Friday Confessions

I confess that I've been dying for Friday to get here so I can finally post something short and sweet so you all know I haven't fallen off the side of the Earth.

I confess I have been severely slacking on my blog lately and I'm NOT ok with that. You as my readers deserve better than that.

I confess I have at least three posts halfway done but haven't had the time or energy to finish them so I'm just going to make one big post and get it out there. (there are 81 pictures and a few videos involved!)

I confess I have been obsessed with a new show on the National Geographic channel called Taboo. I love it but I wind up with my hands over my eyes for half of the show and wanting to throw up at the end of it.

I confess I've started to read trashy romance novels! *gasp*

I confess that I feel like crap because of my allergies but I'm too stubborn to take the medication to help. I hate taking meds.

I confess I have spend more time on couponing than I have my homework this week. Thus I'm behind in my homework and I have A LOT due next Monday.

I confess when I was little I used to be DEATHLY afraid of storms. I mean like hide under my bed or act sick so I could go home from school kind of scared. I had no rhyme or reason to be so scared but I just was. I could care less now. We hardly go in the basement for bad storms unless it gets really windy outside.

I confess I can't WAIT for my nephew Payne's birthday party this weekend. He is such a cutie and I love him SO much. He is the cutest one year old I know! I will have many many pictures to post I promise!

I confess I didn't get to post a Happy Birthday post for him so I'm going to make it up and make a really special post JUST for him. You'll have to wait and see to find out.

Friday Confessions

I confess that I have baby fever...BAD! I want another little one running around the house. I just can't afford it. 

I confess that I have been wanting to get another tattoo but...I just can't afford it.

I confess I REALLY want to take Stratton to the Circus this weekend but...again...I just can't afford it.

I confess I am REALLY tired of not having money to do cool things like go to the Circus! I think I'm just going to break down and go on Sunday who cares! I think $52 is totally worth a huge smile on my little mans face!

I confess that I was kind of disappointed that the "big storm" that his the other day wasn't "that big"

I confess that I have been sleeping on the couch until I can get some more earplugs so I can sleep without listening to Derek snore all night. 

I confess that I sleep with earplugs in at night.

I confess I have been obsessed with couponing lately! Ive been clipping like a mad woman.

I confess that I haven't even picked out an Easter Outfit for this Sunday yet. What to wear, what to wear?

I confess I'll probably pick out something cute for Stratton to wear than pick something that matches his. Yes, I'm one of THOSE moms. :)

I confess it's getting harder for me that my husband hasn't been supportive of the things that I do to help others. (i.e. I'm walking a 5k tomorrow and he's not going with me to cheer me on.)

I confess I feel like I'm getting cabin fever. I have no windows in my office so I look like a vampire and the only days I've been outside have been on the weekends that have been FULL OF RAIN! 

I confess I've been using 

this product on and off for the last few weeks and I have stopped putting it on before bed. 

Reason being: I fell asleep with it still kind of damp on my legs and seeing as how I sleep on my side with my legs together, the space where my legs touched stayed wet longer than the other areas thus creating a lovely DARK line of sunless tanner on my inner thighs. Sexy I know.

I confess that I have been weighing my options for school and work...and it's not been easy. I hate growing up.

 Lastly, I confess that I might not be a "religious" person but I love Easter and I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend with family and friends celebrating the One who gave His life for you!

Decision Making...

and how I'm apparently terrible at it.

I am by my very nature a person that loves to love people. I don't know a stranger and I (most of the time) know no enemy. I forgive very easily and I hate to hold grudges. 

That being said...

I like to know that my past friends (both male and female) and boyfriends are doing well in life and I get a little tinge of excitement when something goes well in their life too. (i.e. getting engaged, getting married, getting pregnant, having babies, graduating college, getting a good job, etc...) I love being able to celebrate when they do. I love when happy things happen to people who have been in my life. What I apparently shouldn't do is show that I have that excitement for them. I'm not the kind of person that hates people out of my past. If it weren't for those people I probably wouldn't be the person that I am today (both good and bad). The thing that sucks about the past is that more often than not it should probably stay there. This is where my bad decision making comes into effect. 

I have a few "friends" from my past that I don't talk to for numerous reasons and some in my life currently that I probably shouldn't have. But, none the less they have and will drop in and drop out of my life. 

There are a few things that get me into trouble....

1. Having friends that are guys.

I know that I am a married woman and I know that I have a wonderful husband and son. But, what I should probably step away from is having friends that are guys. It looks bad and to be quite frank, people judge you when they see you with a guy that isn't your husband. Now I know I would NEVER cheat on Derek or even think about cheating on Derek but I never want to put myself in the kind of position where it could be questioned. I have a few good guy friends, not near as many as I had in high school or the first couple years of college but a few. I'm starting to break that bad decision making patten by hanging out with the ones that I can truly trust and the ones that Derek trusts as well.

2. Congratulating ex-boyfriends or ex-boyfriends significant others

Like I said before, I love to celebrate when something goes well for someone out of my past. But, this too needs to be broken. Apparently it looks like I'm still caught up on the particular person, when in reality...I'm just really happy for them (the ex and their significant other). I don't say or do things to be malicious or rub it in their face that I dated them first...I'm just genuinely happy for them. I mean it's not like the whole time I was with that person it was horrible. We obviously had a few good times in the past. But, another lesson learned. Don't congratulate any ex boyfriends or their significant others. No matter how long ago it was that you dated them. They probably don't care and their family will think you're still obsessing over them.

3. Don't try to befriend girls that you went to high school with who you don't talk to anymore

They obviously aren't in your life anymore for a reason. I've tried be-befriending a couple people from my past and it just doesn't work. Nine times out of 10 the reason why we stopped talking in the first place was some stupid petty fight...and yes 7 years later it still will come back to bite you in the ass. So, make NEW friends but keep SOME of the old. The best people I have in my life right now are the ones who are still always there for me no matter what. They are there for me when I need a shoulder to cry on or someone to understand the same situation that I'm going through. I'm very thankful for the people I have in my life now. It's nice to know that not every person out there is going to end a long friendship over not paying them back for a $2.50 lunch tab. Remember it's the quality of a friendship not the quantity of friends you have. 

Friday Confessions

I confess the only reason why I can always remember to spell dessert (the tasty treat after dinner) and desert (the dry sandy place) is by remembering that you want twice as much dessert as you want desert, so there are 2 s's in dessert and only 1 in desert.

I confess I tried to see how long I could get up every morning, do my makeup, and fix my hair without skipping a day. It lasted two days. I've come to the realization that I'm not a girly girl.

I confess that I have just been in one of those moods today. It kind of started out badly and kept snowballing. Sad when your Friday starts off bad at 4a.m.

I confess I would rather go outside and lay on a blanket in a grassy field with the sun shining on me, a slight breeze and a good book than sit an hour in a dimly lit room and get a massage.

I confess I have a slight obsession with bags. Not like purses but like change purses, bag packs, camera cases, iPod holders, anything small that could hold something I have. I don't know why but I've always been that way. It's not like I could ever fill all of them with stuff but I think they're fun to have.

I confess that I have only a few close friends and I'm totally ok with that.

I confess I deleted a bunch of people on my facebook page today and it felt SO good. My phone is next.

I confess when I get my feelings hurt I totally shut down. Both mentally and physically. I would like to crawl under a rock and sleep for days while it all blows over. But...I can't so I just cry, take a bath, and then realize I have good friends and an amazing husband and son. Then I bitch about it later and get over it.

A Little Slice of Heaven

Derek and I have been in need of a little treat so I went to the bbq place that is right down the street from us (Cook's Bar-B-Q & Catering) and got us a few pieces of the best pie around. It's a dinky little shed but it's seriously got some of the best food around. I love strawberry pie and Derek loves their peanut butter cream pie so I surprised Derek and got him a piece for dessert. (he also got a carton of decade red cigarettes too but that's such a white trash present haha) I'm having some of my friends over tomorrow so I'm getting bbq sandwiches from Cook's again. I might pick up a few pieces of pie while I'm at it. Here's what they looked like.

Where do you get your favorite dessert from and what is it?

My strawberry pie

 Derek's peanut butter cream pie

Major Geocaching Weekend!

I had a jam packed weekend of geocaching this last weekend. 

I finally found someone to go with me that likes it just as much as I do!

Saturday morning we started bright and early

4/9/11 Juden Creek Trail GCV5K5

We found it!

This was on the Juden Creen trail downtown in Cape.

It was a good short hike, the only bad thing is that it was super muddy and we both kept slipping.

 We found a skink too!

I had already found this one buy Levi hadn't so I stopped so he could find it. It was on the way back to my house so it was really easy to get to.
4/9/11 View From The Cache (part 4) GC13QX2

 Signing the log book.

We went to the Alpine Shop for a big sale they were having. It was so awesome! I got a really nice Patagonia shirt and also a life jacket for Stratton. I hope to take him floating this summer so this will come in really handy. We picked up my Aunt Pam at her house and she road with us to the Alpine Shop. It was such a nice day out that after we dropped off Auntie Pam we played at the park and then found some more geocache.

4/9/11 Welcome to the City of Saint Louis GC2C4FH

4/9/11 Christy Greenway End for Now GC2D074

 Our first fence post cache! One of my favorites so far.

 It said it was a short "grassy" walk to the cache.

Guess not.

 4/9/11 Well Rooted GC1Z309

We were all three barefoot. This was a little painful. Especially the walk to the bathroom where there was a sweet gum tree with gumballs.

4/9/11 MO I-55 South Rest Area Exit 110 GCTE9Q

 This was on the way home from St Louis.

It was the last one for the day.

Stratton was passed out cold in the back seat of the car.

Sunday was all about geocaching! I took Derek and Stratton to go clothes shopping for Derek. He's been getting a little too big for his shorts so he needed to get a few pairs for this summer. We went to Kohl's and he picked out a few pairs of shorts then we went to the mall to wander while we waited for 11:30 to get closer. Stratton of course had to get an "ice cream" which is a vanilla bean frapacinno. Once 11:30 got closer Derek went home and I took Grandma B out to eat at Pagoda garden. Stratton and I picked her up and we had a really nice lunch. I love pagoda, if you ever get the chance to eat their GO! It's SO good.

4/10/11 Spec Ops Plaza GC11ANG

This is the third time I've gone to look for this one and Levi found it up under a pine tree.

The hint was "needles to say and that's not a typo."

It was a little hard to get to and I couldn't figure out the dang hints for the coordinates.

This geocache is also near my house so we had to make the trip so Levi could check off another one on his list. It's in a really neat cemetery so I didn't mind going back to look around agian.
4/10/11 CGCC1 GC1AN9Y

4/10/11 Lost in the Woods GC112ND

 This was by far the biggest cache I have ever found.

It was full of ants though so we weren't about to pick it up for the picture.
It was a quick little hike through the woods to find this one.

4/10/11 The Three Stooges GC1F0QD

There were three stumps it could have been in.

Hints the name "three stooges"
We had to hike up a big hill but the view from the top was really great once we got there. You could see all of Jackson.

The next one we had planned was for Cape County Park so I let Levi find another one that was right inside the entrance of the park. He hopped out and found it pretty quick once I gave him a little hint.
4/10/11 A Drive In The Park  GC1E30N

4/10/11 Down in the Hollow GC15X9J

 This was at Cape County Park.

It was a nice little hike and we got to see a bunch of neat plants.

 I thought this tree looked cute.

 We even found morel mushrooms!
 We saw two guys looking around for something so we stopped and talked to them to make sure their were a) ok and hadn't lost anything or b)geocaching (you just never know). They were looking for morels. We found a little one on the way out so I took a picture of it.

4/10/11 See Southeast #3 Stuck On You GC2EGKV

This was the first "screw" cache I've ever found.

I was not about to touch that nasty gum tree either.

4/10/11 See Southeast #2 Waiting on a Woman GC2EGKQ

 Took 2 tires to find it. First attempt was with Marcus and we couldn't find it.

Levi found it in like 3 seconds.

It didn't help that it was at night the first time we looked for it and the container is black.

4/10/11 See Southeast #12: It's Academic, Kent! GC2JWCJ

I found this one! Lots of people (muggles) around so we had to be stealthy.

On the way back to Cape I had to stop by my parents house to pick up Stratton's new toy.

Which by the way is a six foot trampoline! Pictures of that to come.

There is a small park by my parents house that just happens to have a geocache in it so I stopped so Levi could find it. I had already found it with my dad so I let him take a look at it for himself. He thought it was pretty awesome.

4/10/11 9/11 Cache GCY6AM

We took the long way back to Jackson so we could find one or two more on the way home. This was another cemetery cache. I'd already found this one too so I let Levi check it out while I looked at all the tombstones. Jackson has some really neat graves. I'd love to see the records for the plots at some of these cemeteries.  

4/10/11 Old Mckendree Cemetary Travel bug hotel GC11KDA

4/10/11 Stonewall Jackson GC1GW6P

I finally found this one...on my third attempt.

This was such a great day. I had a really good time finding all the different geocache. Especially because it was so nice outside. I can't wait for next weekend to go out and find some more!

Friday Confessions

I confess I'm taking a half day off today at work so I can go home and finish my art project so I can hang out with my sister tomorrow and cheer my friend Leslie on at her race on Sunday. I'm so proud of her. I don't have the courage to do a half marathon.

I confess I have some of the best friends ever. I knew God loved me still. He shows me through my friends.

I confess I deactivated my facebook account this week....for like 4 hours. FAIL.

I confess I love pickles but I can't eat them anymore...because they give me diarrhea within the hour that I eat them.

I confess the first time I ever threw up from drinking was when I was 20. I was with my friend Erica and she decided to get me drunk on a CHEAP handle of vodka. I drank a large amount of parrot bay rum before the 7 shots of vodka she gave me and I wound up having to be taken care of all night. I made it to the bars parking lot and made my boyfriend at the time drive me back home so I could throw up...all night.

I confess I would rather be sick and miserable with this cold that I have than take antibiotics. Why? Because they make your birth control quit working and to be quite frank I would rather have sex with a snotty nose than none at all.

I confess I hate soccer mom and college student drivers. It's like they can't multitask. They can't drive, talk on the phone and pay attention to ANYTHING around them at the same time.

I confess I gave a big ugly middle finger to 2 people this week. (Don't worry Stratton wasn't in the car with me) The first was a soccer mom with her kids in the back. They second a stupid college student not paying ANY attention to the massive gray F150 hurling toward her terrified passenger as she pulled out in front of me without looking. 

I confess I'm wanting to pull my hair out at work. People can be so rude and I'm trying my hardest not to be nasty person right back at them. I'm trying to take the high road here.

Computer Issues

Good morning everyone!

I'm having some computer issues so my One Day Without Shoes post is going to have to wait a little bit till I can finish it. 

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Tomorrow is FRIDAY!

One Day Without Shoes

I'm going to be updating this today routinely.

So far...

7:15 a.m.: I got dressed and got Stratton dressed and felt a little bit of relief when I didn't have to match shoes and socks for Stratton or myself. The tile and the carpet in our house was fine like it usually is. The concrete in our basement was a little cold but not bad.

7:35 a.m.: Took Stratton to the car and had to carry: him wrapped in a blanked, his Mickey, Minnie, and my back pack full of all my computer stuff.   Once I got out on the front steps I could tell it was going to be a little painful on the concrete. My feet are really sensitive in the mornings for some reason so walking on the cold concrete was painful.

concrete on my driveway

7:45 a.m.: Got Stratton out of the car for the baby sitters house. Concrete still hurt to walk on especially trying to get Stratton out of the car and carried into the house. The carpet rugs in the baby sitters garage were a big help on the cold concrete. Mrs Lisa the baby sitter asked why I didn't have shoes on and I got to tell her about One Day Without Shoes! Stratton is going without shoes today too but his feet are cold so he's wearing socks.

Stratton wrapped up and shoeless

8:05 a.m.: Took the long walk from my car in the lower parking lot to my office. This was probably the hardest thing I've had to do in a while. The concrete felt like glass on my feet and it burned more than it hurt. I tried walking on the asphalt as far as I could and it just hurt so bad that I tried walking in the grass. This was an even more terrible idea. The grass had frost on it so it made my feet even more cold and now they were wet. Not to mention at the top of the hill of grass was gravel. Two steps onto the gravel and I had it stuck all over the bottom of my feet. I had to stop and brush it off. My eyes were almost full of tears and I was only halfway there. This is going to be a long day. I made my way to the walkway up to the door and even the texture from the rubber mat in front of the door made my feet burn and hurt. I have never been so thankful for carpet under my feet.

asphalt in the parking lot on my way into work

8:10 a.m.: Sitting with my feet under a heating pad to try to warm them back up. I wonder how the kids who don't have shoes warm their feet when they get cold?

9:08 a.m.: I really need to go to the bathroom but I can't bring myself to go and stand on that nasty floor. I guess it's just a reminder that the children without shoes don't have the luxury of choosing if they want to walk where it's clean or not. Looks like I be making a trip down there soon enough today.

9:46 a.m.: Still needed to go to the bathroom but just cant do it. Got a few stares from coworkers since I didn't have any shoes on. My pants were really loud on the floor because they're long without shoes on. I think it's time to make the trek to the bathroom. Wish me luck.

9:50 a.m.: Time to go to the bathroom. The gold stair protects were cold and there are a few nails that stick up. I found that those are a little painful. I tried my best to avoid them on the way down.

stairs going down to the bathroom

9:51 a.m. Made it to the bathroom. Yuck.The floor is cold and I stepped in a wet spot. I almost gagged when I stepped in the wet spot.

tile floor outside the bathroom

the dreaded bathroom

yea, I'm going there

 9:52 a.m.: Washed my hands and headed back to my office. So glad I only go to the bathroom like once a day during the work day.

9:53 a.m.: Headed back up stairs while trying to avoid the gold stair protectors again.

 I did it I made it back up to my office without any nails sticking in my feet.

9:54 a.m.: Feet are back under the heating pad trying to warm back up.

11:35 a.m.: Stratton made it on the One Day Without Shoes homepage!

click on the image to enlarge it

1:12a.m.: Clipped coupons for my shopping trip to Wal Mart.

5:35 p.m.: left work to go meet my mom and Stratton at the park. Walking across the parking lot this time wasn't as bad because it was nice and warm from the sun.

5:38 p.m.: Drove to the park. This isn't uncommon for me to drive barefoot. I feel like I have better control of the petals and I like being barefoot anyway.

5:55 Got to the park and it was a gravel parking lot. Gotta love that texture under your feet. I was raised  pretty much barefoot so I learned how to walk on gravel without it hurting at a young age. This wasn't so bad since it was warmer outside too.