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Newest Member

2011-01-31T18:02:00.000-08:00

This past Monday I was sworn in as the newest member of the Norton Rotary Club! No, it has nothing to do with the rotary phone! Rotary club members are volunteers who work locally, regionally, or internationally to combat hunger, improve health and sanitation, provide education and job training, promote peace, and eradicate polio under the motto Service Above Self. I was honored to receive the invitation and I see it as a great way to meet new people and help the community. We have a soup supper we are sponsoring this Friday night at the high school basketball game. Money made will go towards scholarships for a 2 high school students.

In other community news Devin and I have signed up to be Volunteer EMT's!!! Our classes begin next week. We will have class every Tues. and Thurs. and one Saturday a month. We will finish in June. I don't know all the details yet, but being a volunteer we will have to be on-call 20 hours per month. I'm excited to learn another avenue of healthcare, and I'm glad Devin and I will be learning something new together.

We are making progress on the house. I finally have my kitchen back!! No more doing dishes in the bath tub. We are really happy with how it turned out. We painted the ceilings in all but 3 rooms. We will finish the painting when Devin returns from his ski trip and then on to flooring!! It's starting to look like a home again.

Picture Update

2010-12-23T18:52:00.000-08:00

I finally got back to Olathe so I was able to upload some pictures of what's been going on. This was at my open house with the EMT's who came to do wellness checks. To the far left is my technician, Karen, and the far right is my cashier, Melissa. They are both great help.

My parents and sister surprised me with these pretty flowers and balloon. They received many compliments!

We've made some progress on the house. We finally got to a point where Tim could go home and rest and be with his family. All the walls and ceilings are finished with texture. Here you can see the difference from before and after.

And he's very talented on his stilts!!

One of the biggest changes has been the entry way:

They removed all the paneling, raised the ceilings and re-wired everything.

The area is now tall and open which will make a nice entrance into the house.

Another area which took a lot of time is the bathroom. Here is the before. Notice the sweet cow toilet -paper holder the previous tenants so graciously left!!

They gutted EVERYTHING!!!! We had to go without water for a couple days and it was miserable.

The men admiring the newly installed tub. I tried to talk them in to keeping the big pink one, but instead it's in the front yard. Devin says he's going to make a red-neck hot tub out of it by propping it up and putting our turkey fryer underneath it

They moved some walls, raised the ceiling, made storage, and replaced the vanity and mirror. There's still a little more to do, but here's where it's at now.

The next (and last) big project will be the kitchen. I can't wait! I've been without a sink or cupboards for weeks now! The guys have done a great job and they are exhausted! They are taking a much needed break for the holiday.

Each year Pamida has a Giving Tree which helps provide children with gifts their family cannot afford. The tree is covered with ornaments with the child's gender, age, and request and the customers choose one to buy for. The items are purchased and Pamida wraps them up and delivers them to the homes. Karen and I volunteered this past Tuesday night. Here's Santa loading our slay!

It was a great feeling helping out the community this way and making sure many had a Merry Christmas!

November News

2010-12-05T14:24:00.000-08:00

The days, weeks, and months continue to fly by. I can't believe the New Year will be here in just a few weeks. Norton has been full of camo and orange with all the hunters in town. They have come from all over and have brought a lot of business to Pamida and Norton. Devin has a deer tag and has been out twice a day. He hopes to snag one by this weekend. I enjoyed the craft fair on opening weekend. I was surprised by all the nice things they had. I found myself some jewelry and a wall decoration. I did have to chuckle at a few things, though.......wreaths made out of camo and shot-gun shells. HAHA Can you say Redneck??

Since I began at Pamida my supervisor has been wanting me to have a open house to get to know the community and to let them know I am here. We finally set the date for November 23. The Norton Telegram put an ad in the paper announcing the event and had a short write-up and picture of myself. For the open house we invited the EMS up to do wellness checks such as: blood pressure, blood sugar, ekg's etc. They checked 50 people with 1 being severe enough to go to the hospital. We also had a drawing for prizes, free vitamins, cookies and coffee. I thought it turned out ok, although I was a little disappointed that none of the doctors, dentist, city officials, etc. did not come. It would have been nice to meet the some of the practitioners I fill scripts for.

And then the house......oh boy. Devin's friend, Tim, from Phoenix has been here since the middle of November. He's a jack of all trades and his work has been awesome. All of the rooms except the kitchen and bathroom have new walls and ceilings. He textured everything and it looks so good! They're working on the kitchen now which means I've had no sink or stove. We've had to eat out a few times, and I've done some cooking in my crock-pot and George Foreman grill in my bedroom. Yes, the bedroom. It's the only place that isn't covered with dust, insulation, or nails. My bath tub is now serving dual purpose as my kitchen sink. I never thought I would ever be doing dishes in the tub. The dogs aren't have much fun either. They have mud in their ears and they smell like dirt. Oh, and we have mice now too! It's been really annoying, but I know it's not going to last forever and it's part of the process. I'm so thankful that Tim is helping us out and was willing to be away from his family for this long. He even missed Thanksgiving. I made a big feast here for the 3 of us since we were unable to travel to our families for the day. The guys have been working so hard every day and are very tired and sore. I need to see if anyone in Norton gives massages. They sure deserve one!

Norton Happenings

2010-11-07T09:09:00.000-08:00

Yes I know. It's been awhile. I guess I just haven't felt like sitting down and writing, but there has been quite a bit going on. Work gets better each day. I continue to learn more and become comfortable in my new role. I got my extra help hired. She's a clerk for now, but just the simple tasks like helping customers and answering the phone helps Karen and I focus on other things and get caught up on projects that have been put off for weeks. She just started last week, and is catching on so fast. I eventually want her to get her technician license so she can help us in more ways.

I had my first visitors come stay with me!!!! Well........not WITH, but in the driveway rather...... in the RV. I don't quite have the accommodations yet to fully entertain, so mom, dad, and Renee came with their own housing. I'm glad they got to come see Norton and my pharmacy. We drove around town, ate a good lunch at Destination Kitchen, made chili, and watched a movie......in the RV of course! I would like to point out, though, that my 1 lawn chair has now been up-graded to 3 additional folding chairs and a blow-up mattress! I'm really missing my dishwasher. I can't imagine washing dishes for a whole family! I think, however that I miss my washer and dryer even more. I have to be pretty strategic in what I wear since I don't know when the next laundry day will be. Devin has been doing a great job taking loads of laundry back to KC and doing it there for me, and bringing it back on his next trip.

Devin was back the week before Halloween and we wanted to check out Norton's traditional Halloween Parade! It's sponsored by the Volunteer Fire Department and it was really cute. It was fun to see all the kids (and parents) dressed up in their costumes.

The parade zig-zagged thru downtown and ended at the fire station where each participant was give a hot dog to roast in the fire pits.

My Halloween at the house was pretty uneventful. These were the only trick-or-treaters I had!!!

They look so excited, don't they?? I couldn't believe it. Not one kid!! Devin had 100s in KC and ran out of candy. I didn't feel too bad, because I talked to my neighbor today and they didn't have any either.

Probably the most exciting news it that demolition has begun on the house!! I am so ready for this place to change and to see the results when it's all done. I don't know if I mentioned that the house is an old school house. Here is the lovely establishment:

As you can see it has a very tall roof, but they lowered the ceilings for some reason. I wanted a tall entry way so that is where we started. Check out all the sweet paneling!!

Devin worked his butt off and made a huge mess, but the walls and ceiling are gone.

He also started tearing off paneling in the kitchen, laundry, and bathroom. His good friend Tim from Phoenix is a sheet-rocker and is flying in this weekend to start re-doing all the interior walls. He's planning to be here until the inside is done, so hopefully it moves along quickly. I'll try to update with pictures, but I can only load them on my KC computer, so I will do my best!

I made it back to KC for the first time this past weekend. It was so nice to stay in a nice smelling house with furniture!!!!! It was great to see some of my family and old co-workers. I'm glad I got away to take a break from work for awhile and clear my head.

This coming weekend is the much-anticipated weekend of the year!! It's a big event..........opening weekend for pheasant hunting!!!!!! The town doubles in size and hunters come from all over to hunt here. Apparently it's the pheasant capital of the US! I took Saturday off, not to go hunting, but to attend the big craft fair that happens this weekend as well. Four different buildings will be full of vendors. I thought I would have some company this weekend, but that all changed, so I will be checking things out by myself. I'm excited, though. I think it will be fun, and a big weekend for the community.

So I'm going to a party tomorrow night! My neighbor invited me to a home decorating party given by a lady she goes to church with. She thought I needed to get out of the house, meet some more people, hang out with the ladies and enjoy food and drink. Okay!!!! I think it will be a fun night out.

So that's the scoop for now!!

Survived week #1

2010-10-03T09:29:00.000-07:00

Well I've been the PIC at Pamida and living in Norton for 1 week now. Work has been busy and a little stressful. Everything moves a little slower with me there since I am still trying to learn the system. I was frustrated, but each day got a little better, and my tech tells me I'm catching on well. I know things will get better; I cant change things over night. I'm so busy with pharmacy things that I don't have time to do any of the cleaning, organizing, or even check my work email. We got the OK to hire a 3rd person, which will help tremendously, but the hardest part is finding the time to get an ad out and setting up interviews! That's my goal for this next week. The days go by fast and I'm usually exhausted when I get home. We've had to stay late, and I've even gone in an hour early some days to get a head start, so my days have been long. I'm meeting a lot of the customers and still really excited about the job. Once I get more comfortable with things it will be great. We've already gained a few more customers. I transferred 7 prescriptions yesterday from the other pharmacy downtown!!

I've been trying to get out in the community. Thursday night the Young Professionals Group was having activities downtown: silent auction, free hot chocolate, dance performances, jumping gym for the kids, etc. and most of the business were open. I went and got information on the Young Professionals Group and plan to go to their next meeting. I think that would be a great organization for me to get involved in. I introduced myself to the other pharmacist downtown since we do a lot of talking on the phone, and I strolled thru the businesses. They have a lot of cute stores.
Friday night I went to the big rival football game Norton vs. Smith Center. Norton prevailed 41-20. Go Bluejays!! Everyone was super excited.
Saturday night I went to the little theatre downtown and saw Walstreet: Money never sleeps. Good movie for those of you wanting to see it. Sounds like they get a lot of good movies there.
They also have a new Mexican Restaurant in town that I've checked out a couple times.

And then there's my poor house. I've realize now just how fortunate I was to always have a nice clean home. When deciding on a place, we wanted something pretty inexpensive and something we could fix up. We thought it would be fun to have a project and see how we could turn a place around. It's something we've never done before. We found an ad in the paper for a house with a huge lot, 3 car garage ( which is very unusual in Norton) new roof, new copper piping, and new AC/furnace. Sounds great! We went to look at it and it happened to be an old school house that they added on to. It is really tall; you would think it was 2 story, but there's only just one. Large kitchen, 3 small bedrooms., family room, and a small unfinished basement. It definitely has character and a lot of potential. It was being rented at the time to a couple guys with 2 big dogs. The carpet was in pretty bad shape, but it was livable. I didn't move much; a bed, clothes, a few kitchen items, and the $40 fridge and microwave Devin snagged at a garage sale the day before we left. When we got here, the house was in worse shape then what we remembered. It smells so bad....kind of like barnyard/dog/urine/old lady. The carpet is very soiled.....I don't even want to walk on in without shoes! We're hoping to rip up the carpet and get started on a few things when Devin comes back in a couple weeks. We're still very excited about the place and know this is just temporary. I'll have to post pictures as we go.
I finally got Internet and cable on Friday!!! I was about to go nuts!! I've spent a lot of time staring at my dogs. At least I have them to keep me company and entertained. I'll probably be making a trip to Clay Center next weekend to do laundry......or I guess I could rinse my clothes out with the hose and hang it on the clothes line. Living like this is pretty comical.......but also sad because I know there are a lot of people in this town that really do live like this. I am very thankful.

On the road.....

2010-09-25T08:01:00.000-07:00

I'm pooped. I didn't know traveling took so much out of you! It all began last Friday. I headed down to Hutch for the State Fair and camped in the RV with my folks. It was so hot that we spent most of the time in the AC watching football. I did manage to make a quick sweep of the grounds and found me some traeger pellets and seasonings, a garlic mincer, and a fragrance thingy; along with my kettle corn and turkey leg! We visited with some of Devin's family and then I made the 4 hour drive up to Norton. I worked in my new store Monday and Tuesday, then headed 2 hours north to North Platte, NE for a manager's meeting on Wednesday. I enjoyed the meeting. I learned a little more about Pamida and it's future and brought home ideas to use in my pharmacy. I then drove 5 hours to Clay Center and spent the night with my parents. My friend, John, from Pharmacy School manages the Patterson's Health Care Pharmacy in Abilene and was in desperate need of help on Thursday. I couldn't not help a friend or my hometown pharmacy, so I grabbed a couple nut rolls and headed to Abilene Thursday morning and worked 9 hours, then drove 3 hours back to Olathe. I could barely keep my eyes open! We were supposed to have a garage sale Friday morning. That didn't happen. We were supposed to have a garage sale today. That didn't happen either. I had no energy to get everything together. It's taking all I have to get boxes and totes put together of basic necessities to move to Norton. I'll be heading back to Norton Sunday morning to begin working full-time. I'll be glad to be in one place for awhile!

The New Gig

2010-09-15T05:25:00.000-07:00

I will be managing Pamida Pharmacy. I've heard of Pamida, we have one in Clay Center, but I never knew they have pharmacies in some of their stores. Their focus is small town, rural communities. Here are a few things that attracted me to the position: open M-F 9:00am-6:00pm, Saturday 9am-1pm; NO holidays; NO drive-thru; less corporate control and demands....they allow the managers to run the pharmacy like independent pharmacies and provide funding; slow-paced and relaxing atmosphere; paid time off for community service; work with just a hand-full of doctors and nurses; paid for every minute I'm there.....no more donating time, etc. There will be things I will miss about Walgreens; they are the best in retail pharmacy and the computer system is top-notch, but I'm ready for the change. The Norton Pamida has a lot of potential. There hasn't been a full-time pharmacist there in about 2 years, which deters customers from coming. It's a mess and needs cleaned-up and organized. I have a lot of challenges ahead of me. I have 2 days left at Walgreens. I don't think it has really hit me yet. I work a couple days next week in Norton, travel to Nebraska for a manager's meeting, and will begin full-time on the 27th. The next few weeks will be nothing but work, work, work so we're heading to Hutch this weekend to enjoy the fair, family, and crappy food.

The Burning Question Answered

2010-09-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

Where am I moving to you ask? Well, it's a small town out west with a population of about 3000-3500. Going from big cities like Phoenix and Kansas City it will definitely be a big change. I'm closer to Denver than KC and just a short drive from Nebraska. Their high school is 3A and they have a very strong athletic department which the community is very involved. They have a newspaper that only comes out once a week on Tuesdays. Our date-night dinner choices will be McDonalds, DQ, Subway, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Attitudes Steakhouse and Grill, Adventures in Eating, and Town and Country. There's also a little coffee shop, pub, and chinese restaurant. Starbucks, Mi Ranchito, and nice restaurants are a thing of the past. Living in the bigger cities we had everything at our fingertips. If we needed anything, we went a got it....big or small. Now we will be making lists for our shopping trips to the bigger near-by towns. The closest Wal-Mart is an hour and a half away in Hays, KS or Kearney, NE. It will take some adjusting, but I'm excited for the slower pace......the simple life. No more "keeping up with the Jones's" mentality that's so common here in Johnson County. No more HOA's!!!!! It's the pheasant hunting capital and there is a state park just outside of town so the hunting, fishing, and boating will keep my man happy. With the small town comes the gossip which I'm not too excited about. I'll be under a microscope for awhile being new in town, and the new pharmacy manager no less. There is also a state prison which provides a lot of jobs for the community. I like the little town and would be happy to start a family here. So.....the answer to your question is: Norton, KS

Below is a picture of the street I currently live on. A sign???? or just a coincidence????

Letter

2010-08-30T17:13:00.000-07:00

I remember it so clearly.....I was at the Hereford House in Lawrence, KS for a Walgreen's recruitment dinner. The slide show was nice and fancy. The company looked great, the benefits looked great, and I just couldn't think of any reason why this company wouldn't be good for me to begin my pharmacy career. They were the #1 retail pharmacy chain and I could see why. It's hard to believe that was over 6 years ago. I spent over 4 1/2 years with Walgreens in Phoenix and over a year and a half with them here in Olathe. Walgreens is all I know. I was comfortable......but not exactly happy or excited to go to work everyday. The nights and weekends were getting old, and I wasn't happy with all the corporate demands. I knew there were better jobs out there for me, but with the down economy I knew Walgreens was stable, and again, I was comfortable. I get calls from recruiters all the time at work, but I usually just pretend I'm listening to them. It was back in April when I answered the phone. This one was different. "Pharmacy Manager...no nights, weekends, or holidays...sign on package....small town...etc, etc." It must have been music to my ears, because I couldn't stop thinking about it. I went and told Devin and he was very encouraging and said lets check it out! We both went for a quick visit and it was something we both thought would be a good career move for me. I've always wanted to take my career to the next level and manage, but wanted it to be on a smaller scale than Walgreens. This would be perfect. After much negotiation I signed a contract with them in May. I didn't have an exact start date; I wanted to try and sell the house before we made the move. With all the cut-backs due to the poor economy, Walgreens asked us to take some volunteer time off. I, of course, volunteered. I went and worked at my new store instead for a couple weeks and I did not want to come back! It was very different, but so simple and relaxed. We still haven't had any luck selling our house, but I've decided to go ahead and get started. The company has been so patient with me, and I don't want to keep them waiting any longer. Now comes the hard part. The Letter. Telling those that I've worked with for so long that I am leaving. It was hard. I've met some of my greatest friends at Walgreens. Walgreens has been good to me, but it is time to move on. And as I told them in my resignation letter, if it wasn't for working for such a great company and with so many exceptional professionals, I wouldn't have the confidence I do now to take on this new role. So my letter is in. I submitted it on Friday. It felt good. I have 12 days of work left......but who's counting!
To be continued.........

Just Because

2010-07-10T17:10:00.000-07:00

My sweetie went to the store last night and came home with these:

He brought me some Twizzlers too! My favorite!! I asked him what he had done (hahaha) and he said nothing......he just wanted to do something nice for me. Awwwwww......

Puppies

2010-06-30T08:36:00.000-07:00

The puppies are almost 4 weeks now. They are starting to walk around and talk a lot. They are so cute at this stage.

I just had to show these pictures of Raven. She sleeps in the most awkward positions and it cracks me up! She always looks so peaceful though.

San Diego

2010-06-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

I just had my big weekend in San Diego. All my training was put to the test. I was a little nervous, but extremely excited! I was also worried about the lack of sleep I had gotten due to the all-night delivery we had with Bella's puppies. We stayed at the Sheraton and this was the view from our window. I was expecting it to be warm out there, but it was overcast and chilly the majority of the time.

The first day we were there we went to the fitness expo to pick up our race packets and visit all the vendors. It was a fitness persons dream! They had clothes, shoes, energy/protein foods and drinks, watches, sunglasses; anything and everything to do with running or fitness. Here's Theresa and I taking advantage of some photo ops.

Saturday was our inspirational dinner. We had pasta to load up on carbs before the big run. It was just an overview of what Team In Training had accomplished and a couple inspirational speakers. Basically a pep rally for our weekend. I think they said this weekend alone TNT raised over 12 million dollars!!

It was an early night so we could prepare our gear and wake up early for the shuttle. We had to be ready at 4am!! Here is Theresa, Stefanie, and I waiting to get on the bus.

I don't know if you can tell, but this is the line to the johnny's. For anyone that knows me well, you know I don't do toilets that don't flush or that move. I'm disappointed to say that I had no choice in the matter and had to brave the accommodations. Getting up 3 hours before the race and loading up on fluids, I just couldn't hold it any longer.

This was the starting line. Look at all the people!!! I think they said there were over 40,000 runners. We were released by coral numbers and I was in #36, so I actually didn't start running until 45 minutes after the race began.

There were so many people lining the streets cheering us on. Team In Training actually had their own set of cheerleaders. These guys were hilarious!

With so many runners it was fun to pass the time by just people watching. People were dressed in tu-tu's, Elvis costumes, etc. In my pack there were 2 guys in batman underwear carrying guitars filled with Gatorade. They got a lot of attention along the way.

The one thing I did not like about the course is that we spent a lot of time on the interstate and interstate ramps. We were running at an angle and it just wasn't fun.

Since this was a Rock-N-Roll Marathon there were bands along the way to keep us entertained with good music. There were also plenty of water stops, johnny's, and medical staff to help with any injuries along the way. I saw some people opt out from using the Johnny and found trees, people were off to the side stretching, crying, puking. Like I said there were so many things to look at the time went by pretty fast.

I'm finally at the finish line!! I did fine until between mile 11 and 12 and I started to struggle. The last mile was the longest mile of my life!! At times it may have been more of a shuffle than a run, but I still finished without stopping. That was my goal. The finish line was packed with people cheering you in. It was awesome. Once we crossed they handed us our medal, took a picture, and loaded us up with cold wet towels, water, and food. I took a long walk afterwards to help walk off the soreness. It sure helped.

After the race we went to the victory celebration for Team In Training. They had food, music, and a cash bar!! It was so funny to watch everyone limp and waddle to the bar. Alcohol= the best pain killer! I was definitely waddling.......I can tell I'm getting older. My body doesn't recover as well as it did when I was 20! We didn't stay long there and headed to the Gaslamp district. We spent a lot of time here between events walking around, shopping, and eating. Again, you could definitely tell who participated in the marathon with all the waddling, moaning, and groaning around town.

The last day we needed to kill some time before our flight, so we went to the world famous San Diego Zoo. Our tickets came with a bus tour so we took advantage of that right away.

Final Thoughts: I would definitely do a half-marathon again. It is something I have always wanted to do and nothing is more satisfying than crossing the finish line and knowing you accomplished something great. I need to have better training with longer runs, however. Team In Training was great to start with, but the farthest we ran was 10 miles and the marathoners only ran 20. That's 3 and 6 miles further!! That's a lot when you're already tired! There were 2 people from our team that ended up needing medical attention because of dehydration and exhaustion. I want to be able to run 13.1 miles strong and not feel like I have to shuffle to cross the finish line. I met some new people and really had a good time with the organization. They really do great things for people affected by blood cancers. The hardest part of the experience was the fundraising. I am so grateful for those that helped me reach my goal. People really surprise you when it comes to fundraising. There were people I didn't expect to donate that did which was awesome, and there were some I thought for sure they would donate that didn't and it was very disappointing. I understand if they don't support the cause, but I was hoping people would donate in support of ME! I thought $2900 was a little steep and I know a few people who had to put in a lot of money to make the goal. I learned a lot about what to eat, what type of clothing to wear, and nutritional supplements to keep you going along the way. I would love to keep training and since I am now considered alumni I can still train with the team on Saturdays.

Party of Five

2010-06-09T10:14:00.000-07:00

I knew Bella was getting close to delivering her pups. She was showing signs all day on Thursday. I went to bed about 11 and I heard a constant licking coming from her kennel. I called Devin up and her backside and kennel were all wet. She was starting to deliver! She did a lot of contracting and nesting for about an hour. We were getting a little concerned with how long it was taking since we had trouble last time with one of the puppies getting caught in the birth canal. We called an ER vet just to make sure things were ok. As Devin was on the phone I saw a little pup starting to make its way out. The first 3 puppies came out great. She had problems with the 4th and needed our help. So far she had 2 boys and 2 girls and we thought she was done. The most she's ever had was 4 so we cleaned her up and changed her bedding so she could nurse her pups. I noticed her pushing again and out came another boy. She had 5!! We couldn't believe it! The last 2 had trouble breathing so we weren't sure they were going to make it, but they pulled through. Bella did great, but she was exhausted. We all were! We didn't get done until after 4 in the morning. Devin had to get up for work in a couple hours and I was flying out to San Diego. It seems our dogs can never deliver at a convenient time. It's always in the middle of the night! I'm so glad I was here, though. It's usually a two-person job. The puppies are almost a week old and are still doing great!

TNT Weeks 15 & 16

2010-06-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

The last 2 weeks of training have been fairly easy as far as distance...4 and 5 miles. The only struggle I had was with the heat and humidity! I waited too late in the day to run and it was horrible. I was dreading the 6am marathon start time, but I'm actually glad now because it will be cool. I fly out tomorrow and I am so excited for the trip. I'm a little nervous about the run, but hopefully all the training I've done is enough. Everyone is asking me what my goal time is and my goal is to finish!! If I decide to do a second one, then I might pay attention to my time and pace. Wish me luck!

*an update on Miss Bella.....she's huge!! and has shown some signs of labor so she should deliver any time now. I hope I'm still here to be with her.

Spoke Too Soon

2010-05-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

You may remember me telling you about this crazy love-making machine and his lovely rocket pocket that was 100% bullet-proof????

Well, it was either operator error or he has magically flying bullets because I now have a dog that looks like this:

Due next weekend while I'm in San Diego for my marathon. Thanks kids.

TNT Week 13, 14

2010-05-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

Week 13: 4 miles. Piece of cake. Not too much to say about that!

Week 14: 10 miles. This is the longest distance we will run until the big race. I was dreading it. I had to do it on my own since it was my weekend to work. I was nervous and had so much anxiety about my knee and being able to finish. I've been seeing Dr. Jesse who has been working on my knee and this was the true test. I had all my run gear ready: water, Gatorade, energy jelly beans and gummies, ipod, garmin, and cool comfortable clothing. I decided to try a new trail here in Olathe. My friend Theresa was coming to ride her bike along with me to keep me company and give me a push. I started ahead of her. I don't think I ran a half mile and I was already lost. I ended up in a neighborhood and the trail just stopped. I turned around and thought I was heading back to where I started, but was stopped by a flooded bridge so had to turn around again! I finally found my way back to my car and decided to take the trail the opposite direction. I don't know how Theresa found me, but she did and it was a quick 2 miles out of the way just trying to find the right path to stay on. Having her there really helped. Chatting with her kept my mind off of the long distance that seemed almost impossible to finish. I must be in better shape than what I thought because I finished the 10 miles without stopping and felt fabulous! Didn't even feel out of breath! My knees were a little sore, but it was so nice to run without the constant worry of them giving out on me. Thank you Dr. Jesse!! You really are a miracle worker! Beginning this journey I thought there was no way I was going to be able to do this. After today I know I can......and I WILL! I'm excited about the race and the weekend in San Diego. Not too excited about the 6:15am race time. Can you believe that? They start shuttling people to the race at 4:15am!!! Now if I only didn't have $1200 left to raise......and only 7 days to do it. I wasn't expecting to donate that much of my own money in order to do this. People really surprise you when it comes to asking for donations. If anything I thought they would be glad to in order to help ME out.

Family Vacation 2010

2010-05-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

We just returned from a wonderful family cruise to Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. We went to celebrate mom and dad's 40th wedding anniversary and their birthdays! Here are some of my favorite photos. In San Juan we took a bus tour and learned about the different forts and history with the United States. We were also able to take a segway tour which was a lot of fun. Dad was the trouble maker on wheels and made our tour guide nervous. While on St. Thomas we went snorkeling at Turtle Cove. It was a lot of fun and they served up boos and tattoos on the way back to shore. On St. Maarten we took a fun-mobile tour around the island and stopped at the beach. It wasn't a "nude" beach but there were a lot of topless women walking around and of course I had to take pictures, but I'll leave this post PG. We had some relaxing days on the ship and enjoyed the nightly entertainment and activities. It was so nice to escape work for awhile and enjoy some R&R with the family.

TNT Week 12

2010-05-01T12:05:00.001-07:00

Pretty short run today at 5 miles. We met at Shawnee park and for those of you who haven't been there it is hilly!! We ran around the lake up and down the hills, and oh man were those hills torture! In my head all I could hear was my mom yelling "Beat the hill ladies, beat the hill!"

Catch Up - TNT weeks 9, 10, 11

2010-04-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know, I've been slacking......but not on my training! I've had a lot going on the past few weeks and I just returned from a relaxing week on a cruise to the Caribbean ( that will have to be a different post!). So, my training the last few weeks has been:

Week 9: 8 miles. I thought I was going to die. By the end of the run I could barely stand up my knees hurt so bad. Any type of incline was unbearable and stairs were impossible. I have a lot of problems with my IT band and it takes me a long time to recover. This was my main worry when beginning this training; I wasn't sure my knee was going to hold out. One of my high school friends is a physical therapist so she gave me some exercises to try. Hopefully with her help I won't experience so much pain.

Week 10: 4 miles. I thought this was going to be a piece of cake compared to the 8 miles the week before. Wrong!! It seemed like 8 miles was easier (minus the excruciating knee pain at the end). What the heck!!

Week 11: 9 miles. On a cruise ship. No. Way. My coach suggested I run 5 miles one day, 5 miles the next. Overall I was pretty satisfied with my working out while on vacation. I made it to the gym 4 days. The 5 miles were a challenge, not to mention the sore muscles and blisters from the constant swaying of the tread mill, my thighs rubbing together, burping and sharting from the morning buffet, etc., etc., but this was my view so can't complain too much

TNT Week 8- The weather man lied!

2010-04-05T17:40:00.000-07:00

I missed the team training this weekend since I had to work. I have Fridays off when this happens so I usually make up my long runs then. It wasn't a bad run this week; only 4 miles. There was a chance of rain Friday, but my trusty weatherman said it wasn't supposed to hit until 10 or 11am. It was about 9 when I went out so I wasn't worried. I knew I would be back in 40 minutes or less before the rain came. I headed west on my run.......it looked really dark ahead of me, but I knew I could make it. I hit my 2 mile turn around marker and started making my way back home. I was in the clear now.......so I thought! I felt a few drops.....no big deal. Then out of nowhere this horrific wind came! Signs and debris started flying everywhere. I was going with the wind and it was blowing so hard I couldn't keep up. I was sprinting so fast and I felt like I was flying. I couldn't stop! And then the rain came. It was pounding and I was still over a mile from home. Out of nowhere I saw a Fastenal truck go by. DEVIN!!!! He was out on deliveries and just happened to be going down the road I was on. He pulled over and I couldn't get to the truck fast enough. The wind was so strong I couldn't get the door open and once I did his papers went flying!! Thank goodness he came, but then he tells me..."I didn't know whether I should stop or not"........WHAT??? REALLY?? With my stubborn and competitive attitude he thought I would get mad if he interrupted my run and didn't allow me to finish. On the news later I found out the wind was 70mph!! Trampolines were blown away and even roofs were blown off. Yep. And I was out running. The weather man lied.

TNT Week 7- Silent Mile

2010-03-31T08:23:00.000-07:00

This week we ran 7 miles. There wasn't any snow, thank goodness, but we did run in the rain. The weather has been beautiful lately, so hopefully it stays. I'm tired of all the wetness! There was an important message at this weeks run. We ran the first mile in silence to honor those affected by blood-related cancers. There was also rose petals for all the patients. We dropped them as we ran the first mile and on the way back we saw the petals on the ground as a reminder why we were there and it gave us a little push to make it to the finish. We always hear numbers and statistics, but we don't really see just how big the numbers are until they are represented by objects. The ground was covered with rose petals. It was beautiful, yet so sad. It was an inspiring message for me.

Exhausted Mom

2010-03-26T16:57:00.000-07:00

I thought I was ready for kids someday, but this week my 4-legged kiddos really put me to the test. Take for instance this guy:

He looks pretty sweet and innocent in this picture, but when one of our females is in heat he turns into a totally different animal!! I think he was put on this earth to do one thing and he will do just about anything to get it! He's a machine! We used to just put a diaper on our females, but twice now he has managed to maneuver his little red rocket thru the diaper and connect. Don't ask me how, but like I said he does anything to get it. Most of the time he doesn't mind wearing it, but he has found a way to get it off in the heat of the moment, so we constantly have to keep an eye on him. Bella is in heat now. So far it's been 100% bullet-proof! For him we really don't like to call it a diaper, but rather refer to is a the man-pon, nutt bag, or rocket pocket.

Now for these lovely ladies.

Don't let their cuteness fool you. This is the vicious mother-daughter duo. For some reason they have been attacking Raven and it's a struggle to get them apart. I've been clawed and bitten in the process. They clamp down so hard on her that when I try to pick Raven up to get her free, one of them is hanging from her nose, the other from her ear. She's had multiple cuts on her nose and ear, but the other day they got her eye! We didn't want to take any chances so a vet visit and $100 later she is on eye drops and antibiotics and her eye is ok! How could they ever think of hurting this sweet thing?

So between making sure nobody is fighting and keeping an eye on our love-making machine I'm exhausted! Is having kids this hard?

TNT Week 6

2010-03-22T17:29:00.000-07:00

This weeks training was one of the worst hours I've experienced in a long time. We met at 6:30am. It was dark, freezing, and snowing!! We met a Quivira Park to get on the trail. We couldn't even see the trail with all the snow! We were supposed to run 4 miles, but coach thought we were running 6 so the water-stops were messed up and we ended up running almost 5. My shoes and socks were soaking wet, I had snot and tears running all over my face, and worst of all I wore a thong and had the worst chaffing ever between my cheeks!! I was angry the whole time and I just wanted it to be over. This goes to show just how committed I am! I am hoping this was the last of our winter weather! Snow is definitely not favorable training conditions!

St. Patty's Day Fundraising

2010-03-20T16:58:00.000-07:00

We took a crap-load of green beads and shamrock cookies to the St. Patrick's Day parade in Westport thinking we were going to get rid of all our green stuff in exchange for the more important green stuff....$$$$. The problem was........so was everyone else! We were competing with so many other Team In Training members and other St. Patty's Day vendors. Our team even got stopped by the "vendor police" because we didn't have a license. The normal cost was $250, but they said they would cut us a break and only charge $100. We made a whopping $1.25 and decided to take our green stuff elsewhere. We went to HyVee and set up shop inside. We also had a bake sale at Walgreens, and with all attempts we ended up with around $173. Yesterday was "jeans day" for all of the Olathe Walgreens, so hopefully we had a good day of donations. Anyone still wanting to donate can visit my fundraising page: http://pages.teamintraining.org/mid/rnr10/ezacharias

Team members Theresa and Stephanie ready to sell their green goods.

TNT Week 5

2010-03-16T08:25:00.000-07:00

Once again I missed training this week since it was my weekend to work. Our distance was 6 miles this week, so Friday I went out in the drizzling cold for my long run. It was tough, real tough. I forgot my water and goo, so I didn't have much in me to keep me going near the end. I was exhausted! I just can't believe I was running for One. Whole. Hour. Without stopping.
I'm heading to the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Westport tomorrow for some fundraising. I'll post pictures soon!

Boot Blocking

2010-03-10T09:08:00.000-08:00

While back home this past weekend I decided to try out boot blocking in Manhattan to try and raise some money. We made about $200 in 2 hours.....not bad. It was fake patty's day in Manhattan and with the men's and women's basketball games we got a lot of traffic. It was kind of embarrassing at first, and we got tons of stares and comments. I was offered hugs and invited to a few parties by the "happy" college students.

Theresa is part of TNT also so she came to do the fundraising with me and we recruited our other technician, Katelyn, who is going to school at KSU. They did a great job letting the traffic know about our cause, and I came along with the boot to collect the money.

We plan to get out there and do it again this week.......weather permitting!

TNT Week 4

2010-03-08T18:10:00.000-08:00

I went back home to Clay Center this weekend to visit my parents, so I missed out on the group training here in Kansas City. Five miles was our distance this week, so I used my handy dandy Garmin watch to track my distance as I ran the (horrible) streets of Clay Center. It wasn't near as bad as what I thought it was going to be and I was happy with what my Garmin said:
Distance: 5.00 miles
Time: 50:03.14
Pace: 10:01/mile
Calories: 606
Yep, that's right 606 calories, so I didn't feel bad at all when I went down to Tasty Pastry and got me one of these:
I can't go back to Clay without getting a nut roll. They are my favorite! I look at all my calories burned while I run and that's how I justify eating these special treats. I need to get away from this habit because the jiggly thing I have behind me while I run will never go away!

Devin's 30th

2010-03-02T07:36:00.001-08:00

We enjoyed a nice dinner at the Gaslight Grill with family and friends for Devin's 30th Birthday! The food was great and they had live Jazz music for entertainment.

After dinner we all went back to our house for cheesecake and wine. Birthday boy must be getting old! He just couldn't handle all the fun!

TNT Week 3

2010-03-02T07:20:00.000-08:00

It was another early and COLD morning of training this week. What I like about training so far is that we meet at various locations around the Kansas City area that I would not normally go to. We run on trails and I get to see all the beautiful nature KC has to offer. This week we ran the trail through Corporate Woods which I really enjoyed. It makes the run go by so much faster when you have something new and pretty to look at. Our early meetings on Saturday mornings isn't all about showing up, running, and leaving. This week we met here:

.....and enjoyed some warm coffee and bagels while chatting with the other team members.

TNT Week 2

2010-02-23T06:59:00.000-08:00

It was my weekend to work, so I missed the group "team" training this past weekend. I hit the gym bright and early before work to run 4 miles on the dreaded treadmill. It's so much easier for me to run outside. Running on a treadmill is so boring and takes FOREVER!!! I successfully finished and arrived at work still red-faced and sweating. I'm glad I got it out of the way before work because after standing on my feet for 9 hours the last thing I want to do is go run!

Team In Training

2010-02-19T08:37:00.000-08:00

I've always wanted to say I ran a half-marathon. I told myself by the time I was 30 I would do it. Then it was 31. Well I still haven't done it. There are many excuses I have come up with as to why I haven't finished....lack of training, lack of time, no motivation, the weather, etc., etc., ect. I came across Team In Training. I had received flyers in the mail in the past, but just tossed them in the trash. One of my technicians at work had mentioned Team In Training and was thinking about joining the group. We went to an informational meeting and signed up on the spot. Team In Training (TNT) supports the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and raises money for the organization while training for various events such as hikes, marathons, half-marathons, triathalons, and bike races. I will be training for the Rock-N-Roll Half Marathon in San Diego in June. What a great way to reach my personal goal and supporting a great cause at the same time! We have weekly workout schedules that we do on our own and then meet early on Saturday mornings for long "team" runs. This will be tough, but I can do it!! The toughest part for me will be the fundraising. I've never really done this before. I am needing to raise $2900!! I have a few ideas in place, along with the hounding letters, emails, and facebook posts. If anyone is experienced in fundraising and can pass along any ideas please let me know! If you would like to donate or check the status of my progess please visit http://pages.teamintraining.org/mid/rnr10/ezacharias. I will try and update my progress and share my experiences as often as I can. I'm so excited for the event. I am now committed!!!.....Committed to myself, committed to my team, and committed to a cause!! Our training has just started. We've had fundraising and fitness workshops and our first Team training run was this last Saturday. Here's me during my 3 mile run! I don't think I'll be as happy when I'm running 10!!

This is our running coach Helen. She's there to make sure we know the route, water stops, potty stops, ice, mud, ect.

This is the group before our first run. Can you tell we were all freezing????

Some Christmas Photos

2010-01-08T08:22:00.000-08:00

Despite the cold and snowy weather my family was able to make it to my house for Christmas. I am so glad everyone was safe and we were able to celebrate the holiday together.

Halloween

2009-11-04T07:02:00.001-08:00

Some of my favorite Trick-or-Treaters!!

Ren Fest

2009-10-16T07:50:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my sister and I went to the Renaissance Festival. I have never been before, so I really didn't know what to expect. We enjoyed walking around, watching the characters and shows, and eating turkey legs and kettle corn! They even had a petting zoo!

AZ

2009-10-11T18:03:00.000-07:00

We returned to Arizona last week for the first time since we moved. Gosh we sure did miss it! The weather was perfect! The trip wasn't long enough and there's never enough time to see everyone or do everything we had planned to do. One of our main objectives was to check on my house. My tenant lost his wife earlier this summer and he is really struggling. There were some issues with the house that needed addressed so that consumed most of our time. I was disappointed in the condition of my house, yard, and pool, but nobody takes care of your home like you do. It's all fixable and he pays me good rent ON TIME every single month so I shouldn't complain, right?? Here are some more of the highlights:

My dear friend Genella had a baby in July. Here's me and little miss Mia. She's so precious and a little "diva" as her daddy says!!

Of couse we had to hit some of our favorite eating spots! In-N-Out Burger is the bomb!

The other main reason for visiting AZ was for the wedding of one of my former technicians from Walgreens. It was a beautiful day and is was so good to see some of my former co-workers. The pictures are in reverse order, but you get the idea!

They had sparklers at the end of the night which I thought were pretty neat.

Devin was lucky enough to catch the garder. They made him do a dance and put the garder on the girl that caught the bouquet. He was a good sport! It should have been me in that chair! I had the bouquet in my hand and then she came and robbed me of it! I was left with only a few petals in my hand......boo.

My Melissa and I

The bride and groom!

They had an outdoor wedding that was just beautiful!

Genella and I. We stayed with her and her husband Eric and they were great hosts! We miss them. They are awesome friends.

Kansas Wineries

2009-09-29T08:55:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday a group of us toured some wineries in the Kansas City area. It definitely wasn't Napa Valley, but we all had a great time learning about Kansas wines. The wines were quite tasty and we all took bottles home to enjoy later.
Our first stop (and probably our favorite) was Bluejacket winery in Eudora. The people were great!

Their grapes were so pretty!

They use black flags to scare the birds away!

Our next stop in Eudora was Davenport winery (probably our least favorite). There's really not much to say about this one. I didn't find their wines tasty at all.

From there we headed up north of the Legends to the Wine Barn. This was a great winery to visit also. They are new, but had lots of wines to try and great snacks!

Our final stop was Holy-Field winery in Basehor.

My favorite things about this stop was their big huge dog on the floor!

I would definitely do this again! It was such a fun day and not many people think about wineries in Kansas!

31

2009-09-08T18:19:00.001-07:00

I celebrated my Birthday this past weekend with the help of great friends and family. We had dinner at North and finished the night off at JP Wine Bar. Thanks to everyone for coming and making my night special!

Devin and I

Krista and Eugene
Jillian and Jonathan

Theresa

The whole group!

Krista suprised me with a HUGE cupcake she made!

Make a wish! I'm hoping for a great year!

Cut it out!

2009-08-30T07:55:00.001-07:00

My sister scored some free tickets to Stanford & Sons comedy club to see Dave Coulier! My friend Krista joined us, as well as a couple of my sister's friends. It was a fun night of laughter!

Dave was a very funny guy and I like that it was "clean" comedy.......no cussing, vulgarity, etc.

Girls Night Out!

2009-08-27T20:04:00.000-07:00

I've been quite absent from my blog. We've had a very uneventful summer.....work, house work, work, house work........boring. I think I made it to the pool once this summer which is very unusual for me! I'm excited for fall........our calendar is filling up with blog-worthy events! Stay tuned! It started last weekend. I've been looking forward to this weekend all summer! My dear friend Krista is getting married and we celebrated with a fun wedding shower and bachelorette party. We started the afternoon off with a nice lunch, opening of gifts, and the ever-so popular toilet paper bride!!!

Much like me Krista is a big fan of wine so we headed to the Cellar Rat in downtown KC for some wine tasting and appetizers. They had a nice spread set up for us!

The bride-to-be and I!!

Cheers to Krista!!

It was fun to taste new wines and pair them with meats and cheeses provided.

You can't have a bachelorette party without a penis pop!!

From there we headed down to the plaza to have dinner at Brio Tuscan Grille......yummm! If you haven't tried it you should!

We finished the evening off by dancing the night away at Power and Light.

Go Krista!!

Crazy girls!

This old guy was the cutest! He looked so familiar to me, but I couldn't figure it out. My good friend Kim reminded me that we have run into him before when we went out in pharmacy school. This guy knows how to have a good time! I can't believe how much he likes to get out and dance! Also, my friend Samantha does hair in a nursing home and he is one of her residents!! Too funny.

Krista gets married in October and I am so thrilled to be standing up there with her. She's a dear friend and we have so many great memories together!

Puppy Update

2009-05-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

We recently took a trip to Manhattan to get the dogs groomed and the puppies came along to be with mommy. They did great! They are just over 3 weeks old and are starting to crawl around. They are all so cute and it will be hard to see them go. They are so fun to love on!

Catch up

2009-04-27T15:21:00.000-07:00

I've been such a bad blogger! Here's an update of just a few things we've been up to!

Our first big project is complete! The fence is done and it looks great! The dogs are loving the back yard. My cousin Josh and Devin worked their tails off in the rain, snow, sun, late nights......you name it! They did whatever it took to get the job done and it looks great! It's the best on the block!

Next on the list: Landscaping! We started this weekend, and got quite a few plants in the ground, but then the rain came!

Our next adventure was Bella. She was pregnant (not planned!) and decided to deliver a week early. I was at home in Clay Center and I received a frantic call from Devin. He woke up and Bella had part of a puppy's sack hanging out of her. He had no idea how long she was like that and it was clear she was getting uncomfortable. He tried running her around, but nothing would move and she was so big she couldn't push. Not having a vet in KC he made a few calls and found a great vet in Gardner ready to see Bella. After pulling and stretching and a few drugs Bella had 4 pups! Three girls and one boy. Unfortunately the boy got fluid in his lungs and the vet couldn't save him. Bella was put thru a lot and we're glad she didn't have to go thru a C-section. She has been a great mom and the 3 girls are doing great! It's fun to watch the puppies grow.

The last exciting news is that I got a store!! I am no longer floating thank goodness! I don't know how much longer I would have made it. I did not enjoy it at all! I started last week and it is right up the street from my house. It couldn't have worked out better!

It's a Girl!!

2009-03-15T19:04:00.001-07:00

My mom and I just attended the Women Of Faith Conference this last weekend here in Kansas City. It was a neat weekend and I enjoyed the speakers and music. They introduced us to a program called World Vision where you can sponsor a child and help provide necessary resources such as clean water, basic health care, improved nutrition, and educational opportunities. My monthly contribution will support a child in an AIDS-affected community, along with their family, their community, and other children in need. I wanted to help. I have a 5 year old girl, Mickness, from Malawi South Africa. The print is kind of small, but she is not in school at this time. She likes to play with dolls and helps at home by babysitting. I'm excited to write and get to know her and learn how my contribution is improving her life. I hope and pray she can now have clean water and an education. I hope to meet her someday.

Change

2009-02-03T06:38:00.000-08:00

I finally have time for an update! It has been such an overwhelming and stressful move! We packed 2- 26ft Penske trucks to the brim, both towing 2 vehicles, and me driving a car also. The trucks could only go about 60 mph and we spent over 24 hrs driving. We stopped for occasional naps in random truck stops and McDonald's parking lots. It was torture and having spent 3 days in the same clothes without showering we finally made it home to Kansas! We are still exhausted, but are finally getting somewhat settled. Being in Arizona for 4 1/2 years I'm trying to get adjusted back to KS again. We've been going thru a lot of changes....some good, some not so good.
#1. Weather: It's cold!! I'm not used to having to wear a coat and have forgotten several times. We've had to dig out what winter gear we had left....which isn't much. The dogs have sweaters and coats as well. I don't think they like the cold either, although they did enjoy wrestling in the snow. Our bodies are chapped, cracked, and dry.....just can't seem to get enough lotion! I also haven't learned to account for weather when driving to work. It was snowing one morning and they decided to only drive 15 mph on I-35 so I didn't open the pharmacy until 8:40....oops. I felt horrible.
#2. Home: We have a basement!!! No longer is our garage and spare closets packed to the brim! We finally have storage which is a must! My boy can't seem to get rid of anything....."it's a collectors item" he says....hmm.. We have a big back yard that is full of grass which is great for the dogs. They love to run and run.....but we have no fence so we are often found chasing them around the neighborhood in robes and house slippers. The fence will have to be built soon! My kitchen is smaller with less storage which is sucky, but overall the house is a little bigger than my home in AZ. We have stairs in this house which we aren't use to and often find ourselves being lazy and not wanting to climb them. We have some changes to make, as well as painting to do to give it our personal touch and make it our home, but it all takes time.
#3. Work: I was at store #5568 in Sun City, AZ for over 4 years and knew it like the back of my hand. The staff there was my family and I knew the patients well. It's so hard to start over. I've been floating here in KC. I've run into a couple classmates, but for the most part nobody knows me, they don't say much to me and they think I'm a newbie and don't give me much credit. Again, it all takes time. It's a little different practicing in KS than AZ as far as the laws, so I'm having to remember all the changes. I'm not too excited about the schedule. I just got done doing 5 shifts of overnights. I'm not a night person! I'm so glad to be done. The frustrating part is I don't even know my schedule for tomorrow!!! I'm a planner and how can I plan anything when I don't know when I'm working!!! grr....I hope I get placed in a store soon so I can have a consistent schedule and know when and where I have to be each day.
#4. Life: Arizona was nice. The weather was perfect 8 months out of the year and there was a lot to do. It was a great location for weekend getaways to Mexico, California, Vegas, etc. I bought my first home there and accepted my first real job there. I've made some great friends in AZ and will definitely be back to visit, but it just wasn't "home." There are things that I miss, but I'm so excited to be back. I'm glad to be close to my friends and family again. I've missed so many holidays, wedding, birthdays, and many other special occasions. I can't wait to be a part of it all again and catch up with all my friends. It's also nice knowing that if you want your mom to cook for you I can just jump in the car and drive home! I thought it would be hard to leave my house, but I found some great, reliable tenants to take care of my property.....and pay the rent on time!! You don't find many of those.
So as you can see, lots of changes going on, but in due time it will all be change for the good. There's no place like home!! (oh.....and all the Dorothy and Toto and yellow brick road comments were getting old. The fake chuckle I used in response was getting a little lame!)

Mystery Solved

2009-01-08T10:05:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone!!.......I finally found out what all the craziness has been about! We're moving!! Two big yellow trucks arrived today that will be carrying away all of our things. Mom says the trucks will be following a yellow brick road to our new home:

What's all that green stuff??? See you in Kansas!! Wish us safe travels!

WANTED:

2009-01-04T19:04:00.000-08:00

Hi guys! ......it's Klowee again. With even more and more boxes filling up our house I can't imagine we would need anything else, but mommy says there are a few items we are missing that will be very necessary in the weeks to come..........

winter coats, hats, gloves, scarves
snow boots (snow???.....what's that???)
long sleeve shirts, sweaters, sweatshirts, thermal underwear
warm blankets
space heaters
shovels and ice scrapers
chapstick

I have no idea what mommy is talking about. We don't need any of that here in Arizona. WAIT!!! .............. Are we leaving Arizona????...........

Insight Bowl Fun

2009-01-01T19:39:00.001-08:00

Taking Over

2008-12-29T18:29:00.000-08:00

Hi....I'm Klowee...or "monkey" as my mom and dad like to call me. My mom says I will be taking over her blog since she is too busy to keep up with it! I must be getting punished from earlier. It was an accident!! I promise!! I had diarrhea and couldn't hold it!! Anyway, mom and dad have been very busy. I'm not sure what is going on. There are boxes everywhere which is sooooo annoying! Me and my 3 other peeps love to run in the house but it just isn't the same with all these damn boxes!! BUT!!! There is a TON of newspaper lying around we get to tear into.....and boy do we ever!! We love to eat it too! Grandma and grandpa and that silly RJ were just here visiting for some sort of holiday, but I really don't know when the holiday was because there were no decorations, lights, or presents?? Didn't seem like no holiday to me!! Besides...mom says we aren't celebrating until we get home in January??? I'm so confused!! Me and my gang had such a good time playing with RJ, though. They took us to the park and we ran and ran!! We played with toys and chewy's and chased each other in the house too! Grandma and grandpa went about the city while mom and dad played with the boxes again. My mom is such a good colorer too.......she was painting over all the white spots on the walls and stayed in the lines!! It wasn't all work, though. They left us yesterday all day long to go to Mexico!! I guess it was better we didn't go because mom said we might end up in a taco. They had a great time in Mexico and we were sooooo excited when they got home. Mom couldn't go to work today, though, because of Mexico......I guess it's a bad idea to eat there sometimes! Grandma and Grandpa are half-way back to KS; and daddy was making my neck hurt today watching him go up and down the ladder a hundred times painting and changing out light bulbs. Things definitely are different around here.........the whole gang can tell!! It's not just me!! But we're usually always the last to know......I'll see if I can squeeze anything out of them for next time!

2008-12-14T19:07:00.000-08:00

I thought this was such a pretty picture. I took it the other day on the way home from work after a short rainfall.

The Little Garage Sale That Could

2008-12-14T18:26:00.000-08:00

After much success with our first garage sale (over $450!!) we decided to participate in our community garage sale held yesterday to sell our remaining items. (Yes, a garage sale in December! That's the advantage of living in AZ) We had quite a comical day. The sale began at 7am....but of course everyone shows up early. It was pitch black outside and so cold!! It was in the 50's!!!! ha! But that didn't stop the dedicated garage sale goers. The porch lights gave off enough glow for them to hunt for their new treasures. The first 10 people or so to come all asked...."hey are you the ones with all the hunting and fishing equipment?" Seriously.....does it look like I have a bunch of guns and fishing poles!! The cars would slowly approach....get close enough to see that our 1 slab of concrete didn't amount to crap....and then sped away. Devin and I would make bets to see if they would stop. I think we even had some sympathy lookers because they felt bad nobody was stopping. I even had a guy drive by and yell...." hey, lady! that's the smallest garage sale I've ever seen!!!" Thank you sir!! We gave up about 11am. We loaded the rest and dropped it off at Good Will. I'm done with garage sales for awhile. Total profit for the day........a whoppin $43.75.

Fun at the Fair

2008-10-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

Each year Devin and I love to go to the fair and eat all the fattening food! This year was no different. Corndogs, corn on the cob, BBQ briskett, funnel cake, snow cone, kettle corn (my favorite!!) and fried snickers was all we could choke down. We saw a lot of interesting people at the fair. It's definitely not like Kansas that's for sure. The Arizona fair consists of either pregnant teenie-boppers or old men wearing a cowboy hat, a huge belt buckle and alligator-skin cowboy boots.

Photo Shoot

2008-09-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a pet photo shoot at Walgreens so Devin got the kids all fixed up for the big event. Oh the torture we put them thru!! They sure did draw a crowd, though! They behaved very well and proceeds went to animal charity.

Playtime

2008-09-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

When it comes to playtime my children are very deprived. They can either run around the kitchen island, or tretch through all the rocks in the backyard. We have a nice big park across the street with plenty of grass to run, so we thought they needed some good exercise. They loved the grass and tired quickly from all the running. Rudy just couldn't get enough water! Thanks g-ma for the portable water bowl! We'll be heading back to the park again soon!

Memories......

2008-09-09T20:11:00.000-07:00

For my Birthday last week my mom sent me this unique gift; a T-Shirt blanket made from just a few of my many drawers filled with athletic t-shirts/jerseys I have collected over the years. From Jr. High all the way thru Pharmacy School at KU, this gift brought back so many memories of all the great times I've had growing up. I can't believe I'm 30!! See how many you can remember!!.....Go Redcoats!....or Bengals!!.....or whetever we were!

Goodreads

2008-09-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to get into reading, but never knew where to start. I'm not familiar with all the best-sellers, what's worth reading and what's not. On my recent trip to Napa, Jillian and Kim always had a book in their had during our down time, and discussing the different books they have read. I was mentioning to them my dilema and they introduced me to Goodreads. It's a website where friends can log on and see what everyone is reading, has read, or on their list to read. You can also rate the books and leave comments about your thoughts and whether it's worth reading or not. I love it because it gives me direction and opens my mind to all the different kinds of books worth reading. The few books I have read have all been romance novels by Nicholas Sparks. My friends are reading anything from vampires, adventures, mysteries, history, fiction, non-fiction, etc. The list is endless!!! I wasn't very bold in starting out. I chose Nights in Rodanthe by Nocholas Sparks! I love the cheesy romances, but I also chose it because of the movie coming out. So log on and join me in finding good reads!!

Wine Country

2008-08-27T15:06:00.000-07:00

I just returned from my trip to Napa and it was FABULOUS! Great friends, great scenery, and great wine! I can't wait to go back! Here are a few of the highlights!......(check out the sweet ride we had!)

Snip Snip

2008-08-12T19:50:00.000-07:00

I have really learned a lot and gained some new ideas from reading numerous blogs, so for my first blog I wanted to share my new excitement with Coupon Sense! One of my technicians at work is always coming in with tons of coupons and I've seen her save over $100 in one shopping trip! She's been my coach and I'm so excited with what I've learned. I have only been doing it for a few weeks, but I've already been able to save over $80 in one trip! I cannot wait for the Sunday ads to see what kind of savings I can get! You can get multiple Sunday papers which means more coupons and savings!! The website is awesome and tells you everything you need to know. You can type in your shopping list and it will tell you what stores have the item on sale and what coupons you can use. It also gives you "date night" coupons for local restaurants with specials for that week. I've started to stock up on various items such as toilet paper, razors, soap, toothpaste, etc. With the gas prices and economy the way it is, it never hurts to save a few dollars. I haven't mastered it all yet, but if you need help getting started let me know!