Thankful

Another year is coming to a close and it reminds me how much I have to be thankful for:

A Loving God

A Wonderful Husband

A Great Family
(Officially including James' side of the family,
although I have considered them family for several years now)

Awesome Friends

Entertaining Hockey Teammates


Okay I am done coming up with more adjectives...but am still thankful...

A great job, a home, food, dogs and cats, and time with people I love...and a working coffee maker.

Okay, there is a lot more, but I need to get back to work!!


Have a Wonderful and Safe New Year!

Thank you to all of you who are a part of my life!

Oh, the Horror...

I went to bed last night thinking it just couldn't be true...

I woke up this morning hoping it was just a really really really bad nightmare...

Working on keeping my eyes open...

I stumbled out of bed...

Trudged down the hall...

Tried to walk in a straight line...

Let the dogs outside...

Wow, it's COLD...

Wandered into the kitchen...

And it just can't be true...

No, I don't want to believe it...

Why me...


Our Coffee Maker is DEAD!!

I think I will go cry now...

Better yet, I will go buy a new Coffee Maker!!!

Sorry I'm a slacker!

I have about 5 partially written blog postings, but as they are not complete, I haven't posted them. I can't figure out where the time has gone and still don't know how it came to be that Christmas is only two and a half weeks away!!! Anyway, in spite of my slacking on my blog, I have been productive with work and playing hockey (well, as productive as hockey playing can be).

We also got our wedding pictures from the photographer!

It took several months, but we now have them. The great thing about the photographer is that she took almost a thousand pictures and gave us them all in digital format with permission to print and copy! She also printed 4x6 proofs of all the pictures for us in addition to the digital copies. Now if you have ever priced photographers, you know that they usually take far less pictures and make you order prints through them at not so cheap prices.

We ended up with lots of pictures of me laughing!

There are obviously a lot of pictures of James and I, but also of our wedding party and family and everyone else having a good time. I am excited because we can print pictures that we want and give cds to those who want pictures so they can print whatever they want. Also because we have complete copy permissions, I can post the pics on the web.

I still need to get the pictures from everyone else taking pictures at the wedding, because I know they ended up with some great shots as well. Including some that the photographer missed. I have a goal to actually scrapbook our wedding, maybe I will have it done by our first anniversary (eek, that is just over 6 months away) so I will have to get started soon!

I won't subject you to the nealy 1,000 photos on here. However if for some reason you enjoy looking at photo after photo of James and me and random other people; let me know and I can supply you with a copy of the Eight (yes 8!) cds.

*our photographer was Kelli Noto, if you want her info, let me know. She does not have a website otherwise I would post it.

Overkill!!!

So James and I decided to make curry last night....

We started with the recipe on the jar of curry paste and decided to double it. We like leftovers! I think the recipe called for 16 ounces of vegetables (that's already doubled) and by the time we had cut up garlic, ginger, onions and celery we had already met that requirement. So we proceeded to add about 2 lbs of chicken, 5 lbs of potatoes, half a head of cabbage, a bunch of bak choy, carrots and red bell pepper. Do you think we over did it a bit?

We added the remainder of the jar of curry paste and are still needing more. James gets to go to the store to buy more curry paste today.

This is not the first time (nor will it be the last) that I have over done it when cooking. I tend to cook enough food to feed somewhere around 5-10 times the people I am really cooking for. I remember in college I made beef stew and fed our household (with some guests) the guys house, a leftover pot in the fridge and at least 2 big containers in the freezer. I just can't help it! It might have a little to do with the fact that I don't cook with recipes...or rather I don't follow the recipe if I have one. I use recipes as general guidelines or ideas, also I don't usually measure things (with the exception of baking, then I measure at least half the ingredients).

Thankfully James and I both like to eat and he doesn't complain about anything I make! I guess it's a good thing that I don't mind having people over to our house. So if you're hungry, come on over, I can pretty much guarantee that we will have enough food for you too!

Happy Birthday Marines!

Today marks the 233rd Birthday of the United States Marine Corp! My dad retired after serving 21 years as a Marine, so "Happy Birthday!"

Side note: There are NO Ex-Marines, "Once a Marine, Always a Marine!"

James found this year's Commandant's Birthday message, and my dad forwarded a Birthday Card created by GoDaddy. Enjoy!

If you know a Marine or see one around, wish them a "Happy Birthday!"

I also want to say "Thank You!" to all of our Service Men and Women! I appreciate all that you do and the sacrifices that you and your families make to allow us and others to enjoy the freedoms and safety that we have. Thank You!

I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but....

Believe it or not, I do realize we are still in the first half of November, but.....


I still couldn't help watching a Christmas movie and listening to some Christmas music yesterday. James had to go to work early and after I got up, fed the dogs and cats, read a book and couldn't find anything good on TV, I decided to put on a movie. I looked through our DVD stash and kept coming back to all the Christmas movies we have (much to James' dismay I am sure; I can't help buying them). It was cold outside, slightly chilly inside (I don't keep our heater turned up very high: I figure it is cheaper to use a blanket or sweatshirt that we already own, than to spend more money running the heater), so I filled up my mug with hot coffee (with Peppermint Mocha creamer, very fitting) and put on "The Santa Clause." I quite enjoyed my little precursor to the holiday season. Then, I remembered that Barlow Girl put out a new Christmas CD; so I went on iTunes and downloaded it. While I was there I remembered another Christmas cd that had been broken, so I downloaded it as well. Thus ensued my listening to Christmas music on November 8th.


I did manage to keep myself from putting up any lights or other decorations. That usually happens just after Thanksgiving. I will do my best to wait until then, but as far as movies and music...I figure I already opened the floodgate, so why stop now :) James is not working today, so the likelihood of a Christmas movie is next to none, but tomorrow is another day!

STMLIG

So I know you are all asking: "What the heck is STMLIG?"


Well, I have to confess that I did not come up with it. I have to defer all credit to my dad.

It all came about many years ago, back when I was still using a dial-up internet connection (I have upgraded quite a bit since then). My dad created an email address for me with the name "stmlig". It took him repeating himself several times, for me to believe that indeed I had written the email address correctly. Now before I let you in on the meaning, you have to understand a little about my dad. He is nearly always positive. One of his favorite sayings is: "it's like water off a duck's back." I learned to go with the mentality that if you can't change something, then it's not worth worrying about. Now this is not to say that we should give up or give in; but that our efforts can be best used toward something productive, of which worrying is not. My dad is such a great inspiration to me. He is strong, kind, compassionate, protective, loving and fun! I am thankful that I have gained a similar personality, although I am far from attaining all of those characteristics that I find in him. Now back to the email address....

Once I became convinced that I had spelled it correctly I became rather silent, still not sure how in the world my dad picked this email address for me. After all, I have a rather unique name so one would think that you could create an email address with that (remember this is back when many people didn't have an email address, much less 5; so there were still a lot of options to choose from). He finally asked me if I new what "STMLIG" meant and I of course replied "umm, no."

He thankfully did not wait long to share the secret of STMLIG with me...........

Seize The Moment, Life Is Good!


It helps me remember some important things (here are a few):

I need to be thankful in my present circumstances

I can take advantage of opportunities that present themselves

I won't back down in the face of fear

I need to take joy in today, not worry about yesterday and not fret about tomorrow

I know God is Good and has good in store for me

I have a lot more energy to focus on making a difference, if I spend less time concerned with things that I have no control over