Sometimes I Wish Time Could Stand Still...

There are things in life I'll never understand. Like, was it totally necessary to lose Mom and Dad within two years time? Then, what was the cosmic reason we had to chase those deaths with the death of our Grandmother who raised us? Why did all three have to miss out on my upcoming wedding? Was all of this really, absolutely necessary?

The constant drama is getting old. I would so much rather report on the beautiful little mundane happenings in my life. But instead I'm dealing with finals at school, the hustle and bustle of the holidays, and now, the diagnosis of Cancer for my Mom's boyfriend. This man has been in our lives since I was about sixteen years old. Ironically, he has the same type of cancer that my Mom had, and it's terminal.

I wish I could freeze my life sometimes. Pick a moment in time when everything is okay, when everyone is happy, healthy, and just freeze that time.

Please pray for George.

Happy Birthday Sweetie

Today is Sweetie's Birthday...it hasn't started out on a great note.

Mojo had an "accident" last night in his crate, a BIG accident. I didn't know a dog could poop that much!

So he's spending his day off bathing the dogs, and spent his morning hosing Mojo's crate down.

Hopefully, the rest of the day goes better.

I'm so lucky to have him, he is just the most wonderful guy!

Happy Birthday to my Sweetie!

PINK SATURDAY

I have some exciting news!!!

I bought a pink geranium!!!

JUST KIDDING...that's my pink saturday picture...he he he.

No, here's the news: wait for it...wait for it...

SWEETIE PROPOSED!!!!!!!

I said yes by the way ;)

I'm really excited! He's wonderful, and we are very happy.

Happy Birthday PINK SATURDAY!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

In The Pink

As you may have noted from previous posts, I love flowers. Every year I spend hours on my flowerbeds, and the numerous pots and hanging baskets that are crowded on our deck and patio. This particular flower is a flower on the sweet potato vine that I had on my deck last summer. These are interesting in that the blossoms only open for a short period of time every day. They are so pretty and delicate, a pinkish lavender color. Last night Sweetie rented Marley & Me for us to watch. I really wanted to see it in the theater, but had a feeling it would have a sad ending. When this was confirmed by friends who had gone to see it, I--being a complete dog person, knew I did not want to sit in a theater blubbering with numerous strangers around. Boy howdy, am I glad we watched it at home! What a great movie though! I highly recommend it, especially if you've ever owned a lab. We laughed our butts off because we have our beautiful littl lab, Macie. Who is a total trouble maker. Funny thing is, I picked her when she was a baby because she was the quietest puppy, and also the runt. She was from the litter that Sweetie's parents had at their house, so I had first pick. What a sweet beautiful little puppy--that day.



We brought her home, and she's been a trouble maker ever since. I could really relate to the characters in that movie. Lab puppies are just so adorable, that you really don't realize what you are getting yourself into. Just look how cute!

And she was so tiny.

Always comical, everything she does makes you smile. She still sleeps like this sometimes:

After losing Max last year, I know the years will go by too quickly, and that eventually she'll be known for being the "Best Dog". Right now though, when she chews up another textbook, she'll be the "worst dog ever"...LOL. But how could you not love these eyes:

PINK TIME!

Today's edition of pink only has a very small touch of it. This is a picture of Sweetie and our dog Mojo playing, notice the "PINK" is the ball they are playing with.

HAPPY PINK SATURDAY (even though it is Monday--sorry guys, I'm entering finals time at school, and I'm swamped.)

PINK SATURDAY!!! YAY!!!

These pictures are the weeping cherry tree by my deck. In these pictures the tree is in full glorious bloom...sadly, it's still too soon in Pennsyltucky for the blossoms...

I took the pictures last May. I can't wait for the warm weather!!!

Happy Pink Saturday, Ya'll!

What a Week!!!!

Jeez this week has been exhausting. Seriously. Physically and mentally draining. I will be so, so glad when school is over for the semester. It has been increasingly hard to drag my butt out of bed at 4:30 AM all week. I'm only 33, but it is making me feel ancient! Especially when I get to class and I see all of the 18-20 year-olds looking bright eyed and bushy tailed--I just want to smack them!

(I would never actually do it, I just feel compelled to. You know, like when you are behind somebody on stairs and you think "I could just give them a little shove..." Oh, I'm the only one? Wow, maybe I am a tad evil...)

Pink Saturday & Sunday

PINK SKIES IN MORNING...

We honestly get some of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets at our house. This is a shot from last August, and believe it or not, was around 6:30 am, around the time that I leave the house for work. Once I saw how beautiful the sky was, I hightailed it into the house to grab my camera. The picture is lovely but really does no justice to how heavenly the sky was that morning. Happy Pink weekend to everyone, and may your mornings always be this beautiful!

Pink Saturday, the Monday Edition

Above is a picture of my sweet peas. They were the are the first flowers I plant each year, and by far the most fragrant and beautiful. By the first frost of fall, they are generally taller than me!

Happy belated Pink Saturday.

**In regard to the lateness, we were unexpectedly away from home for most of the weekend. Sorry guys!

In My Head There Is A Happy Place...

and when you work in Customer Service, you have to go there, mentally, on a frequent basis. Today, quite frankly, has been one of those days. The kind that suck with a capital uck.

I've had every kind of customer on the phone today. The irate kind, the confused kind, the "way too old to be allowed to use the phone" kind, the "I'm going to ask you a question and then answer it myself, negating the necessity of this phone call" kind, the million question kind, the "I want to talk to the supervisor" kind, the "you sound kind of young" kind, the perverted kind, the "wrong company" kind, the cuss-word-a-second kind. You name it, I've dealt with it today.

Remember the old Calgon commercials...I may have been a small child at the time that they were in fashion, but I want to say: "Calgon! take me away!"

I need a beach, warm weather, an adult beverage, a shoulder rub, and good book...and in my head, that's where I am.

Toasting you with a mental Mai Tai,

Minnie

PS: Check out the link below for a cool giveaway!

http://calamitykim.typepad.com/calamity_kim/2009/03/calamity-kims-apron-celebration-giveaway.html and here is a picture: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3602/3382818222_1710cedbf0_m

Pink Saturday.

This is a picture of my Best Friend from High School's little girlie...She's such a cutie.

**NOTE: The reason I was late posting was because my sweetie and I visited the local casino for the first time this weekend. We had such a blast. If you go in with our attitude of "I'm not blowing more than $5" and stick to it, you can have a lot of fun. There is so much to see in there, even if you aren't playing. The lights and the noise, it's all so exciting. I can totally understand how a person can get hooked on it!

Happy Pink Saturday Everyone!

Ahh-Easter...

I was thinking about what to post today, because, to be completely honest, I am not a "pink" type of girl. I was always into lavender and purple growing up (still am). So I don't really own a lot of pink. Then I thought about last Easter, when I bought the most beautiful pink hyacinth. I buy one every year, and we plant the bulb by the front door so that when you walk in and out of the house, you are greeted with their wonderful smell. Someday, when I am long gone, and the house is sold, the new buyer will wonder what exactly is up with fifty or so hyacinths in the flowerbed. :) But they just smell so pretty, don't they? This year I'm going to try to find a white one I think.

As I was finding the picture in my files on the computer, I came across this picture of our beloved dog, Max. Max passed away in August of 2008, and we miss him so much. He was the perfect pet, so sweet. And of course, he indulged my "dress-up" inclinations. Poor Max had so many different bandanas, one for every holiday. I just miss him so much, I think Sweetie misses him more though, because Max truly was his best friend. It's hard not having him around sometimes, but nice to run across these pictures. Thank goodness I'm camera-happy. Everyone that knows me might complain about it, but I do catch some of the best moments.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Hugs,

Minnie

ABC's of Me...

A - Age: 33
B - Bed size: King
C - Chore you hate: It’s a toss up between vaccuuming and dusting.
D - Dad's Name: Ray
E - Essential start your day item: coffee
F - Favorite actor(s): Matthew McConaughey (he’s so pretty), Vince Vaughn, Dane Cook, and Jack Black, because they are funny. Also, Viggo Mortensen, well, because he seems dangerous. I’ve probably hit all of my sub categories
G - Gold or Silver: Silver
H - Height: 5 foot something. It varies any where from five foot four to five foot six. Depends on who is doing the measuring I guess. My doctor’s office makes me the tallest.
I - Instruments you play(ed): saxophone, trumpet (for a limited time). I can also pick out a tune on the piano.
J - Job title: Domestic Sales Associate.
K - Kid(s): Yeah, he’s 45 and gives me way more grief than a five year old…
L - Living arrangements: with my Mike (who I pick on and tease, but is the most wonderful man in the world.)
M - Mom's name: Carol
N - Nicknames: Minniewheat, Min, Minnie Mouse, Min-Min, Minnie-me, Minnie Driver, Minnie-ola, Minerva, I have a ton of them.
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: When I was two, I had scarlet fever—and was a very sick little girl.
P - Pet Peeve: There are four things that irritate me when it comes to people: Laziness, lack of common sense, irresponsibility, and being just plain rude—all of these things are unnecessary and the reason that our world is in the state that it is…(and Minnie dismounts her soapbox with a double-flip, half-twist…)
Q - Quotes you like: "Sure I wave the American flag. Do you know a better flag to wave? Sure I love my country with all her faults. I'm not ashamed of that, never have been, never will be." -- John Wayne
R - Right or left handed: Righty
S - Siblings: 2 brothers, John and James
T - Time you wake up: 4:30 AM. Every day.
U-Under or over the sheets: under
V- Vegetarian?: Not on your life. I like prime rib too much.
W- Winter activity you love: snuggling with Sweetie on the couch, listening to the fireplace.
X - X-Ray lately?: No, the last one was for a filling in my teeth about two years ago.
Y - Year you were born: 1975
Z - Zoo's you've been to: Erie

PINK SATURDAY

Perhaps it is because I'm eager for spring, but I thought that I would post some interesting pictures from last spring. Note the beautiful pink sky and rainbow. This was not necessarily a sunset, because this is actually the easternmost part of the sky in relation to where I live.

This was actually right after a thunderstorm blew through our town in May. Picture of the storm's wind below:

Just more evidence that God is good. Even after a nasty storm, you get a beautiful PINK sky and double-rainbow.

Happy Saturday Guys.

Pink Saturday, late again...

So I'm late with my pink saturday post again. I have a very good reason though, and I will be posting about it very very soon. It's actually really exciting, so I'm looking forward to sharing with everyone once I am able to show ya'll.

My entry for the PINK SATURDAY is my cactus plant. It is called Faerie Castle. I'm sure that you understand why, with all of the little turrets. I'll admit that I don't know much about cacti, and I sure hope I don't kill it--it is way too pretty.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Sweetie.

1. How long have you been together? It will be three years in October

2. How long did you know each other before you started dating? We started dating the day after we met…and have been inseparable since.

3. Who asked who out? He asked me.

4. How old are each of you? Our birthdays are both in June. He will be 46, I’ll be 34.

5. Whose siblings do/did you see the most? It’s a toss up.

6. Do you have any children together? No, and we don’t plan on it. He has two grown children from a previous marriage, and I don’t have the energy to have children right now, and by the time my schedule frees up enough to devote time to a child, I’ll be old enough that complications could be involved. I’m very happy with my “Aunt” status.

7. What about pets? Oh yeah, a zoo. Macie is our black lab, she’s going to be 10 months old at the end of February. Mojo is our German Shepard, he will also be 10 months old at the end of February. They have the same birthday—interesting huh? Marvin is our fat tiger cat. He is almost 11 months old (I know, we got them all around the same time—we’re a little nutty.), and the fish (who I call Molly) it’s a huge goldfish—the only survivor from a tank that was full of fish for the past 8-10 years.

8. Did you go to the same school? No, I went to Northwestern High School, Mike went to Conneaut Valley High School. But they’re only about 7 miles apart.

9. Are you from the same home town? No, but close, we grew up about seven miles from each other—but the years are the real separator, since he’s 12 years older than me.

10. Who is the smartest? That’s really a toss up. He knows some really technical things, especially about how to fix machines, but I’m great at useless information. I kick butt at trivial pursuit.

11. Who is the most sensitive? Probably me.

12. Where do you eat out most as a couple? Different places, Red Lobster is a biggie, so is Applebee’s, our new favorite is Joe Root’s Bar and Grille, and of course, Mike is a huge Olive Garden fan.

13. Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? Washington DC.

14. Who has the worst temper? We have about the same temperament. Both of us are extremely easy-going and it takes a lot to make us mad, but if you get us to that point, get out of our way!

15. Who does the cooking? Puhleeze. Me. I do the cooking. Unless it’s Valentine’s Day.

16. Who is the neat freak? Him. Him. Him. He’s like Monk, only more annoying about it. (The man vacuums our yard. Seriously. Go see my myspace). So, I let him have his little tirades. I can only get so much done in a day. He’s learning to deal.

17. Who is the more stubborn? Oh. That would be me, definitely.

18. Where was your first date? Dinner at his house—which he cooked (yeah, he used to cook).

19. Who has the bigger family? Same size. I have two brothers, he has a brother and a sister.

20. Do you get flowers often? Yes. I love this about him.

21. How do you spend the holidays? Mornings at our house. Early afternoon with his parents, and evenings with my family.

22. How long did it take to get serious? I honestly think we were serious the second we met. He’s my soulmate, and I’ve never, ever felt such an instant connection.

23. Who eats more? Depends on the day. I’ve seen him pack some food away, but I can do that myself.

24. Who’s better with the computer? I am when it comes to operating it. He’s better at trying to figure out why it won’t turn on…

25. Who drives when you are together? Depends. He does most of the time, but I do too. I have a longer work commute though, and don’t want to drive on weekends usually.

Happy Belated Pink Saturday!

This is such a pretty little pink package. One I wrapped especially for my Sweetie. Inside was a picture that I had a wonderful Caricature artist from Erie do for me. If you want to see his work, or have him do one for you, go to www.savethedoodle.com.

The caricature was of Sweetie and I wearing hats from our favorite sports teams, which of course do not jive. We have little teasing arguments about who is superior.

I framed and matted it with a blue matte, and the frame is the same color as the woodwork throughout our house, which I knew he would love, because he is very matchy-matchy. I'm not, but like to make him happy. He absolutely loved it, and it made him a little misty, which made me happy, because I knew he loved it.
All in all, it turned out to be the perfect Valentine's Day surprise for him.

**On a side note, again the lateness of the blog--please forgive me, we had this wonderful windstorm on Thursday and Friday last week. It made for some sketchy power outages. I promise that next week you will see the PINK SATURDAY at it's regularly scheduled time. Thanks guys!

Pink Saturday, er, ah, Pink Monday (I can explain...)

So I wrote Saturday's Pink Saturday blog and hit "publish post" and that's when it happened--buh-bye internet for the weekend. I thought that it may have saved it, but no such luck. So I'm reposting today (first day back online) and realizing I have no idea what my previous post was about. (My short-term memory is awful, and anger at my computer did not really help things.) I can't even remember what my original pink picture was (blasted memory, I probably better start doing word puzzles to stave off dimentia).

So here's the new and improved pic for PINK SATURDAY:

This is a picture of one of my babies. It was taken in July, when she was truly a baby. The pink is of course, her scarf. My sweetie said that it was mean to put it on her. But I explained that they are only little and cute for such a short period of time and I was taking advantage of it. (She is a black lab after all!) To illustrate my point, a much more recent photo below:


This is a picture of both of my babies. Macie is on the left, and Mojo on the right. They are both now almost 9 1/2 months old. They were about 8 months in the pic above.

Time flies.

Congratulations...

to the Pittsburgh Steelers and all of their fans!

It was a good, close game. I love nail-biters!!!

Congratulations also to the Arizona Cardinals for a hard-fought game.

of course, as always, Bills still Rule!!!!! (Next year is our year!)

PINK SATURDAY--Maybe 'cause it's close to Valentine's Day...

I’m one of those very lucky girls who have a guy that gives them flowers. A lot.

My sweetie had given me more flowers within one month of meeting him than I ever received from the boyfriend who had gone before him that I dated for 10 ½ years. I’m also happy to say that he has wonderful taste too, and often picks out the flowers one at a time for a bouquet.

I’m quite lucky.

ENUFF ALREADY!!!!

I. Hate. SNOW. Seriously.

I used to not mind it as long as it didn't interfere with my life overmuch. But our fairly benign relationship is over...you hear me snow???? O-V-E-R!!!

I mean, winter is one thing, but 18 inches of the crap in 9 hours, now that's a bit much by anyone's standards. I could have let it go, but I had to waste my last vacation day on you!

I wash my hands of you!!!

I will not stick up for you anymore and say that even if you are a pain, at least you are pretty.

We are done, you get it? Done!

Pink Saturday

If you look at my blog and let your eye go right a little, you will see a tiny pink button that is flashing. It says Pink Saturdays. If you are curious, click here to see what it’s all about: http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/01/pink-saturday-january-17-2009.html
This is my first entry:
Note the pink in this entry happens to be on Sweetie’s feet. This picture was taken at Christmastime in my brother’s mudroom. Sweetie happens to be wearing my future Sister-in-law’s pink fuzzy slippers. (Future Sister-in-law as of Christmas Eve I might add—yay!) Anyhoo, it was just comical to me and I had to snap a photo for posterity.

I figured that it would be a fun first entry for Pink Saturday.

Hugs!
Minnie

Happy Friday Ta Me.

I woke up late today. Not good, but if I continue with my story you’ll get why. This semester for school, I have class at 8 AM. Okay, not so bad one would think, but then I tell you that in order for that to happen I have to get up at 4:30 AM, and am not kidding. You see, I cannot function without a cup of coffee, so the first five minutes of the morning are comprised of drinking that in order to wake up. Then, because in the wintertime we heat mostly with wood, I have to load up the woodstove in order to make sure that I don’t see my breath while I finish getting ready. After that comes the fun part—my zoo. Both dogs have to be taken outside one at a time on a leash (because they do not listen to me when presented with the vastness of nature). I long for the day that I can just let them out the door and not worry whether or not they will run away. That day is a long way off though, either they’ll have to be geriatric, or I’ll have to win the powerball so that I can put up a six foot stone wall around our property. Outside time can take up to thirty minutes, if I’m lucky it will only take fifteen to twenty. After outside time, the dogs are returned to their crates and the cat is taken care of. I clean his litter box every day, feed and water him and then move on to the fish, who gets his little light turned on and his daily allotment of food flakes. By this time I’m at about 45 minutes into my day. Then we feed the dogs, one at a time, because Mojo is an eater and will steal all of Macie’s food. I feed Mojo first, then take him out. This takes another 45 minutes. Then I feed Macie and take her out—45 more minutes. We are now officially at about 2 hours and 15 minutes into my day. While I’m doing all of the above, I’m also bustling about packing my lunch, fixing my hair, brushing my teeth, make-up, picking out what to wear, doing a load of laundry, making the bed, loading or unloading the dishwasher…you get the idea. Before you think about when I shower, let me just say I have to do that at night before bed, there is absolutely no time in my morning to do that. I can get thrown off my schedule with five minutes spent the wrong way. So when I get up at say, 6 AM—I’ve pretty much messed my day up.

So basically now I’m tired from running around like my head was on fire and my ass was catching, Sweetie is mad at me because he had to do all of the above stuff save filling the fireplace and taking the dogs outside for their first outside of the day (he’s working third, so he has to do this as soon as he gets home, instead of relaxing), and I have to go grocery shopping.
Anyone else having one of those days???

Resolutions Schmesolutions.

I'll have to post soon to catch everyone up on what's been going on in the family lately, but for today I thought I might go over all of the resolutions that I have broken so far, and 'splain myself. Accountability, I'm all about accountability.

Resolution #1 Lose Weight.I have made this resolution every single year since I was thirteen. I think that at this point, I don't even need to say it to anyone anymore. Now, I have broken this rule every year save 1994-1997. Those were the years that I was "thin" Ah, the good ole days. I broke this rule under the sub-category of "eat healthy", as you all know, this is lumped in the "Lose Weight" category along with "exercise more" and "take vitamins". I have also broken the other two sub-categories, but "eat healthy" was first broken around 8:15 AM on 1/1/09 when I ate four Christmas cookies with a cup of coffee for breakfast.
RESOLUTION BROKEN.

Resolution #2 Get Organized.This is perhaps my most pathetic attempt at resolutions. This resolution has been on my list since I turned 30. I figured that once I was 30, I needed to start taking control of my life. This resolution has been broken every year as well. This particular year I broke it under the sub-category of "prepare dinners on weekends, so I have time to study". Yeah, um...officially broke it on the weekend of 1/10-1/11. Have been scrambling this week to figure out a way to study while cooking, and somehow still manage to clean up and deal with my zoo. So far, it sucks.

Resolution #3 Finish the Redecorating.This resolution is now officially two years old. Slowly but surely I am getting very little of this done. So far, I've managed to paint my office, procure some artwork for the formal living room, purchase some new furniture for the family room, and finally pick out wallpaper for the kitchen. We'll eventually get there.

Resolution #4 Stop Being a Doormat.I really really wanted to be able to do this one this year, but I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. I mean, it really is easier to inconvenience myself than put others through that...

Resolution #5 Stop Procrastinating.I'll get to that tomorrow, really I will.