Just a few nifty tips for ya

Don’t drink 20 ounces of water right before bed if you want to sleep the whole night through.

Also don’t drink 20 ounces of water before you have to drive across town and you’re already running late and stopping somewhere is not an option.

Do have lots of toilet paper on hand if you are going to drink the recommended daily amount of water. (Unless you are better than the rest and already do this- then you’re body / bladder is already adapted)

Do invest in soft cushiony yet strong TP if you’re going for the whole 65+ ounces of H2O. 

Have lots of hand soap ready for all those bathroom breaks.  Preferably the lotion-y kind as your hands will get super dried out.

If you’re going to go to fat burning class, don’t go in your 13-yr old daughter’s sweats, especially if they are 4 sizes too small.  But if you do make sure you have a humongo shirt to cover the top portion of your lower portion.  LOL.   Ahhh sometimes I just amuse myself.

Do have a pony tail holder if you have long hair for fat burning class unless you want hair- wet sweaty hair, in your eyes, up your nose, and flying in your mouth and any given movement.

Do tuck that shirt in unless you WANT to flash everyone when you are doing those hip extensions.

Do work on counting out loud up to 8 and then backwards.  There is no 9 in fat burning class.  And to shout it out will only turn heads.

Don’t laugh when uncoordinated people can’t get it together.  It hurts our feelings.  So what if my arms are up when yours are down and I’m kicking left when you’re kicking right.  We can’t have it together all of the time you know!

Fat burning class will not kill you (though the thought does cross your mind) it will only make you stronger.  Again, LOL - I crack myself up!

Do take a picture of yourself after fat class… its… interesting weird humorous ugly memorable- definitely a moment to remember – completing fat burn class #one! 

I can't believe I'm posting this!

Victory treat?  I think soooo!!  A nice warm ooey gooey brownie!!  Or if your me, you have a nice gritty protein drink that they provocatively say will continue to burn fat for the next 3 hours while I’m home sitting on my rump watching American Idol.   Can’t beat that.

A little thing I like to call Brownie Covered Oreo's (note: this was drafted before started Thin & Health)

Are you intrigued by the title of this blog?  I was when I found it at one of my favorite blog sites - this one here!  (Also happens to be my bossman's wife)  And trust me when I say whenever he brings in her super awesome uber yummo delicious treats, its a party in my tummy!  (Sing it with me... its a party in my tummy! its a party in my tummy! it's a party in my tummy!)  Anyone that watches Noggin will know that song... just FYI.  Or for that matter anyone that eats her super awesome uber yummy delicious foods will also be singing that song.  Favorite of hers is cake balls.  I promise I will future post that one.  Let's just say - Ohhhhh Myyyyy.  Put it on your bucket list to eat one.

Ok, back to brownie covered Oreo's.  If you like brownies you are in for a treat.  If you like Oreo's you are for a treat.  And you can be super creative with these. 
This here is bossman's wife's actual blog about these wonderful creations. 

This is the whole grueling process:  (I'm just kidding- they are super easy!)

Basic Ingredients:  Brownie Mix (or if you're imbitious you can make homemade), eggs, vegetable oil, water, and Oreos!

Mix your batter up.

Give the oreos a nice brownie bath.

Put this in a WELL GREASED cupcake pan.

Pop em' in the oven.

After 10-13 min or so pull them out and run a knife around the edges so there is no sticking.

Now here is where you can be as creative with them as you want!

Or add some chocolate drizzle.

Mix in some nuts and chocolate chips and you have yourself a yummy treat!

If you're a chocolate lover these are right up your alley!  Enjoy.

Meet Patti

Fun things happen at work.  One of them is a friendly competition among other businesses to grow the biggest most beautiful Shamrock plant.  I know you are thinking... Um Joy.  That is not that fun.  PEOPLE - doing non work things at work is totally fun!  And just for your information it wasn't us that came up with this little competition thank you very much.  It was thrust upon us and we are taking it on, whole heartedly and with a passion that will put all green thumbers (word? IDK) to shame.  We are all playing a part in the nurturing of our little Shamrock aka Patti.  Of course I will keep you up to date on our progress!  You didn't even need to ask! 
Meet Patti.  Freda name it.  We love it.

Patti

Technical name: Oxalis acetosella.  But she prefers Patti.

The Bossman purchased a beautiful teal pot (I'm going to name it... just don't have that perfect name for it yet) for our little one to live out its beginning days in.  (I might have to steal it for my aloe plant once its no longer home to Patti... shhhh!)  It's gorgeous.

How preat! (pretty + neat)

Freda and I used some of these rocks to put in the bottom of the no name (Cascades?) pot for good drainage.  These are premium rocks let me tell you.  We picked them with tender loving care.  I won't tell you that we probably had to use these choice rocks because they were the only rocks we could find, outside of scraping gravel off the side of the road. 

Cream of the crop rocks

Then Tanner sent Stan to find some dirt.  She specifically wanted a little ground dirt because it has clay in it and that will help hold the water better.  See how much we our looking out for our little Patti's best interests!

What happened next I'm a little fuzzy on because actual work got in the way of my desire document every moment so I can blog the whole thing *from home of course.
So by the time I was done, this is what had transpired:  Freda so graciously brought in some miracle grow soil from home so we can give our little plant a yummy feast we just know she will enjoy (apparently is smells like cat food also).  And Freda sent her lover out with a little shovel to gather some mulch so that we can preciously surround our tender shoots of green with the joy of mulchiness.  Sigh.  The joys of being shamrock.  Ah, so much love.

Mulch Love

The end of the day Shamrock was sitting happily in her new home of Preat? Casca? (short for Cascades).  Enjoying her perch at the front counter of my desk listening to me explain the ins and outs of all things insurance mixed  with a few er a lot of my own personal stories. 

Tanner giving our lil Patti a drink

Tomorrow I'll get her beginning measurements so we can track how fast our office baby is growing.  Funny, tomorrow I have to get measurements taken so I can track how fast (hopefully) I shrink.  :)  Till tomorrow I'm going to enjoy a nice frozen Thin Mint.

Rainber

Mariah is my rainbow.  Or in her words, 'rainber'.

 
Red symbolizes her heart.  Tender and kind.  Yellow is her brightness - my world would not be so bright without her in it.  Green is the way she's growing into this beautiful strong woman.  The blue is the way she can bring relaxation with her humor.  Orange is her fire, the burning desire she has to reach others that are hurting and share the love of God with them.  Purple is the mark I leave on her cheek when she doesn't move out of the way when I hit her ;) (playfully of course!)  And all the other colors is how she colors my world with love, pride, gentleness, laughter, goodness and fun.  Love you - my rainber.

My dream post

2010 Ducati Streetfighter S

My first purchase with income tax money.  A Ducati.  Love it.  Do you?  Now I just need to learn to drive it. LOL  Can you just see me vrooming around in this!?  I CAN!  It took some persuading of the hubby to even consider the idea.  Midlife crisis?  NAH!  I've alwayssss wanted one.  Plus look at how much money in gas its going to save me!  Bring on the warm weather and smooth roads and a good helmet!

























Psst... if you didn't catch the title to this post- this could only happen in my DREAMS.  I sadly have not purchased this Ducati.
Yet ;)
Hubby says no...

rays cut

As I mentioned in this post here , Ray cut her hair.  Beautiful long blond ringlet curls. Gone. Boo.

Before she decided to be her own beautician

We had this situation arise in school a few months ago.  Ray and her friend decided to cut each other's hair and a friends.  That time it was just a couple of snips of bangs.  Not a big deal (eh,  it kinda was at the time).  So I figured she had it out of her system AND she had been scolded several, several, times that scissors are not for cutting hair. (Not at her age anyways).  Guess I was wrong.



Check out these expressions.  I was still chewing her out as I was taking the photo.



Ray was downstairs in the basement playroom and all of a sudden comes up and says "Look mom! I moved the front to the back!"  I'm still not sure what she meant by that, except the correct phrase shouldve been she cut the front and left the back.  She looked like Joe Dirt.  Sigh.  It was too late that night to take her to the beauty shop so it had to wait until the next day... after school :/   Hubby thought we should play a trick on the teacher and not say anything to her when I dropped her off in the morning and then when he picked her up in the afternoon say something like "Ray! What happended to your hair!"  Lol.  Goof. 

Monday after work, off to the beauty shop we went, with hopeful anticipation of a good fix to her hair creation.



SNIP SNIP SNIP





The end result:

She's still so super cute.  My precious baby.  She just looks so different!



CHEESE!!



What's been goin onnnn

We are dorks!

I've missed blogging the last several days.  Life is getting in my way.  I'm not complaining though, don't get me wrong.  Just haven't had the time to blog.  This is what's been going on in my life lately.  Friday, Mariah and I left for Muncie Indiana for a youth church event called Acquire the Fire.  Perhaps you've heard of it.  It was Friday and Saturday.  The best part of the whole thing was Friday night's concert- Casting Crowns was there.  They are AwEsOmE.  It was nice to get away with my daughter, friends and family.  BTW, my daughter = hilarious.  We typically always have a lot of fun together- if she leaves the attitude behind and is not ____ (I'm trying to think of the word she hates to be called... grumpy? irritable? a grump?)  ;) 
Oh and I sang the whole 2+ hours to the event.  And if you don't know this already, I'm not the best singer in the world to other people other than myself :D  Poor Mariah.  Although I personally think that I DID get progressively better by the end of the night. 
Coming home Saturday night, it was late.  Me + car ride + night = zzzzzzzz zzz zzzz night night.  Not good when I'm the driver.  So to stay away I made Mariah keep me talking.  We talked about all kinds of stuff but mostly about childhood memories- only the good ones.  My fav's are always revolved around vacations.  So note to self - take kids on vacations - its memorable.  Not that I ever needed another reason to go on vacation.  I'm NEVER opposed to them.  My checkbook is.  Dang that checkbook.  This year though, it's on.  Let the vacation/vacations begin!  We are going to Disney.  Thanks to the IRS and a little thing called tax refund :)  Can not wait until this hits the account.  I have so many plans for that money.  Pay off bills, take vacation, grad presents (daughter Tuz, sis Victoria, other sis (college) Kay).  I have several presents in mind for them.  I'm totally in to going on an adventure.  Such as this one: CLICK ME  How much fun would that be???   I KNOW!, RIGHT?
Back to drive home on Saturday night, did not get home until 12:15. AM.  AND it was the night to turn the clocks UP a whole HOUR!  Yep, I skipped church that day. 
Which brings me to Sunday.  I dropped an entire bar of soap into the toilet.  Apparently soap doesn't flush like I thought it should.  It gets stuck in the gooseneck(?).  So the man of the house graciously borrowed my dad's snake. (Which when we were discussing the use of the snake, Mariah says "Not a real snake, right?" LOL)  He heroically broke the soap down and we were once again able to flush the toilet all the way and have everything go down the way its supposed to!  YAY.  At least we were snaking soap and not something else.......... Ew. 

Before she got to the scissors

Then Sunday night.  Ray cut her gorgeous curly blond locks.  GRRR.  Future post. 


See, busy busy.