Christmas Part 1

Christmas Part 1 (Columbia) was nice. I know my mom was thrilled we got to spend Christmas there. It was the first one in like 5 years we have been able to work that out. My bother Jonathan and his wife Allison were there, Allison is expecting a baby girl in April (although she was the tinest pregnant woman I've ever seen!)My grandparents came down from Greenville so we had a house full. I have more to share, including some yummy recipes, but I am running behind for work so here are some pictures for now.

Linked with my favorite picture of my dad "carving" the ham.

TGIF!

Wow, it seemed like the end of the day today was never going to get here! I had TONS of stuff to do at work to be ready to be off for a few days for Christmas. I still feel like my brain is going a million miles a minute.

I feel like I need a deep breath.

Whew! Ok I'm better now.

My flight leaves at 5:50 am to go visit my parents. INSANE. I guess that means I need to wake up in like 4 hours. nice. I forced myself to pack tonight. Usually I'm a "ill just get up early and do it" person but I knew with a flight that early it wasn't likely to happen. Oh well, it was worth it for the $200 flight (or so I say now!)

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I have really been wanting to get a new comforter set for the bedroom. I totally am in love with the Chocolate and Blue concept going around now. (Unfortunately Mat is not but he is willing to have it because I love it!) I have found several comforters I like. Which one is your favorite? (I'll let you know mine next post)

(you can click the pics for bigger versions)

Option 1:


Option 2:


Option 3:


Option 4:


Option 5:



Next post from South Carolina!

Sunday, Sunday...

Ok since Kristi was bugging me to update I figured I better get to it! After getting back from Hammond Wed night I hadn't really had much going on other than work and sleep. The increase in my BP meds makes me really tired. I am hoping I adjust because I can't really afford to take naps at work.

Mat and I went and took a tour of the YMCA the other night. It was really nice, a little busy for my taste but they offer so many things I would enjoy such as dance classes and water aerobics. Mat also knows a guy there that teaches kick boxing and I think that appeals to him as well. While it was a little more expensive than a regular gym ($67 a month for both of us) I really liked how there was no long term contract. It is just monthly. Speaking from past experiences I have joined gyms that made you sign a contract for a year or two and then I quit going after 2 months. They gave us a 2 day pass so I look forward to trying it out.

Last night was my annual work Christmas party. I always dread going to this sort of thing but I always end up having a good time. This year I got to plan it so that was nice. It was at the Butcher Shop steakhouse. It was nice seeing some people I hadn't seen in a while and I even got some accolades for my promotion this year and for scheduling the party. That always makes you feel good! We did play dirty santa and I of course walked away with something I don't need or want (santa picture frame anyone?) but I did win a drawing for $50 (whoo hoo!) Mat ended up with a bathroom reader book which I found oddly fitting for him. hehe.

Well I am hoping to go see a movie today and not eat an entire box of Junior Mints, have a nice afternoon!

business trip

I am currently in Hammond, LA on a business trip. It was a LONG drive. 6 hours or so. I'm pretty anti-car trip so that made it long. Thankfully I checked out a good book on CD that kept me entertained some (Fudge Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke) and my rental car already has Sirius built in (hello 80's!). I know I am really close to New Orleans. It is a little odd being in a different town you don't know. I am very prone to getting lost (yes Mat you can laugh) so I'm not the "explore town" type of person. I worked today at another storage facility alone and then back to my hotel alone. It is kinda depressing, thankfully it is a short trip. (I'll be home Wednesday night). I really miss my pets but I slept REALLY well last night. The things we tolerate for our furry babies. I told Mat he had to make sure he cleaned up completely from his wild and crazy parties he was going to throw while I was gone.

Well I'm off to work out in the hotel gym for a few. (Apparently it takes me going out of town to work out)

howdy!

Not much really to say today but I didn't want to be a complete slacker on my blogging duties.

Health:
Had the 1 month follow up with my doctor about the aldomet. My BP has been in the 130's / upper 80's range and he said for pregnancy it needs to be in the 110's / 70's so he is increasing my aldomet. And as always losing weight will help. I have an appointment with my OBGYN tomorrow. I'll let you guys know what she said tomorrow.

Car:
Some of you already know but my radiator decided to crack this week. We just had it replaced 2 years ago! Took it to the shop and got a lovely $600 quote to have it replaced again with an "oh by the way your engine mounts are cracking" (hey I didn't know either but apparently they hold the engine in the car!) so I said "nope"! I'm not putting more money into a 1995 car that seems to be falling apart. So we are currently trying to figure out what we can afford. I personally have had my eyes on some of the new compact suvs such as the rav4, crv and rogue. I guess we shall see! I currently have a rental car for a work trip I'm taking this week so it helps to buy a little time.

ok so apparently I did have a little to say after all.

In the spirit of Sara's Bear Family post and the fact that Mat is sick I present "The Man Cold" ha!

Thanksgiving

Hey everyone,
Just wanted to let you know I uploaded some of the pictures that were taken over Thanksgiving at the Goldricks. Danny, Sara, Ty and Katie made it down to join the rest of us here in Memphis.

Click the photo of Mat and Katie for more!

howdy!

Hope everyone is doing well this week. I haven't really had much going on other than work so I haven't really felt like I have had much to say.

Today is my day off this week and of course I am up at 7 am. Thanks animals!

I actually have a list of stuff I would like to do today. Plant some winter flowers out front and a few other little home improvement things inside. I am currently hoping it warms up from 40 degrees outside first.

My blood pressure is high this week. It has been in the 130's over 90's. I really hope I don't need to increase the Aldomet. Must EXERCISE!

FlyLady says I need throw away junk mail and magazines. She's right as usual.

Ok I'm starving, breakfast time. I am really resisting the urge to buy this Egg and Muffin toaster. ha!

Rock Band

Mat had bought the video game RockBand this week. Last night Kristi came over and we had a blast. (Even though I hate to admit I enjoyed a video game!) For those of you that don't know it comes with a guitar, drums and a microphone. Each person plays a different part of the song and as you advance it gets more challenging. Next thing we knew 4 hours had passed. They were both better than I was (boo!) but I do think the fact that they have both had musical backgrounds helped. Somehow my 6th grade clarinet didn't really come in handy.

Well I'm off, we are headed over to the Goldricks for Thanksgiving. Danny, Sara, Ty and Katie made the trip down last night!

weekend trip

Mat and I took a trip to Nashville this weekend. It was our "birthday present" and in general just really nice to take a break from work and regular life in general.

I love my pets. Really I do. But two nights of uninterrupted sleep with no meowing or a puppy that that can't make up her mind of under the covers or on top was NICE. I slept until almost 11. I haven't done that in years. Yeah I am sure you guys that are parents will have a comment about that one...ha!

We started our trip with a tour of the Jack Daniel's distillery in Lynchburg. Oh the smells that come out of that place. I had a hard time believing that all the Jack Daniel's in the whole world came from there.

They took our picture while on the tour.

http://www.jackdaniels.com/TheDistillery/Picture.aspx?id=59707



I'm pretty sure our tourguide (the guy kneeling) could give that tour in his sleep.
I enjoyed it so much I bought a used quarter barrel to plant flowers in!

Saturday we went to see Beowulf in IMax 3D. Let me tell you after seeing a movie in Imax and in 3D no less I have a feeling other movies will pale in comparison. The animation was insane. I literally forgot at times it was an animated movie, it looked that real. However it did amuse me that even animated Angelina Jolie spent most of her time naked.

We spent the next few hours walking the mall at OpryLand. I do find it a little sad the theme park is gone. My parents took us there for a few trips growing up and I have fond memories of it. I also have memories of being forced to sit through the Grand Ole Opry which as a kid I found the most boring thing ever.

We finished our night at up at Dave and Busters so we could see the Clemson game. As far as the game goes I'll say no more. (I mean really now!) I throughly enjoyed spending a few hours drinking girly drinks, playing skeeball, basketball and trivia.

On our way home Sunday we stopped by the Loveless Cafe for the insane breakfast food.

It was a great weekend. Thanks Mat for such a nice time and thanks for understanding on Saturday when I needed a break from the crowd.

Happy Birthday! I love you.

mat's blog

hey all,
just wanted to let you all know Mat started a blog now too!

http://matwithonet.blogspot.com

ah, I love the interweb. :)

Menu Plan Monday

For those of you that don't care anything about menu planning you may want to skip over this post!



Menu Plan Monday!

I really seem to be struggling with dinner lately. I'm not sure if its the cold, the dark or what but dinner lately seems like such a struggle. I've learned if I wait until after I get off work to plan dinner and make a frantic run to the store by the time I do finally get home I'm too hungry and tired to care!

I have been reading Menu Plan Monday for months now. I always enjoy seeing people's menus yet I had not taken the time myself to participate. In addition to the menu planning I also am trying to plan ahead with some things I can make extra and freeze for a future meal.

This week's plan ahead meal: Firehouse Chili
I spent some time Sunday getting this made. It was not anymore work to double the recipe and I froze half of it after it was finished. The other half goes to dinner tonight and leftovers will be made into lunch this week. I used extra lean ground beef so it should be fairly healthy. I will let you guys know how it turned out.

Menu 1: Chili with cornbread, oranges
Menu 2: Mini Greek Meatballs on pita with Tzatziki, served with romaine lettuce and tomatoes, alexia potatoes
Menu 3: Soup and Sandwiches, I plan to cook a turkey breast early this week so I can have it to take for lunch (I like this so much better than packaged deli turkey), fruit
Menu 4: Sweet Vidalia Spinach Salad with Chicken, apples

Mat and I have plans the other nights of the week. Hopefully this planning ahead will result in better for us foods and overall savings compared with last minute eating out and junk food.

To check out other people's menus visit Laura over at The Organizing Junkie

Saturday!!!

I love being off on Saturday's. I seem to work them about 90% of the time so getting two days off in a row is a real treat.

I envy you guys that are at the Clemson game today. The weather looks gorgeous on TV. Plus we are winning!!!

I have been trying to use this day to catch up on things around the house. I don't know how we manage to make things so messy so fast but its unbelievable. I haven't been doing very well keeping up with my FlyLady cleaning this week. Between the slightly cooler weather, getting dark before I get home from work and my new BP meds I feel zonked out by 6 pm. One area I want to work on this week is menu planning. Over at the Organized Junkie she has something called "Menu Plan Monday" so I am going to do my best to participate this week and play my meals ahead of time.

As for the knee..
Well I got my MRI results. No tears at all however I do have arthritis in my knee (what?!?) and a Ganglion Cyst. I googled it and it doesn't sound too bad but they want me to go to an orthopedist to see. Ugh.

happy to me!

Today was my 32nd birthday. I cannot believe I am 32. It seems so OLD! I remember when I was younger and I dreamed where I would be "in the year 2000". I was sure by the time I was 25 I would be married, with kids, a career etc etc. I didn't reach any of those goals. Thankfully at 32 I have a great husband, a job I like and while no kids yet we finally are headed in that direction. I can't complain about a thing! (Don't tell my husband I said that!)

I took today off work. I was so hoping to sleep late but my animals would not allow it. By 7 am they were up and they thought I should be as well. Thanks furry children.

I did have a nice day though. Mat took me to a new place I wanted to try for lunch (Tropical Smoothie Cafe) and then he took me to see a sorta girlie movie I had been wanting to see (Martian Child) and then when he had to leave to go to work Kristi took me out to dinner. Overall a very nice birthday!

On another topic...

I started my Aldomet yesterday. It is the new pregnancy safe blood pressure medicine. All day today I swear I can hear my heartbeat in my ears so I will need to be careful and check my BP daily. I really need to get some of this weight off me. Hopefully my knee will be back to normal soon.

POP!

I've had a rough week this week. Sunday night I was sitting on the floor vacuuming Gracie's bed (hey we have a dyson, i'll vacuum anything!) I stood up and my knee made this horrible popping crunching sound. I literally could not even move for a few seconds. The pain stopped and I thought everything was just fine sat down and watched tv for an hour or so. I go to stand up and I cannot stand. My leg will not straighten out. It will only stay bent. I wake up Monday to find it still won't straighten out, it looks like it swallowed a soft ball and when I do try to straighten it the most severe pain shoots through my whole body.

What the hell. I had no idea I could hurt myself so badly by standing up. I call the doctor and they do some xrays which only confirm I didn't break any bones however an MRI needs to be done to look at anything else. I am still waiting on approval for this damn MRI. I am taking an anti-inflammatory in the mean time and walking like a 90 year old woman.

Damn Knee.

Somehow the pain brings out the cussing.

it was important to me....

I found out horrible news tonight. Well apparently it was only horrible news to me. My younger brother and his wife are pregnant. While I am sure for most family people this is a happy occasion this did not strike me as one. It struck a horrible sad depressing place in me called "I won't be the one giving my parents their first grandkid"

It really has hit me hard. I am pretty devastated. I know for most of you reading this you will find this petty but it's killing me.

BLOG!

As much as I enjoy reading everyone else's blog you would think I would do a better job of posting in mine!

Andrea - I really enjoyed seeing all the pics from homecoming!

Mat and I have already planned to go next year. We are tired of missing out!

Sara - We hope you and Danny can make it down next year too! (Yes I do realize this is a year into the future. ha!)

We are doing well. We both have fairly new promotions at work keeping us really busy it seems. Plus we both have jobs that involve working on the weekends so that pretty much just sucks all the way around. However I try to remember I need to be thankful for what we do have.

All is well on the "Operation Baby" front. So far I am half way through my down dosing of the "unsafe" blood pressure meds and will soon start on the pregnancy safe one. I have been checking it daily and it does not seem to be any higher despite the lower meds which I find very interesting! Kristi and I were on a good roll of exercising daily however rain every day for the last 3 days has put a little damper on that this week. I have also been faithful taking my daily multi vitamin as well.

I have my 32nd (AHH!) birthday next week and I had a little taste of "getting older" this week. Wow it sucks. I mean you know you are getting older it is just hard to hear from someone else. I have been having a little bit of trouble seeing lately. I have been to the eye doctor and went though several contact changes but my vision was still not as clear as I was used to. Then my doctor told me that apparently my eyes are not willing to overcorrect for the slight astigmatism I have anymore and I will need a special contact for it. Then that's when she said "It can happen when you get a little older" ACK. Old plus more expensive contacts! Thankfully however the new lenses corrected the vision issue. Damn aging.

I miss....

I miss going to Clemson football games. This time of year it really hits me. I miss seeing everyone, tailgating, walking to the stadium, cheering...the whole thing. Memphis has been very good to us. I have a good job, we bought our first house, Mat has a job (he isn't as crazy about his as I am) I just hate being so far away from Clemson! It would be about an 10 or so hour trip each way. It just isn't feasible.

When we moved here we thought we could still get the same game experience by converting to Memphis Tiger fans. HA. Well apparently once you are a Clemson fan you don't convert to anything else. It's just not the same.

Ok I'm done ranting now.

Today's link is: http://weightwatchen.com/
Roni has lost weight on weight watchers and she chornicles her daily experiences and recipes.

Doctor Update

So the doctors visit went well (minus the 1.5 hour plus wait). He basically said we need to switch my blood pressure medicine to one that is safe for pregnancy. So I start weaning myself off the others for a week then switch to this new kind Aldomet. After my BP gets under control on that then I can quit taking the BCPs but he didn't want me to completely shock my system but doing it all at once. I asked him about taking prenatal vitamins and he said not to start until I'm off the pill. Anyone have any recommendations on vitamins?

Other than that he said I should be fine. I know personally that my weight is not helping. I MUST commit to exercising daily and eating better. I just have such a hard time with it.

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Another one of my favorite daily links is the Organizing Junkie!
http://orgjunkie.blogspot.com/

I suck.

I am like the worlds worst blogger. I never have anything to post. I need to stop thinking I need some major event to post about because sadly I don't have story worth events happen daily.

I am so ready for it to cool off. I mean its October 9th and it is still 90 degrees out!

I've had a sorta sad week this week. One of my online "blogger" friends died this week. She fell asleep while driving and was not buckled up. Although I did not know her in real life it still really has bothered me. I felt like I knew her pretty well from reading her online blog the last 6 or so years. I have been very fortunate in my life and not experienced much death so I am not sure really how to handle it, but then again I guess no one is.

Ok on to more happy topics!

Tomorrow Mat and I have an appointment with my Internist. We are going to inquire about what we need to do about getting pregnant. Wow did I really just type that? I don't believe it. It scares the ever living crap out of me. However I will be 32 in less than a month, if I am going to have kids NOW is the time. I have some health issues (obesity, high blood pressure) that concern me even more with pregnancy. I know for a fact the blood pressure medicine I am currently on is not safe for pregnancy. So things like that are what we are going to talk about. I am glad that Mat wanted to go with me. I'll update you guys more on what he said tomorrow.

I have a whole list of blogs I enjoy reading daily. Maybe you all will enjoy them too.
Today's link - The best celebrity gossip site on the net! "On No They Didn't!"

Disney Pictures

Hey guys,
Finally posting the disney pictures.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/justmelanie/sets/72157602208678200/

We had a great but very tiring time.
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Warning!!!
Complaining ahead:

It just seems that since we got back from vacation I can't get my head above water. First off all all 3 of us (myself, mat and kristi) we all spent about 2 weeks passing around some random germ filled throat and ear infections after getting back. Somehow mine has managed to turn into an inner ear infection which makes me feel dizzy all the time. On top of all this I got a promotion at work with about double the work thrown on me. I literally have been getting home from work at 6, popping some cold medicine and going to bed.

Then I go and volunteer myself to do my neighborhood newsletter so that involves going to board meetings etc. Ack, learn to say NO melanie!!!!


oh and I miss going to football games :(