The Fan Fan

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As almost all of us, or at least those of us who were not sleeping under a rock are aware, the big day is finally over....

Typically, this has never mattered at my house.

Um, hello, remember???

But this year, it means something all together wonderful.

For all of us.

Because a certain someone set a construction deadline for us.

Said deadline being set to begin immediately following the Super Bowl.

Not that I will be able to talk anyone into picking up anything reminiscent of a drill or scattering ANY sawdust until at least the weekend. 

However, prior to bringing the beautiful banquette project to Techy's attention, I spent alot of time contemplating and even building the argument for how I would convince him that this was our best option for the space.

And truthfully, I was a little disappointed when he caved so easily.  (Read: picked up his pom-poms and cheered with glee at the proposition....)

In true Leslie Knope* fashion, "I'm very glad that you agree with me, but I actually worked really hard on my argument. Is there any way I can still, kind of, yeah?"

So, since Techy agreed so quickly to the banquette idea, I had to come up with something to defend, right?

And I did.

You see, we have this ridiculous, never gets used, ridiculously placed ceiling fan (centered on the room people, not over the eating area...duh!!!) in our breakfast nook area.

And I, for one, see no need for it. 

Because 1.  I hate it.  and 2.  It's ugly.  And 3.  The lighting is all harsh and ugly.  And 4.  Did I mention it's ugly!?! 

I mean seriously, if I am going to make my breakfast nook all pretty, why would I leave that hideous fan NOT CENTERED over our eating area?

I mean, come on.

Does that make any sense.

So, here's the thing....

I have a great idea in mind.

I just have to talk Techy into it.

A.K.A. I am going to have to argue for it.

And I happen to know it's going to be one of those fight to the finish type things.

Because Techy is a big fan.

Get it?

I know.

Cheesy.

But he loves that ugly old ceiling fan.

Guess I better start my prep work now...

Wish me luck!


(Dear World, I love Leslie Knope.  She reminds me of some people I know...  If you have never seen P&R, you are MISSING OUT!)




Yeah, I know.  You don't have to watch it all. 
 
I'm just a big fan.
 
HEHE....
 

It's a Wonder I Ever Went Back

I started working in my current job WAAAAAAAAAAAAY back in 2006. 

January of 2006, to be exact.

And I loved it.

And they loved me.

I was a big hit with my southern accent and funny sayings.

But I was also a novice to society as a whole.

Maybe not as a whole. 

But there were alot of things that my life in Virginia did not require of me.

The least of them was knowing what to expect from your first work Christmas party.

In Virginia, our work Christmas parties consisted of someone singing karaoke until midnight and everyone else line dancing until the karaoke stopped.

Very comfortable and fun-loving.

Nothing too "proper" to worry about.

You can imagine my terror at having to attend not 1 but 2 work Christmas parties in one week. 

Neither of which had karaoke.

Bummer for me.

After having endured 5 hours of trying not to be a wall-flower at Techy's Christmas party, I was looking forward to my Christmas party where I actually knew people.

I was also looking forward to showing off my husband to these people I worked with.

When we arrived at the party, we walked into the bar area, where cocktail hour was up and running, and I started introducing poor Techy to everyone.

And then a surge of confidence hit.

I knew these people.

They loved me!

I could do no wrong, as long as I played it smooth.

And then I got brave.

I saw the president of our company across the way, and I dragged my dear sweet husband across the room to meet him.

As we approached, the president was speaking to someone but casually reached out his hand to me in greeting and then leaned forward in what I could only assume was a casual embrace of greeting.

And then it happened, I realized he was going to drop a polite kiss of greeting on my cheek, only I didn't realize until a moment too late.

Because instead of turning my head, as was expected, I was still facing him.

At the last minute, I turned my head, but it was too late.

His lip had caught the corner of my lip.

Oh, the sheer horror.

Because of my confused stupid naive ignorant delayed response, I had practically kissed the president of my company on his mouth!

To make it worse, there was a crowd of people around.

And everyone was watching.

I could have died.

Pretty sure my face was the same color as Elmo's shirt.

Oh wait, Elmo doesn't wear shirts?

Well, you get the idea. 

I was embarrassed.

I turned red.

Note: Why doesn't Elmo wear shirts? 

Is it because of the fur?

And does he wear pants?

How would we know, right?

Apparently, Baby Elmo wears diapers, though...

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Interesting....

Anyway, I was embarrassed.

Horrified, even.

Searching for anything to hide behind.

Alas, nothing was found.

So I settled for hiding my face behind my Shirley Temple for the rest of the cocktail hour.

By the time that the dining room was opened up and we all started to take our seats, I was heady with exhiliration.

I had managed to survive the rest of the cocktail hour without making any more faux pas or shoving my shoe into a crack in the floor or knocking anything/one over.

I mean seriously, it couldn't get much worse than kissing your boss....

It's the little things, people.

As we seated ourselves at a table near the door, and the company president got up to make his welcome/responsible drinking speech, I noticed that his whole family was seated at the table nearest the dance floor.  Mother, children, brother, wife, etc.  It was so sweet.

After that, the bar was once again open and people began to move about the room making themselves comfortable, getting drinks, greeting the late arrivals, etc. 

And then I spotted someone that I hadn't had the opportunity to introduce the Tech-meister to, once again dragging him across the room to meet people.

And he followed.

He loves me, people.  That's all there is to say about it.

When we started to go back to our seats, I noticed that a line was forming at the buffet, so we jumped right in.

And happily started piling food on our plates.

That's when I looked up.

Into the eyes of the company president's daughter-in-law, who was standing next to the president's son, who was standing next to the president's wife, who was standing next to the president's mother, who was standing next to the president's brother, and so on...

And that's when I realized.

I had just butted in line with the family.

Apparently, they were calling us up by tables.

And of course, his table was the VIP table.

Called up first.

And I had totally missed the whole calling up thing since I was flitting around the room doing introductions.

It was everything I could do not to tear one of the tablecloths off of the buffet and throw it over my head while making a quick get away hide under a table as quickly as possible.

I barely ate anything that night.

I made Techy leave as soon as I had the chance.

Just remembering the sheer humiliation of that night still does strange things to me.

Makes me wanna cry.

Makes me wanna laugh out loud.

Makes me wanna sing weird songs really loudly to cover my embarrassment. (am I the only one that does this?)

Which I have to say is really fun at 3 o'clock on a quiet Thursday afternoon.

But rest easy friends.

Embarrassment pays off.

Apparently, it did me no harm to kiss the president and cut in line with his family...

By March of the next year, I received notice that I was being promoted.

And from that time on I have been known as Assistant to the President at the little company I work for.

And I CHOOSE to believe the president made his decision based solely upon my ability to type fast.

And with that said, I have to go type a memo...



P.S. I am sharing this post over at Serenity Now's Weekend Bloggy Reading Party....

Weight Update #16

It's that time again.

And there's no way to dress it up.

I gained this week.

A disappointment for sure...

But on the upside, look at those pretty toes.

Oh wait, apparently I took the picture in the dark. 

So much for prissing up my feet.

Back to the topic at hand...my weight....

I gained. 

Sure it was only .2 since last week's weigh in.

But I wanted to see a 1-3-SOMETHING so bad.

However, (back to the upside) my Aunt Flo is supposed to be coming to visit this week, and she always works miracles on my weightloss woes.

Or at least that's what I am hoping.

Now I realize that I am thisclose to my pre-preggers weight and even closer to my goal so it's naturally going to be harder.

So let's talk plateau, people....

Because I have it on good authority that I am not the only one sitting on top of one right now.

More specifically, what do you do when you hit one?

Because I think it's really easy to get frustrated and quit.

But I am here to say, DON'T DO THAT!!!!

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Um, first of all, I just read this AMAZING blog post where I borrowed that AMAZING pic from....

The dieter (retired, although he may be) has all kinds of high asperations of breaking through the barrier that is the weight loss plateau.  Cutting back in calories, eating less on weekends, intensifying workouts, etc.

But look at the update.  PLEASE READ THE UPDATE!!!

His plateau lasted 2 MONTHS (mine have usually lasted less - around 2-3 weeks)

And in the end he kinda reverses his theory and says it worked best for him to stick with what had been working for him.

The idea is that you are living a healthy lifestyle and the "plateau" means your body is catching up to your lifestyle. 

It doesn't mean you can't continue to get stronger during the plateau. 

It doesn't mean you should give up and quit. 

It means you are living healthier now than you were before.

And your body is adjusting.

And weight loss will probably resume in the very near future.

So keep living that way.

Even if the number on the scale doesn't seem worth all the work right now.

Because you'll never get to numbers you like if you quit now.

Or at least that's what I am telling myself....

My Honest Opinion: Nail polish is not for fingernails

It is my personal opinion that unless you have money to spend on your fingernails, they are ugly.

As in, U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi, YOU UGLY! Ugly.

My opinion is probably a bit tainted by the fact that I have ugly fingernails.

Short, stubby nails, flat nail beds, hang nails on every other finger...
(We won't go into the fact that they are this way because I chew them...not gonna do it!)

Pretty sure that George Costanza had better hands than me.

Well, before the incident, he had better hands than me....

Let's sing it again, shall we?

U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi, you UGLY!!!!  You, you, you UGLY!!!!

If it weren't for the fact that my hands are so tiny, they could easily be mistaken for man-hands.

Random thought.

What if my nickname were "Man-hands Leah"????

Ewwww.

Does that sound perverted to anyone else?

No?

Just me?

Sounds about right.

Me being the only one with my mind in the gutter...

Pretty much an every day thing for me.

So yeah, back to the man-hands....

That's what she said!

See? 

Sorry...I go there...

But as actual proof for the ugly man hands....

If it weren't for the diamond, you wouldn't know which was which would you?

And because these girls ain't that pretty, I don't usually bother to dress them up with nail polish.

Because really, a little paint ain't gonna help this old barn....

Toes, on the other hand are what I consider sexy.

Not other people's toes, mind you.

Just mine.

I'm vain like that.

For instance, in this pic

Sure there is a book in my hand...

But in reality, rather than reading a book, I was more than likely sitting there staring at my toes and thinking what gorgeous feet I have.

Sorry.  I realize that some of you are now gagging.

Especially those of you who hate feet in general.

But I love my feet.

Almost as much as Ceej loves her hair. 

Which leads me to the question, have you ever asked someone what their best feature was and had them reply "My feet...?"  Or better yet, "My Toes"

Well, now I have changed all that for you....

Glad to be a part of changing your life.

You may ask what the point of all this is?

I'm so glad you asked.

But I honestly have no idea.

I think it may have something to do with the fact that the nail polish on my pretty toes is fading again, due to this blasted sock season that just won't quit.

Mostly, thought, I am just going to blame it on the fact that I get to give my random opinions every Thursday...and this just happened to be today's opinion...

Aren't you lucky? 

Ugly Man Hands and Sexy Feet.

Sounds like an E-harmony match gone RIGHT!

Well, if we dropped the "ugly".

Man Hands and Sexy Feet.

Ah, I love romance.

And fingernail polish.

And sexy toes.

Which reminds me, I have some work to do before tomorrow's weigh-in...

Can't have ugly feet on the scale!

See ya!

(Note: Please don't click, "Unfollow" - wait is that even a button? or a word for that matter? UN-Follow???? Anyone???)

Helpful How-To: Baby Steps to Being Debt Free

So here's a handy tid-bit that you never knew you never wanted to know about Techy and I.

We haven't had a car payment in over 2 years.

We have lived completely debt free ever since.

BUT unlike the world of debt-free-ers out there, we continue to use credit cards.

EVERY SINGLE MONTH.

Hello???

RULEBREAKER, anyone?!?!

I'll take it one step further for you....

Just to really get under your skin.

We make our credit cards work FOR US.

Instead of working for them.

YES!!! 

RULEBREAKER!

Month after month, we pay all of our bills on our credit cards.

Building up loads of points.

But the catch is that month after month, we have to pay off our balance. 

Every last little red cent.

Which leads me to wonder, were pennies at one time red?  Because red is not copper people.

It is not.

TRUST ME ON THIS ONE.

This is coming from a life-long NOT-redhead.

But I digress.

This madness (rulebreaking, if you will) of paying our bills with credit cards has worked for us.

For 5 years, it has worked for us.

Sure we have bad months just like everyone else.

But for the most part, we haven't skipped a beat.

And since we paid off our cars in 2008, the only debt we have carried is our home mortgage and the mortgage for the land we own in Virginia.

In comparison to some stories, ours has been relatively easy.

But that is mostly due to the fact that we opted to postpone our wedding until both of us had completely paid off our college debt. 

Together we managed to start our marriage with only the necessary evil of 2 car payments.

And here's how we did it.

1.  Save, save, save.

The very first thing that we did was start a savings account and save, save, save.  Yes, with 2 car payments.  I had a very wise Home Ec. teacher in college who cautioned all of us to maintain at least 3 months of our salaries in the bank as an emergency fund.  No matter what.  And that was our goal.  Prior to paying extra on our cars or buying a house, our goal was to save. 

And in reality, I don't know that it is about a magic number in the bank.

The idea is to get used to saving.

And not automatically turning to your credit cards in every pinch.

A few years ago, my sister and her husband worked through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, and the first thing they did was scrape up $1,000 emergency fund and put it in the bank.

The point is really to have money to draw from in case of emergency, so that when or if the emergency happens, you don't have to resort to piling on more debt. 

Makes sense, right?

It's not brain surgery. 

Just playing with money.

I would argue that it could be almost as dangerous.

But that's just me.

Tightwad, me.

Correction, RULEBREAKER, me....

2.  Don't pay interest if you don't have to.

IF you have the ability to use credit without overspending, go for it.

But if, like so many out there, the temptation is just too much, forego it.

Case in point, we have never charged one piece of furniture in our home without immediately paying it off.

However, Thrifty Decor Chick tells a sad story of someone who built up years and years of debt paying for things like furniture, new flooring, and household amenities.... Of course, today, she told the story of someone who after years of hard work is now debt free, so YAY for her!

But it's so easy to do.  Especially when your sofa is falling apart and you are spending all your money on diapers.

But guess what?!

That's what Craigslist was invented for!

Craigslist and drop-cloth slipcovers, that is....

And for the record, I have never purchased anything off of Craigslist for more than $100.

EVER.

Do you know how many items are posted in the furniture category DAILY on Craigslist? 

HUNDREDS. 

Chances are there will be one in there to fit your price range within just a few days. 

But that's a whole other post.

3.  Vacation fund.

Are you planning on a vacation this year?

How are you planning to pay for it?

I may have mentioned a time or two, but Techy and I have never been on a vacation that we didn't have the money for.

We have never "charged" a vacation.

EVER.

Including our honeymoon.

As a matter of fact, rather than going on the honeymoon of our dreams, we opted for one we could AFFORD.

With NO regrets.

No, we may not have come home with amazing photos of our visit to the tropical rain forest or romantic tales of wandering the streets of Paris together or anything quite so amazing.

But we also didn't come home with a ginormous credit card bill.

Just saying.  Do what you can.  And enjoy it to the max.

And then enjoy it the month after when you aren't still paying for it.

4. Free money.

Hello, coupons?  It's Leah...yeah, I have missed you too...let's get back in touch soon.

Coupons are free money.

Period.

Find them for the stuff you were going to buy anyway. 

Diapers - check.

Wipes - check.

Toilet Paper - check check

And then find the store brand coupons for everything else.

And then feel better because you didn't spend all YOUR money, you spent some of THEIRS too.

5.  Cars - Pay them off.

I know it isn't reasonable to think that we all have $20,000 sitting in the bank to buy a car with.

To be honest, this isn't even an option for me. 

But the goal is to get them paid off as soon as possible.

Now I know it doesn't sound feasible.

Or reasonable.

When I first bought my car, I thought the same thing.

I had no money to put down on it and I certainly didn't have any extra to pay every month.

But over time, I did.

And when that time came, we started paying extra on our cars.

Both of them.

And we paid both of them off within 6 months of each other.

And they were both a full year or more earlier than our expected pay off time.

I can't tell you how good that felt.

Of course, now, my car has 90,000+ miles on it and Techy's has 100,000+, so I am pretty sure that it won't be long until we have to start planning for the next one, but we have a game plan this time.

6.  Get Paid Back.

If you, like me, can typically contain your credit spending, and are going to use credit cards on a regular basis, find a credit card with rewards.

We have a Chase Sapphire Card.

Credit

Which is awesome.

But I have heard amazing things about American Express Blue....

Credit

Both (I am assuming with AMEX...based primarily upon their reputation) have excellent customer service standards and the rewards are certainly nice as well.

In conclusion, I certainly do not claim to be the end-all, be-all of debt-free-ness.  But I can tell you the things that have helped me, along with the things that I have learned.  (Some not so bright...trust me on this one...)

However, if you want more information, feel free to head on over to my sister's blog, where her passion for finances (not to mention her crush on Mr. Dave Ramsey himself) is clearly apparent....

And to her credit...

I can't really blame her...

I think he's a cutie too....

(Chalk it up to my previous life as a housekeeper and my life-long affection for Mr. Clean products.)

Put One Foot in Front of the Other...

You guessed it! 

Time for another RUNNING POST!!! 

Who's excited?! 

All right, all right....

So it's just me.

But still....

These are exciting times.

Because on Saturday, I ran my longest distance to date.

6 Miles.

And my pace wasn't hideous all things considered.

I am pretty proud.

And anxious to see what I can really do when I put my mind to it.

3-4 is still definitely my comfort zone.

And then once I hit 4, I don't even want to stop.

At this point, I am not even worrying about my 5 miler in March.

I am training with the hope of being able to run Happy Runner's Half Marathon Challenge.

As it stands now, I usually don't fare well with running 2 days back to back, which means that I am definitely going to have to take advantage of all 3 days.

With the first day being either a really long run or a really short run and the last day being the opposite.

But one way or another I am going to do it!

But I really don't want to do it alone!

Anyone want to schedule way in advance to run with me one of those days? 

Come on, you know you wanna....

Let's just say, I don't want to have to beg, but we all know I am not to proud to....

The Tub Dump

Allow me to set the scene for you....

My adorable baby boy was playing in the tub.

My sweet, adorable baby boy.

I had just finished washing his hair, his ears, his eyebrows, his arms and little hands, his back, his bottom, his legs, and his adorable little toes and he was playing.

He loves the water.

I decided to let him play.

I am a good mommy like that. 

And I decided to take a video for my mom.

Because she loves my kid so good.

And because he is so stinking adorable in the tub.

Have I set the stage for you?

But then...something goes wrong....

Um. Did you see that?

About halfway through the taking of this video, I realized something strange was going on.

The kid was grunting alot more than normal.

And then, there it was.

I was obviously a little frantic about it, but when I watched the video and realized I captured THAT, I nearly cried from laughing so hard.

Here's hoping you do the same.

P.s.  In 20 years, this post will magically disappear because I want no evidence going to Oprah's couch about how I have scarred my child with his first tub pooping experience.