I am supposed to be working
    

Will someone please contact A&E television and ask them if they can do an intervention episode on any (ok all) of these problems???

Lazy Saturdays? A thing of the past ever since my sister and I became home owners. (ok, so she owns the home, I just mooch off of her). This past Saturday I spent 4 hours raking up leaves in my backyard. All from my neighbors trees....yeah, I am very happy about that. When my sister and I moved in to our house, we were so excited that our neighbors had fruit trees that stretched over our fence....Apple+plum+apricot+grape vines = fun, right? WRONG! The apricot tree is so tall that most of the fruit cannot be reached...so they fall all over our yard. The plum tree is a little better, however fruit falls off before it is ripe. Our yard is littered with nasty rotting fruit...and it is a fruitless (ha ha..pun intended) task trying to keep Mimi from eating the pits.

Anyway...back to my point. Jen came home and helped me about 1/2 way through the miserable task of bagging up all of the leaves. Here is the end result. (There are 10 bags total):
While we busted our humps cleaning up the yard, this is what our dogs were doing:

Mimi

Dandie

Razzy

Razzy is our new foster dog. She is an adorable Cocker Spaniel that was turned in to a shelter in California due to numerous health problems. Yesterday Razzy had several mammary tumors removed, and soon she will have her back knees operated on. She is a sweet natured dog...except when Mimi goes after her..then watch out! Dandie of course is oblivious to her existance. Once her surgeries are over the hope is that she is adopted quickly and goes to a loving family....let me know if anyone is interested!!

So after our day of strenuous work, I complained the rest of the day and loafed on the couch while giving my sore muscles a much needed break! More to come about our crazy doggies.....

This weekend I drove to Boise with my good friends Shana and Todd. After losing touch with my friends Mindy and Angela from high school, I recently found both of them on Facebook. So we planned a fun weekend and off I went!

I stayed with Mindy, John and their 4 adorable kids - Brooke, Amber, Joshua and Emma Jo. They all treated me like family! I watched Iron Man with the kids...all 5 of us snuggled up on a loveseat in their awesome theater room. It was a tight fit...but fun! I got to lay around, sleep in, and just relax. It was heavenly.

On Saturday evening Mindy and I met Angela, and Mindy's sister Katy at the Cheesecake Factory. Dinner was delicious (no, I did not have the fried macaroni and cheese balls...dang it!). Then we walked around the mall for a little while, including Sephora...my favorite make up store! I was a good girl and didn't buy anything, but I did introduce Mindy to Bare Escentuals..LOVE IT! After the mall closed, we dropped Ang off and headed back to Mindy's house. Mindy, John and I watched Get Smart. It was so funny!

On Sunday I slept in....til 10:30! Woo Hoo! No dogs to wake me up! Mindy made a delicious breakfast, and then we just relaxed until Shana and Todd came to pick me up. The drive home was long, but fun. I was glad to be home and in my own bed!

Mindy is wonder woman...Her 2 littlest kids both have Cystic Fibrosis and need a LOT of medical attention, so she is a very very busy (and tired) mom. Yet she made breakfast every day, made chocolate chip cookies for my ride home, stew for Sunday dinner, ran 4 miles on the treadmill, wrangled her 4 crazy kids..whew...I was tired just watching it all. I was once again reminded of the blessings in my life, how I really have no major trials to speak of, and how Heavenly Father will never give us more than we can handle. I guess HE knows I can't handle much! :)

Today as I was painting my fingernails a really REALLY dark red, which looks black, I realized that perhaps I am too old to pull that off. Which led me to wonder what else am I too old to do? Here's what I came up with:

1. Wear black looking fingernail polish (the fact that I borrowed it from my 22 year old roommate should have been my first clue).
2. Wear my hair in a pony tail every day (I try to only do it 2x a week now)
3. Not Vote. On the radio today they were looking for the oldest person who voted for the first time today. The response (though I suspect it was a joke) was an 84 year man named Joel. Now granted, this is only the 2nd election I've ever voted at, but come on people....if you don't vote, you have no right to complain!
4. Sleep in til 8:30 on a work day. (according to my sister anyway...I see no problem with it).
5. Change diapers. No explanation needed
6. Listen to rap music...it hurts my ears truly! (when did I turn in to my grandmother)?
7. Say "That's just how I roll". (I think I can pull this off, but according to my friend Cat, I am too old, and too white. She's only 24...what does she know? She doesn't even vote!!)

Things I hope I am NEVER too old to do:
1. Eat brownies for breakfast and cereal for dinner
2. Work in my garden
3. Be a friend to all. I DO NOT want to be a crabby old lady!
4. Enjoy a good dirty joke