Thankful Thursday

I can't believe I almost forgot to be thankful today! So besides the things that I love below, I am thankful for...

1. The End of Flag Football. This has been a fun season and experience for Cole, but the last couple of weeks have involved some drama with the team (mostly parents -- grow up people!!) and with Ron coaching, of course we have been involved. Their last game is Saturday and I am so giddy I could dance a jig! This sure makes me remember why I preferred an individual activity for Cole, like karate! Speaking of...

2. The End of Karate (for now!). Cole is testing for his decided 2nd Degree Black Belt tomorrow night and then he is taking a break from training for a bit. It's been over 4 years. He's burned out. I'm burned out. My wallet is burned out! It will be so nice to be unscheduled for the summer.

3. Road Trips. Cole has a couple of day lapse between the last day of school and the beginning of his summer camp so Ron and I are taking a couple of days of vacation next week and we are road tripping to the Ozarks. Should be fun family bonding time.

4. Pain Meds. Specifically for my furry baby, Zoey. She had some surgery yesterday and the pain meds the vet prescribed have kept her comfortable and relatively happy today. Well, as happy as one can be with an e-collar, aka lamp shade, around her head! :)

5. My Mojo is coming back. Slowly but surely I'm getting back in the groove. I started with baby steps, just concentrating on eating the right things, and I've found by doing that, I am more inclined to want to exercise.

I hope that anybody reading this takes the time to stop and be thankful for the good things in your life today too, even if you don't blog about it!

Things I Heart...

Everybody loves lists, right? At least I do because these days it seems to be the only way I can organize a coherent blog post! So in going with what works, this week I love...

Dirt. I am desperately in need of a haircut. I had forgotten how quickly a short cut can get shaggy, and this stuff has saved my sanity more than once this week. It makes it easier to go with the messy style and make it seem like you meant for your hair to look that way! :)

Blockbuster Online. For the small fee of $18, we have watched several good movies and Cole has seen Season 1 of Gilligan's Island in just a couple of weeks time, all without having to leave our home. We watch a movie, drop it back in the mail or turn it back in at the local Blockbuster store, and because the distribution center is in our town we have the next movies in queue in our hot little hands within 2 days at the most. Fabulous!

My Chi Hair Dryer. I swore I would never pay that much for a hair dryer, but when my Mom showed up at my house with one I couldn't say no, right? Oh mama, this baby is killer! It dries my hair so quickly -- like in 3-4 minutes -- without damaging it. And the volume is amazing! I will never be without one again, even if I have to buy the next one myself.

Fiber One Chewy Bars. A life saver as I try to get back on the Weight Watchers bandwagon this week. For 2 little Weight Watchers Points, a yummy afternoon treat that cures my sweet tooth and has some nutritional benefit to boot. If you haven't tried them before let me recommend the Oats and Chocolate. Yumm-O!

Origins Ginger Body Scrub. With sunless tanner season here, this is a must in my daily shower ritual. I've gotta keep the skin nice and exfoliated so my "tan" is smooth and even. This performs well above my expectations and the ginger scent is an added bonus.

What about you? If you have something that you love that you think everyone should try, do share!

Freedom...aka the Grey's finale wrap!

What can I say? GREAT, GREAT television! *That* is my Grey's. That is the amazing show that I fell in love with 4 seasons ago. It's just so funny how when writers stay true to the characters they have created and stick to the formula that works for them the show just seems to write itself. I spent last summer after the diaster that was season 3 contemplating whether I even wanted to devote any more time to this show. I felt like it had become too contrived and the characters were acting out of character for lack of a better term. But after last night? My show is back and I loved every second of it and I have so much to say, so get comfortable...

1. I adored the young brain tumor couple, though it was funny to see Denise from Full House all grown up! LOL I just knew that they were going to get their happy ending though, so I was sad when the boy died. I am happy that Derek and Meredith saved the girl though and that she wanted to live without her love! I did think her moving her right hand immediately was a little hokey, but I can overlook that because the rest of the story was sweet.

2. Alex broke my heart! I have always had a soft spot for Alex. You can just tell that he's been damaged in his life and I have known that his tough guy act was there to protect his heart. I have always felt like Izzy is the one for him, too. They balance each other out and I am just a sucker for them together, so I was glad that she was there for him when he needed someone to count on. I hope that last night was the beginning of the road back together for them. And Rebecca? Buh bye!

3. "Alexandra Caroline Grey, shut up!" Georgie finally got his groove back! I love that he found his confidence and is going to get to retake the intern test. And I love the FRIENDSHIP between George and Lexie. I don't want the writers to ruin another good friendship like the George/Izzy thing, so I really hope they don't go there with George & Lexie. I'm really also loving Lexie now. She is such a fun character and I find myself wondering what funny, quirky thing she is going to say next. "I know you've got two balls!" Heeee!!!

4. "Shut up and let me work!" You go Christina! She is a great surgeon, probably as good as Hahn already and will most likely end up being better, so I was pleased to see her remember her backbone. I also loved how she grew a little and was teaching Lexie. Now that her career and confidence seem to be back on track, let's find her a man worthy of her. Someone like...

5. Mark! Get the man his own woman. It kind of made me sad to see him in the shadows watching Callie & Hahn (I'll get to that later). He wants to be a good guy, he just needs the right woman and I think Christina could tame him. Or maybe Callie is the woman for him? He did seem to be developing real feelings for her. Maybe he will decide to fight Hahn for her heart?

6. Callie and Hahn...that just felt so contrived to me. I'm just not feeling them as a couple. I buy that Hahn is a lesbian, but Callie? Nope, she just screams heterosexual to me.

7. I'm so glad the chief got his wife back, and I enjoyed how he came full circle at his own front door. This time he got to go in instead of finding another man in his home!

8. Bailey finally figured out that she can't have it all. I hope that means she's going to get Tucker back. While she can't have it all, I want her to get as much as she can because she kicks arse! Her talking to cement boy in Star Wars terms to help him calm down rocked my world. While I wasn't a big fan of the cement boy story in general, I liked that part. I've known too many Lola's in my life to feel anything for a beeyotch like her, but I did feel good for him that he got the kiss he had been waiting for. I just wish it had been from someone more deserving of his adoration.

9. And finally Derek and Meredith...what can I say? I adored every single second. While I really don't think that Meredith is "whole now", I do think she is well on her way to figuring out how to be extraordinary. I just hope that she and Derek can figure out how to be "extraordinary together instead of ordinary apart". Her way of showing him that she was his, by laying out their house, was genius! I just hope that we weren't left hanging by the writers at the end for Derek to go break off things with Rose and find out something horrible to begin next season. Something horrible like, I don't know...she's pregnant. Surely they wouldn't go there? But I did get an uneasy feeling when Meredith was standing there alone and the credits rolled. I guess we will have to wait until September to find out, but I do want them to get their happy ending.

Overall this was a very satisfying episode. I think it wrapped every storyline up nicely while leaving some things open to pursue next season. So tell me, what do you think? Was it worth it? Did it leave you feeling satisfied or did you want more? Talk to me Grey's girls.

Thankful Thursday

It's been an odd, busy week, and I had to think long and hard to come up with more than a couple of things to be thankful for. So without further delay, today I am thankful for...

1. The season finale of Grey's Anatomy. I am so happy it's today! Ron is out of town on business and I have my DVR set to record it so I can settle in with a glass of wine and watch it from start to finish without interruption after Cole goes to bed tonight. I cannot wait, I have a feeling it's going to be GOOD!

2. So You Think You Can Dance. It starts tonight! It's my summer TV viewing guilty pleasure. I love that loud, crazy Mary Murphy!

3. Friends. Or at least the true ones. It's been an awkward friend week and I have found out the hard way that some people I considered to be friends really aren't that. It's disappointing and a bit hurtful but I'm glad to know it now so that I don't invest any more time into that friendship. Even though it means that I have fewer friends than I thought, that is okay. I would rather devote my time and energy to the ones who I know are real!

4. Family. Especially Ron, Cole and my Mom. They are always there for me and love me. Not for any special reason and not because I can do things for them, just because I'm me and that is good enough for them!

5. Allergy shot maintenance. After a year of weekly and then bi-weekly shots, Cole is finally to the point of once a month shots and he is so happy about that. I know that other kids have conditions that are much worse than Cole's allergies and they endure more than 2 shots in each arm once a week, but for Cole the shots just aren't fun. He doesn't look forward to the actual shots or the swelling, irritation, and tenderness at the injection sites that he has for 24 hours afterwards, but he's dealt with it like a champ and I'm happy for him that he only has to do it once a month now.

So there you have it. What do you have to be thankful for this week? Even if you don't blog it, think about it. It might make you stop and remember just how good your life really is! :-)

Has anyone seen my mojo???

Because I've lost it and I can't seem to find it!

I don't know what is wrong with me, but I can't seem to find the motivation to work out these days. My mojo is gone and I can't make myself care! I know it's summer, the time of tank tops and shorts, and I should be excited to work out some aggression Turbo Jamming knowing that I'm building muscle and burning fat. I should look forward to hopping on the treadmill and running 3 or 4 miles knowing that my legs are getting stronger and leaner. But I'm not! So my arms are jiggly? Who cares? My normally very firm stomach is getting soft? I can live with that because nobody sees it anyway except Ron and he doesn't care. He loves me no matter what my body looks like.

I wish I knew what my deal was. Last night I knew that I needed to get on the treadmill and run. I tried to will myself off of the sofa to do it, but instead I parked on the sofa with angel food cake and strawberries and watched Dancing with the Stars. You would thinking watching those dancers with the fabulous figures would have provided me with the motivation I needed to get up and run. But nope! I was content to lounge. What is wrong with me? I've pushed too hard before and gotten into exercise induced funks and usually taking a few days off is just what I've needed to help me re-focus and get back at it. This time it's been a several weeks thing and no amount of down time has helped.

Not only am I slacking on the exercise, but my eating has been horrendous! I normally follow Weight Watchers religiously. It's an easy program for me, a lifestyle that has always been very simple for me to maintain. I knew that I could follow it 6 days a week and have one eat fest cheat day and it would keep me at my ideal weight. I journaled every bite of food that went into my mouth and could see when I was getting careless with food and seeing it would help me get right back on track. But right now I'm just caring more about the food than about how I look and I hate it!

So any ideas what is wrong with me? I'm not depressed. Work is going okay, no stress there. I have a great life at home with my 2 guys, no stress there. Maybe I'm too content? I don't know, I just do know that I don't want to get heavy ever again. I've worked too hard to lose the weight that I gained when I was pregnant with Cole (which was a lot!). So if you have any ideas to help me get my booty back in gear, feel free to leave suggestions! And in the meantime, please keep your eyes open for my mojo and if you see it, please send it home!!

Musings on Grey's Anatony

Sorry fellow Grey's girls, the last couple of episodes have left me sort of cold so I haven't had much to say about them. However after a couple of glasses of wine and a day to ponder the last episode I have managed to put together some thoughts...

1. Love George & Baby Tuck! That is the cutest baby ever. Is it wrong that I think I might want George to be with Bailey so he could be Miranda's baby daddy?? George has been kind of out there the last season or so, and I think baby Tuck might be just the character saver that good old George needed!

2. So Ava's crazy, eh? I could have told you that! While I was hoping for something that would wipe her off the face of the earth, like I don't know...cancer, I guess I can deal with crazy. As long as it gets her locked up in a psych ward and off of my screen, I'm good. Looks like this story is going to push Alex back toward Izzie too.

3. Um, Rose? He's just not that into you! If he didn't call after the sex, it wasn't that great! And I think you should probably be alarmed that he's making doe eyes at the cute female surgeon standing next to him. You know the one he's in LOVE with...

4. Callie and Hahn kissing was kind of yuck, but made a little hot by Mark watching. Is that wrong? Love, love me some McSteamy. Give that man his own storyline next season.

5. And did anybody else just know that Andre was coming? I knew he was real and going to show up after she was dead. But it still made me cry...

6. Christina was just a straight up beeyotch. Didn't like her at all!

That's about it for me. I think the show has lost a little of the momentum it gained from the first couple of episodes back, but I'm holding out hope for a good season finale next week. What about you? Impressed or no?

Thankful Thursday

It's time for this week's edition of Thankful Thursday. Thanks, as always, to Tib for the graphic and the idea! This week I am thankful for...

1. The Dallas Stars. Believe in Black baby! Yes they are down 3-1 to the Red Wings in the Western Conference Finals. Yes they will probably lose the series. But they gutted out a win last night and gave us at least one more game to watch. Sweep this! Take that broom and shove it Wings, our Stars have more fight than that!

2. Bare Escentuals Faux Tan. After much experimenting with both great and disastrous results I have finally found the self-tanner for me. This stuff rocks! It looks like chocolate pudding so you can see exactly where you are applying it, which helps avoid nasty little streaks and as a bonus you get an immediate hint of color. The color is very natural and it lasts forever between applications. Now I can pull the shorts & capris out without scaring the neighborhood children. Two thumbs up!

3. Body Shops. Particularly the one we use. My car is fixed from the little mishap with the fence. It looks as good as new and because Ron knows the owner of the shop pretty well he cut us a deal and fixed it for only $200. Yea for having connections!

4. Working from Home. I love that I have the ability to do it when I need to, and I plan to do it tomorrow. :)

What about you? Are you thankful for anything today???

My Favorite Monday

I just looked at the date of my last post and boy have I been a delinquent blogger! Not that I have many faithful readers but I did make a promise to myself when I started this thing that I would try to keep it up. Life has been busy lately, but I am going to attempt to get back into the blogging groove, starting with...My Favorite Monday!

Today's topic, courtesy of Tib is my favorite sports team. Anyone who knows me well will be able to answer this question in about one millisecond. My favorite sports team is...The Dallas Cowboys!

I have been a fan for as long as I can remember. Heck I even met my husband at a game! We still attend as many games as we can and we are raising our own like Cowboys junkie. Last summer's vacation was planned around Cowboys training camp! We are hard core! You can ask our friends and neighbors who know not to call us or come visit during games. Phone calls go unanswered and guests get ignored unless it's halftime. Not that we don't love our friends, we just know we can see them any time, but there are only 16 football games a season to be enjoyed. :)

"I'll bet you are wishing you had taken the stairs right about now..."

Heeeee! I love me some McSteamy!

Another fun episode of Grey's last night. The elevator scene with Derek and his women was PRICELESS. Mark's comment made me roll! I just love Eric Dane. Yes, Mark is a cad, but the way Eric plays him gives him such a likeability factor in spite of being a dirty man whore!

I'm still not sure how I feel about the whole Callie/Hahn thing. Definitely not questioning that Hahn is in to Callie "that way" because she sure seems to want her, but I'm not sure I want the writers to go there with Callie. I'm fine with Hahn being a lesbian, I'm just thinking Callie isn't the girl for her. Maybe Christina??? The story is providing some great lines though. "I am a huge fan of penis!" and "...we screw boys like whores on tequila" being just a couple. Classic!

Loved seeing Addison and I liked how the writers used her as the vessel for getting the audience caught up on everything that happened at Seattle Grace during the writer's strike. And she looked fierce rocking her Christian Louboutin's!

Brain tumor guy was creepy! However I do like the way they are using the clinical trial storyline to slowly bring Derek and Meredith back toward one another. Yes, I'm a Meredith/Derek shipper and I refuse to apologize for it. I do not want them thrown back together though, so I like the approach the writers seem to be taking toward an eventual reconciliation. They need to learn to respect each other as individuals before they will be able to be a healthy couple.

Still love Alex and hate Ava/Rebecca. I'm SO glad that she isn't really pregnant because I don't want Alex to be stuck with her. She and Rose can go the way of Season 2 bomb squad guy any time now and that will be fine with me! Maybe Ava/Rebecca will end up having some horrible disease making her think she is pregnant and she will die in Alex's arms and Izzie can swoop in and carry his weeping form out of the room in her arms while he's wearing a pretty pink prom dress....whoops wrong season! But admit it, that would be pretty funny!

And way to finally find your backbone, Christina! I loved her blackmailing Callie.

What do you think fellow Grey's watchers? Is our show regaining some of it's original greatness, or am I crazy??

Thankful Thursday

It's time for Thankful Thursday, with the idea and graphic courtesy of the lovely Tiburon. Maybe referring to her as lovely will get me extra entries the next time she gives something away on her blog! Kidding!! ;) Today I am thankful for...

1. A clear biopsy. I got my cervical biopsy results back on Tuesday and it was negative. I'm so relieved and glad to have this behind me. I will have a repeat pap in another 6 months, but that is the only follow-up necessary.

2. HD DVR. Thursday night presents a big TV watching adventure in our home. Not that we are TV addicts by any stretch, it just seems that most of the shows that Ron and I like are on Thursdays. For him its The Office, My Name is Earl, and CSI. For me, Grey's Anatomy, and for the entire family, Survivor. As you can imagine this presents some interesting challenges since these shows are on at the same time, but with the addition of the HD DVR to our house, we have worked out a viewing/recording schedule with a little TV shuffle that allows us to be able to see all of our favorite shows in high definition!

3. Vacations. Sometimes I need one, and sometimes I need others around me to take one so that I can have some quiet time to get things done. Either way, I'm just glad to have them.

4. Haircut day. The growing out experiment is officially coming to an end on Saturday. It's been almost a year and I have decided that longer hair is just not for me. So at 8:30 on Saturday morning I'm going back to my short, sassy cut and I can't wait. The new cut and fresh color will make me feel like myself again. No more stranger in the mirror.

So what are you thankful for today?