Caramel Corn and Puppy Chow

My mom makes homemade caramel corn from "Chester's Puffcorn" every year around Christmas. The best pieces are the ones that are extra 'buttery' and just seem to melt in your mouth. I always try to figure out which ones will taste like that, based on appearance, but I've never been able to master it, so I just keep eating until I find a good one. Then I think, "Oh, so that's what the good ones look like. I'll just eat one more like that and be done." But the next one is never like that, so I keep eating until I find another good one. This cycle can go on and on and on until I realize I've eaten half the container of caramel corn.

I have the same problem with puppy chow. I always want to end on one that has extra peanut-butter-chocolatey goodness, but have a tough time picking them out. It is a little easier with puppy chow though, because if two pieces are stuck together, it generally means that they have the p-b-c goodness, but they're hard to come by, so I try to find other good pieces.

You might be reading this and thinking, "Uhh, somebody's a little neurotic." I, however, am thinking "How in the world am I going to fit into my wedding dress if I keep eating like this?!?"

In the spirit

It's amazing how much happier and friendlier everyone is around the holidays. In the sales office today, we had a brunch. Everyone brought food and we actually sat around, with our General Manager, NOT WORKING, for close to an hour while we all ate and talked. This afternoon we had our All Staff Holiday Party. Everyone got a fleece blanket with the Gateway Logo on it and there was a present wrapping contest. You were randomly paired up with a partner and could only use one hand, that had to be adorned with a mitten. Aaron and his partner dominated the competition!! They finished in only 30 seconds and 2nd place finished in 48 seconds. We got an awesome prize and are super happy about it!!

As we left the hotel, all kinds of people that never talk to us otherwise were wishing us 'Happy Holidays' and the like. We also delivered some Christmas goodies to a few people tonight, which was fun, because everyone was so grateful. Then we spent the rest of our night wrapping up the last of our presents. It was awesome and wonderful.

COOKIES!!!

After working 67 hours this last week, Aaron had today off. I worked 40 hours and took all of my finals, so today was my first free day in a while as well. Let me tell you, it was a great day!! I never thought I'd say this, but I am so happy that I got to do dishes and laundry today!!

After eating breakfast together this morning, we spent the next couple hours (yes, more than one) doing dishes. It was very exciting when we got them all done. Then we started in on making Christmas cookies. We made 4 kinds of cookies and one kind of bars today. That's about half of our goodies. Amazingly, we only sampled a couple!! I don't think we gained more than a pound each ;-)

We did learn a couple things about making Nestle Tollhouse cookies that aren't flat. (1) Make sure your butter is soft to light pressure. If you need to soften it, microwave it at 30% for 10-15 seconds at a time. (2) If you're not adding nuts, add an extra 1-2 Tablespoons of flour. (3) Put your cookie sheets in the freezer for about a minute before using and make sure they are free of grease. If you do all of these things, your cookies will turn out nice and fluffy. We may or may not have to remake one batch of cookies, because we didn't know about all of these suggestions until afterwards.

Driving in Iowa weather

Next time you have to be out driving in Iowa's winter weather, I would suggest NOT having a 90 pound dog in the backseat as well and a 45 pound, 6-month old puppy in the front seat. It is not conducive to keeping both hands on the wheel and eyes on the road!!

Happy Birthday dear Fia-a-ance...

We're only a few hours into Aaron's birthday, but I've already learned a few things about making his day great.

#1--I should make sure the dogs don't start whining a half hour before we are going to get up.
#2--I shouldn't try making him breakfast, not even muffins from a box, because it just won't go right!!
#3--If I am going to attempt to make him breakfast, I should make sure I have everything I need for it.
#4--I should order up some weather that is above zero!!
#5--I need to try to remember all the surprises I have planned BEFORE we leave the house in the morning.
#6--I should blast Christmas music throughout the house all day long. There's not much he likes more than listening to Christmas music!!
#7--I should dress the dogs up in costumes and teach them to bark "Happy Birthday"

I guess above all though is making sure he has a great day and knows how much I love him. I think I can be successful at that!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AARON MICHAEL MORTVEDT!! YOU'RE THE BESTEST!!

Christmas Tree

For the second year, Aaron and I picked out a Christmas Tree together. We headed to Captain Jack's Tree Farm yesterday and cut down the best tree we could find. As you can see, I had an active part in cutting down the tree ;-) What you can't tell from this picture is how big our tree is. We thought it was a beauty and about the right height, but didn't really think much about how big around it was. Once we got it home, we had to trim it down and do a lot of pulling and shoving to get it through our door at home. It's amazing how being out in a 'winter wonderland' can impair our judgment on the size of the Christmas Tree.

We also remembered to go see the reindeer this year. They were very friendly and walked right up to the fence to greet us. It's so exciting to know that we have traditions together now!!

Honey and Milk

I am not normally a tea drinker. I much prefer hot chocolate (imagine that, me liking chocolate!!) However, the past few days, I've had a sore throat. I couldn't go see a doctor, because it was during a university break. I have university insurance and can only go to the student health center, often referred to as 'student death.' So, even if I could have gone, I don't know how much help they would have been.

Anyhow, having the wonderful fiance that I do, Aaron did his best to help me feel better. He found the last remaining strawberry flavored cough drops in the house--since I don't like the mentholated ones--and made me as much hot chocolate as I wanted. The hot chocolate just wasn't doing the trick though, so he made me a cup of tea. I wasn't a huge fan, so Aaron suggested that we go to the store and buy a different kind of tea that I might like better. He picked out a chamomille tea and a vanilla caramel tea for me. We tried the chamomille first, with honey and lemon, but I couldn't even drink the whole cup. Next, Aaron made me a cup of the vanilla caramel tea, with honey and milk. It was a huge hit!! I had four cups of tea yesterday, and finished them before they got too cold (which is impressive for me, I rarely do that with hot chocolate even.) Basically, what we discovered is that the key to me liking tea is the honey and milk combo, as that in the chamomille tea was also quite tasty!!

Wedding Dress

I went dress shopping today. It was great fun, but man-o-man trying on so many dresses can really wear a person out!! I found one I really like, but I'm not sure if it's "the one" so I'm going to keep looking. Anybody know of any shops that are really good??

I also found some bridesmaid dresses that I really like, but they're knee length and the wedding is in October, so I'm not sure if they'd be good. Anybody have an opinon/any experience??

I had my first wedding dream!!

It was horrible!! Not the whole idea of the wedding and getting married, I actually remember being very happy right after I came back down the aisle, but then I realized that I had forgotten to plan practically everything!! We didn't have flowers or a limo, I had no idea who was showing up to the wedding and I don't think I even had a dress!! So the dream started out all happylike, but then turned scary, because I'd forgotten to plan so much stuff.

I'm going to attribute the whole thing to the fact that I slept on the wrong side of the bed last night. I wanted to watch TV while we went to sleep, so I thought, 'Hey, we'll just switch sides of the bed. It won't be a big deal.' Man was I wrong!! It probably also has something to do with the fact that I get to go dress shopping tomorrow (which I'm very excited about!!) and I spent last night crafting something wedding related. As weird and unnerving as the dream was at first, I love that I had a wedding dream!! I know, I'm a big nerd...

My Amazing Man!!

I am so lucky to be with a guy who reminds me every day how much he loves me and cares about me. Aaron had to get up at 5:45 this morning to be at work by 7am. While I was still sleeping this morning, he made my lunch for the day!! And he left me a note telling me to have a good day. It was such a great surprise when I finally rolled out of bed. He is so wonderful!!

Did McCarney really mean it?!?

So I heard on the news earlier this week that, in response to predictions of bad weather during the football game, Dan McCarney responded with something like "We're the Cyclones and we can deal with a cyclone during our game" Then, just an hour before the game tonight, a tornado touched down in Ames!! The thing that really gets me though, is that, against police advice, people out tailgating refused to take cover in Hilton!!

The tornado in Ames.

We need a fenced in backyard!!

I was sitting in my night class last night and I got a text message from Aaron. It said "I guess you could call Steve 'Amazing Grace.' He once was lost, but now is found." I found out later that he somehow got his outside leash unattached from the stake and was running around town. Aaron had to look around town for over 15 minutes to find him (and Slater is not a very big place!!) As a cute sidenote, apparently the only reason Aaron realized Steve was gone was because Nick started pawing at the door. Then, he refused to go in his cage and stood by the door waiting for Aaron to get home with Steve.

Besides the fact that our dogs are tricky and somehow pull themselves loose, we need somewhere for this guy to run and jump without his leash restricting him!!

It's our "Negative One Year Anniversary"

One year from this date, Aaron and I will be getting married!! It's a very exciting day for us (well, me at least!!) I'm planning on going dress shopping in a few weeks, which I'm uber excited about. I also get to see my aunt, who is a florist, tomorrow and hopefully we'll get a chance to talk flowers for at least a few minutes (but I don't want to take any glory away from my cousin at her baby shower). Right now, I have absolutely no idea what I want for flowers though (which, if you ask Aaron, you'll find out is rare, because I'm full of ideas!!), so I'm anxious to get some expert advice.

By the way though, have I mentioned that I'm getting married one year from today?!? Yippee!!!!

Ring update: It's still very sparkly and I still love to stare at it. My gloves with a "ring hole" are in progress, but I haven't figured out how to get the hole from getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger, so I haven't started wearing them yet. If it sparkles just right, the dogs think it's a fun toy and try to eat it. That would not go over well...

But, the good news is, I'm getting married to the love of my love one year from today!! Geez Petes I'm lucky!!

It really works!!

Reeses Peanut Butter Cups

Very popular, one of you is not enough.

What Kind of Candy Are You?

We're not turning our heat on!!

Aaron and I are on the budget plan for our utilities, so we pay a set amount every month. This amount is determined based on the previous year's usage, so we're determined to save next year by not turning on our heat until absolutely necessary this year!! We originally said we wouldn't turn it on before November 1st. I think we can make it past that though. We recently won a king size down comforter from work that has become our 'couch blanket.' We also have a down blanket and a down comforter on our bed. To top it all off, Aaron got us down robes from Overstock.com, and when paired with hooded sweatshirts, we always stay toasty warm!!

(And we look so spiffy!!)

I know that our resolve will be tested in the next couple weeks, but I think we can do it!! I'd like to thank my mom for keeping our house at an insanely cold temperature, correctly preparing me to save money in my own home!!

As a bride-to-be

I'm having my first "crisis" as a bride-to-be, although any guy will say that it's not a big deal. I can't find a place to have the actual wedding on the date we've picked!! Aaron, my brother, and my stepdad are all telling me that it will be fine and we'll find somewhere to have it. Luckily, my brother's fiance assured me that she went through a similar sort of problem, so I feel a little bit less like I'm overreacting to the situation. I keep saying that if I can just get the date set, with a reception site and a ceremony site, that everything else will be fine, although I'm sure there will be other issues along the way.

Other than the ceremony site issue, being engaged has been wonderful!! I'll admit, I often sit around just looking at my ring and have found that the lighting in 001 Carver and in Audubon's makes the ring extra sparkly. White getting ready to start Run for the Roses (where we did some great walking!!) Becky and I decided that we should make winter gloves with a "ring hole" so that it doesn't have to be covered up!! Just let us know if you need a pair :-D

I said "YES!!"

Aaron is the most amazing guy ever. I came home after class yesterday and found rose petals and roses scattered all over our house, but since he's such a romantic guy, I didn't even think it was a proposal until the end!!

So I already said there were rose petals and roses...Well, each of the roses had a card attached to it, summarizing one of the 12 months we've been together.

(This is July...talks about celebrating the 4th "Slater style" and other fun stuff)

The summaries were very pretty and I could tell that he took a lot of time not only writing them, but also "crafting" them. The month of September was propped against the office door and started out with "I started looking for an engagement ring for you..." and that's when it finally hit me. This wasn't just another sweet thing Aaron was doing for me, this was a proposal!!

I opened the door and saw Aaron in the middle of the room with another dozen roses for me. He pulled me into the room, got down on one knee, and told me how much he loved me and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. I was crying by this point and forgot to say yes!! I just pulled him up, gave him a big kiss, and told him how much I loved him. He asked if that was a yes, and I excitedly told him it was!!

He had everything planned to a tee. He started a playlist of songs that were important to us and we danced for a few songs, grinning the whole time, with me sneaking as many glances at my ring as possible!!

(This is my beautiful ring-.8 Karats, Princess Cut, Platinum Cathedral Setting)

After watching the webcam video of the proposal a couple times and soaking it all in, we headed up to my parent's house. My mom knew the proposal was coming, as Aaron talked to her and Steve on Thursday of last week, but they thought it was going to be tomorrow (our 1 yr. anniversary). Aaron, as usual, was thoughtful enough to propose early though, because my parents are going out of town tomorrow morning and he knew I'd want to share this with them. My Steven took this wonderful picture of us while we were over there.

(Notice how the hand with the ring is beautifully featured in this picture :-D)

We're already starting to make plans. My mom called in and booked the reception site today, which is how people at work found out I got engaged (I was working in the Sales Office at Gateway). I can't wait to keep planning so we can make this whole deal even more official!!

My tuition is paying for what??

I'm taking a few classes this semester in which I don't care for my professors. I like the course, which makes it that much more disappointing. The one that annoys me most, though, is my Sociology 330 (Race and Ethnic Relations) professor. First off, it's the first time he's taught this course and he doesn't seem to really know what he's talking about. I could let that slide under normal conditions, because someone has to be the guinea pig for professors. The part that really irks me is the fact that he can't show up to class on time or show up to his office hours. 2 out of the 3 times that I've tried to go to his office hours so far, he hasn't been there. I've waited 20 or 30 minutes into the hour, and he still doesn't show up. Then he tries to lie about it and say he was only gone for 5 or 10 minutes!! Every day, he's about 5 minutes late for class and then quite often can't get his powerpoint to work, causing class to be delayed another 5 minutes. By the end of class, when he's 15 or 20 minutes behind, he tries to cram it all in in the last 5 minutes and generally ends class late. Today, class started, the professor announced that he was going to start a video for us and then 'run back to his office real quick' to grab tests and papers that he still needs to hand back. Now, his office is only 2 buildings away and he's been gone for over 30 minutes now. Why do I have to pay to take a class from this man?!?

P.S.-Happy Birthday to my mommy!!

Popcorn Chicken

First off, I'd like to say, that I love popcorn chicken. I used to order chicken strips at every restaurant I went to, and then break them up into bite size pieces. I have since branched out, and get a little wild and crazy and order something other than chicken strips, but that's not the point here. Popcorn chicken is the best thing since sliced bread in the world of a "bite size piece chicken strip eater."

I don't really understand why they call it popcorn chicken though. They don't puff up from little tiny pieces of chicken when under extreme heat. I don't know of anyone that "pops up" a whole batch right before a movie. I can't imagine that they would taste good with Goobers or Milk Duds mixed in, or even drenched with butter. And above all that, I never get popcorn chicken that is actually the size of popcorn.

In case you hadn't figured it out, I'm currently eating popcorn chicken along with some Waldorf Salad (which I don't understand the name of either, but I bought it in my 'quest to be healthier') I would say at least 1/3, if not more, of the pieces of 'popcorn' chicken are bigger than a fun-sized candy bar. Probably close to another 1/3 may be the correct size to be considered popcorn like, but don't have any chicken in them, thus cancelling the "chicken" out of the name. "Popcorn" or "chicken" seems to be missing in at least 2/3 of the pieces!!

Oh, how wonderful it is to be done with exams for a few weeks, so that I can focus on the more important things in life, like popcorn chicken...

We're all good at something...

Aaron is really good at making fancy-schmancy meals, like the one he made me on Valentines Day, when everything (and I do mean everything) was heart shaped. I'm even amazed by the fact that he can make yummy meatloaf with no recipe, well, basically anything without a recipe. You can see how great my cooking skills must be, which brings me to my next point.

I'm really good at using a microwave (thank you Mom!!) Aaron is closing Lobby Bar tonight, which means he had to be to work at 7:30. Generally if he's working and I'm not, I try to make him dinner. So tonight, while he was getting ready, I whipped up an "amazing" meal. We had chicken patties(microwaved), cottage cheese(straight from the container), and Mac N' Cheese (Easy Mac, so also microwaved). Aaron was, or at least pretended to be, happy with the meal and complimented the macaroni, because he can never get it to the right 'creaminess' like I did. He was surprised when I told him that it was Easy Mac and he continued to compliment my skills. Isn't he wonderful??

Dinner Conversation

Does everyone's dinner conversation center around work the way my family's does?? I realize that part of it might be because a large number of us all work at the Gateway, but I was over at my parent's for dinner tonight with Aaron, my brother and his fiance, and 2 of my cousins, and I swear at least 75% of our conversation centered around work. My brother and Becky have a wedding to plan and my cousin, Susan, is about 6 months pregnant, yet all we talked about was work. I even tried to pull people away to look at pics of Becky's wedding dress, but to no avail!!

The good news is, I didn't eat myself sick tonight. For the last two nights, I've eaten and eaten until I basically feel like I'm going to puke. I'd also like everyone to know that we made some of the best Scotcharoos EVER this weekend. We also made S'Mores brownies and bought 5 bags of Halloween candy, so we've been fattening up for the winter. Mmmmm...so good.

Comments requested...

...and I'd prefer if they were from real people and not just spam!! It's very upsetting when the only comments I get are from random people trying to get me to go to their website :-(

Any Survivor fans reading this?? Because if you are, you'll know what I'm talking about. I swear that at least 3 people would have died in last nights season premiere if they hadn't had a nurse practitioner on their team. I'll admit that I like watching reality TV and I probably won't stop, but it was scary to watch last night!!

Anyhow, I survived (haha, I was just talking about Survivor) my first test of the semester and my first blue book test of my college career. I have two more next week and two the week after that, but they're not blue book tests, so I feel a little better about them from the start!!

We're going camping next weekend in the CR area for my little brother's 4th birthday. Steve has had camping experience (in our backyard, tee-hee) but we're not ready to try taking Nick and Steve camping with us. We're also pretty sure that Aaron's parents aren't going to want to watch both grand-pups. If anyone wants to watch two amazing dogs for the weekend, or even one of them, let us know. We'd be more than happy to make your dreams come true!! Just look at how adorable they are:

"Aaron the Animal Trainer" getting the boys to perform amazing tricks!! Crikies that's good dog training!!

The key is broken between the "K" and ";"

...so please forgive any typos, well, at least if the type involves a missing "L." I start off with the norm, describing our puppies' newest accomplishments. Steve can roll over now. We think he's been able to forever now, but he's just started as a result of trying to be better than the puppy. The puppy hasn't really picked up any new tricks, but he has gotten much better at sitting, shaking, and laying down. Nick loves going into his cage now, because he gets a "big boy" treat. We've realized how big he's gotten, he weighs about 20 pounds now (he started out at 13, 3 weeks ago). He's a lot longer too. Tee-hee. Nick just ran into his cage as I was writing. Apparenty he thinks it's bedtime!!

So, if you reside in the Ames/Des Moines area, I'd definitely recommend going to the Funny Bone if you're trying to find something fun to do. Aaron and I went yesterday evening with his cousin Jeff and Jeff's girlfriend Sarah. We saw a comedian named "Cowboy Bill" and he was very entertaining. After he started on the poop jokes, I couldn't stop laughing!! We're already talking about going back to see a hypnotist in October sometime.

*GOOD NEWS FLASH* Aaron and I both have next weekend off (the 17th and 18th) and we don't have any plans. Even more exciting, is that it's the first of three weekends in a row that we'll have off.

I think we're going to sneak off into the bedroom soon, because Nick is LOVING his cage. He keeps walking into it and looking at us like "Why aren't you closing me in guys?? I'm ready to sleep!!" And for your enjoyment, I'll add in a picture of him :-D I took it about 3 minutes ago when he was in his cage with both of his ears flipped up.
Have a great weekend everyone!! (Beat Iowa!! Go Cyclones!!)

A day without a walk...

leaves the dogs in a constant state of hyperactivity. Since Nick's first walk last week, we've been taking the dogs on a walk every day. It's usually just a short walk, sometimes crammed in when one of us only has 15 minutes to spare, but it's a walk none the less and the dogs are WAY calmer at night. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to take the dogs on a walk tonight before Aaron had to go to work, so right now, they are running laps around the coffee table chasing eachother. There are occasional yelps coming from the puppy and yells coming from "Mommy" also known as me. The good news on the puppy front is that Nick has learned how to sit and shake, although he hasn't perfected it yet, because he's usually too excited.

So Aaron and I had the whole weekend off of work!! He got done mid-Friday, since it was raining, and didn't have to go back until 8am today!! I still had to work Friday night, but we both had Saturday and Sunday off. I spent most of Saturday dress shopping with my brother's fiance, Becky. It was a very fun and successful day!! Aaron and I went out to dinner on Saturday night, then came home and watched a movie together. Sunday we went to Brunch (not at the hotel!!) and then went to a movie together. We spent our afternoon relaxing, although I did have to fit a little homework in. Overall, it was a great weekend!!

After attending a few more classes, I still think I'll like all of my classes. My professor in my Race and Ethnic relations class really loves what he's teaching, gets a little overexcited, and sweats a lot, but I think it'll be interesting as the semester progresses. My Philosophy professor has a very dry sense of humor, saying things like "I went to the doctor yesterday and they poured liquid nitrogen on this thing on my forehead. It won't attack you unless you look directly at it." and then starts right into lecture without pausing. I think my listening class is going to be the most worthless, which is a little disappointing, because I was hoping it would be a good class. My Biological Psychology class is going to be the most difficult, but I also have the most friends in that class, so I should have plenty of "study-buddies" to make it through. I haven't really gotten a feel for my other Psych class, because it's only met once, but I know I like the professor, so it should be good. I might have already said some of this in another entry, but that's how I feel after attending class 4 times. I still have another 40 times to go though...

I bet you can't guess what this post is about...

Steve has decided that whatever the puppy is playing with is the best toy in the house. Even if we give them both a rawhide or a Kong filled with the same surprise, Nick's is automatically better to Steve. The one toy that they can "share" is the tug-rope. I think it's absolutely adorable (imagine that!!) when the two of them are playing with it and I was elated when I managed to get a good picture of it!!

I took Nick on his first official walk today. We went all the way around the block!! For him though, it was more like we went around 3 or 4 blocks, because he LOVED to just run circles around me as we went. I think my plan worked beautifully, because Nick took a nap after that.

Beyond the dogs...Classes started on Monday. I don't dislike any of them yet, which is a good sign. There's one more class that only meets Thursdays that I'm pretty sure I'll like, because I've had the professor before and I enjoyed her teaching. So the good news is, I think I'll like my classes this semester. I'm taking Race and Ethnic Relations, Moral Theory and Practice, Listening, Brain and Behavioral Psychology, and Social Cognition along with Psych 201, which introduces Psych majors to the professors and their research. I think there'll be a lot of reading involved, but that's far better than Physics and cherry pits (you know what I'm talking about Trishia!!)

Most of my classes have been crammed into MWF, so I'm working in the sales office at the Hotel on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Once I actually learn what all I'm supposed to do, or more specifically, what all they want me to do, I think I'll like it. I spent a lot of yesterday waiting, learning, doing something, then waiting some more. To top it all of, I got the cold or severe allergies or minor flu or whatever Aaron's been sick with for over a week now, so I felt horrible when I was there.

Overall, starting school and the new job hasn't been too bad, but it's only been 3 days, so I'll have to see where the semester takes me.

Nick's Name

I'm sure that the last few entries have made it seem as though the puppy is our entire life now, and that would be a correct assumption. Along with work, taking care of the new puppy and Steve have taken up all of our time recently.

I want to make a clarification on why we named Nick "Nick" and not "Frank." Even without counting all of the comments that my mom and Steve made at the very end of the voting period, Nick was in second place to Frank. We decided to take the first and second place names into consideration and pick out the best option. Nick seemed to fit him better, which most people who have met him will agree to.

Anyways, my third class of the day has started and it's a class on listening, so I should probably pay attention!!

Hi!! My name is Nick. Wanna play with me?!?  

This is the entry you've all been waiting for!!

...but it might not have the answers you were looking for. Although we had a lot of people voting for the name Frank, there was also overwhelming support for the name Nick. The naming of our puppy is an important decision and with strong support for 2 great names, we don't want to make the wrong decision. Stay tuned for our final decision.

How quickly our boys learned to love eachother!!

Okay, so "love" might be a strong word, but how cute do they look??

I had the day off today, so I spent my day watching the puppy, taking him outside every hour or whenever he ate, and playing fetch with Steve. I honestly think I played fetch with Steve for about 6 hours straight and played with the puppy at the same time. It was great and a few hours into it, the boys were peacefully drinking out of the same bowl and napping side by side.

Stay posted to find out the puppies new name!! Whatever his name may be, he sure is a cutie though, isn't he??

We got a puppy!!

We got a puppy today!! We stopped at the ARL on our way to the fair, then took Steve down when we got back so he could meet the puppy. We made it there right at the cutoff time (thanks to Aaron for speeding just a little for me...), so we got to bring him home tonight!!

We can't quite decide on a name for our little puppy though, so we decided that there would be a vote!! You will have until midnight (CST) on Friday, August 19 to place your votes. Each person may cast only one vote. Votes will not be accepted after 12 PM and will be considered null and void if coming from a fake name.

The choices are:

A.) Chris

B.) Lance

C.) Frank

D.) Willy

E.) Nick

Make your votes quickly, before time runs out!! The results will be posted Saturday morning, August 20.

4/7 ain't too bad...

So the good news is, the odds have improved and 4/7 employees showed up for Brunch yesterday, up from 3/8 last week. I ended up serving again, but not making nearly as much money as a couple weeks ago. Either way, it wasn't too bad and I had an okay time. One person who wasn't there got fired the night before when she was caught stealing wine. The other two were no call-no shows. The excuse from one girl is classic. She was just too darn tired to come in. If that was a valid excuse for not showing up, I don't think I'd ever show up for a shift!!

I definitely wouldn't have shown up on Sunday. Aaron and I were out until 3 AM hanging out with his sister and brother-in-law. We ended up sleep deprived, but we (or at least I) had a good time. We also saw them Saturday morning for a few hours before work, but I mainly just played with Emma during that time. It was a weekend full of family, because my stepdad's brother showed up from Tennessee last night with his new wife, so we were over at my parents house to meet them and see a lot of his family that I haven't seen in years.

Tomorrow is going to be a great day. Aaron and his dad are waiting on some supplies for a job they're doing, so he's able to take a day off and go to the State Fair with me!! I used to go every year with my family, but it's been probably 3 years since I've been, so I'm very excited. I also think it will be fun to experience the fair with Aaron for the first time. If a day at the fair isn't good enough by itself, we're also going to pick out a puppy!! I was looking at the Animal Rescue League website today (again!!) and there are 3 lab puppies that are 9 weeks old that were just brought in. There names are Arnie, Henry, and Rex. We like all of them, but we think we'd like Arnie or Henry best, because Rex has the same coloring as Steve and we want a dog that's different. You can go look at them at www.arl-iowa.org if you want to!! I'll keep you updated on his possible arrival!!

I think that pretty much summarizes the last few days. Oh, except for the lawn mowing. And believe me, I realize hos pathetic is makes me sound that I'm excited about this... I saw a flier at the post office about a kid who mows lawns, so we gave him a call. He only charges $12, so we thought we'd give him a try. Well, he came riding over on his push lawn mower, pulling a trailer behind him with a push mower, weed wacker, and leaf blower. He gave our lawn the royal treatment!! And we did the dishes, made and eat dinner while he was doing it!! It made for a very happy Aaron and Blakely.

My feet already hurt!!

Nothing too exciting has happened this week. I've worked every day this week, except Wednesday, when, I'll admit it, I didn't really accomplish much. I'm still on the search for a puppy, although I don't know if Aaron's still sold on the idea, because I've been getting Steve the dog into trouble to past couple days. Sometimes I just can't say no to him, because he's so cute. Oops!! I had renewed hope when Dana told me that my puppy I want in IC is still there, but I'm guessing he'll be kind of expensive and I don't know when I'd have time to go to IC soon... :-(

Work was crazy today and is going to be even crazier today. We have 3 big weddings tomorrow, one of them being a cater at Reiman Gardens, and another couple small events. With it being so close to the start of classes, a lot of the staff has quit and we're very short staffed, which is going to make tomorrow very difficult!! The bad news is, I'm already tired and cranky after today. Hopefully it will all end up going smoothly....although my years of experience tell me otherwise.

Aaron's sister, brother-in-law, and niece are in town this weekend. If all goes as planned, we should get to see them tomorrow morning. I'm looking forward to it very much. We haven't seen them since the 4th of July weekend and I'm sure that Emma has changed dramatically in that time. And plus too, I just love playing with kids/babies!!

Wish me luck with the crazy weekend!!

I want a puppy!!

I have been on a kick lately where I want a puppy!! It got even worse last week when I went to a petstore with the Cramers in Iowa City. I have been looking at the animal shelters websites and the ads in the papers. Today, Aaron was wonderful enough to take me to the Story County Animal Shelter and the Animal Rescue League in Ankeny. We saw some really cute dogs, but I really want a puppy that is only a few months old (3 at the most) and we didn't find any. We're thinking a lab or a beagle or a mix involving a lab or a beagle. We haven't found anything so far, not that we've been at it too entirely long. If anyone knows anyone who might know someone who knows anyone...with puppies please let us know!!

Surprise #1: Backyard Camping

I am planning a surprise for Aaron tonight, and of course, he couldn't let it go unchallenged. Lucky for me, he planned a wonderful surprise!! I worked for a while last night and we knew I'd get out at a decent time (around 10pm instead of midnight or later). Instead, I got done at 8:30, which messed up his timing a little, but he still pulled everything off wonderfully. I got home and was immediately instructed to change into some comfy clothes. I knew something great was up, because the dog was very excited and kept running towards the back door. Aaron led me outside and I saw our brand new tent set up and a fire ready to go in our fire-pit.

(View of our tent this morning, with our house in the background.)

We spent our evening making s'mores, grilling hot dogs, and enjoying the fire. Steve the dog spent the evening outside with us and was very well behaved. We repeatedly refilled his Kong with special liver paste that's in a can like EasyCheese, as well as marshmallows. He was amazingly well behaved, which makes me beam like a proud parent :-D

(Steve attempting to get melted cheese out of his Kong a few days ago)

We slept in our tent, with the dog, all night long. It was great and, once again beaming, I was thoroughly impressed with the dog!! There's a separate little room in our tent (which can be seen on the right hand side of the tent in the picture) just for pets. We didn't close Steve up in there, but we did put his big pillow in there and he slept there all night. All we had to do was say "Bed!!" if he got up and started wandering around and he immediately went back to bed.

Enough about our wonderful dog though...This morning I woke up to Aaron making me a campsite breakfast of pancakes and smokies wrapped in bacon, along with an apple juice. The best part was, he had all of the food outside with us all night. He made it like we were really camping!! I am thankful that he let me go inside to use the bathroom though, being that our neighbors are in very close proximity ;-)

Even though I have a great surprise planned for tonight, it's going to be tough to beat a night/morning as wonderful as this one!!

I guess most people choose "Not to work"

Friday night, when I got done working, some of my co-workers invited me over to one of my co-worker's (John's) to get "wasted." I turned them down, much to their dismay. The next day at work, they were all complaining about how hungover they were, but upon leaving that night, decided to go back over to John's to get wasted again. The next morning, as I was getting ready for work, Aaron called me and told me I might want to bring my serving gear, because 5 people didn't show up for work. (Background info: Normally, on Sundays, I cashier at our Sunday Brunch. We also have a host and 5-6 servers.) Given that 8 people were supposed to show up for work, 3 people showing up is not a good percentage. I happened to calculate it and only 37.5% of the staff showed up yesterday.

Now, I don't want anyone to think that this is a 'poor me, I had to work so hard' entry, because yesterday was great!! I got to work with my boyfriend and one of the few people that I actually like at work. The three of us worked really well together and helped eachother with our tables. We each made over $100 in tips and I never once felt like complaining about the people I was working with!!

My biggest problem with the whole situation is that 3 of the people who didn't show yesterday were what we call "No call, no shows," but the only punishment they got was a 3-shift suspension. What kind of a place lets people who just don't show up for their shifts keep their jobs?!? I have a feeling that this is just going to create a whole slew of people who just don't show up or show up late, and they'll get away with it!!

If anyone can explain to me what goes on in the mind of a "No call, no show" that makes it okay to that person, please, enlighten me!! Also, if you're in the Ames area or planning on being and would like to go out to a nice dinner at Audubon's Steak and Chop House, the restaurant at the hotel where I work, let me know and I'll get you a business card that'll get you a free appetizer. It will also help me win a contest and get tickets to the Iowa vs. Iowa State game. (Just a little plug for my own sake!!)

I'm off to be arts-and-craftsy now. I plan on making myself a gold star to wear to work tomorrow. (Yes, I'm serious!!)

To work, or not to work, that is the question...

At the beginning of the summer, I complained endlessly about not getting enough hours at work. I barely had enough money to pay my bills and definitely didn't have any "fun money." The whole thing was very frustrating for me, because in my world, summer is a time to work hard and make money.

Now, for the past couple weeks, I haven't had a day off. I've been working 6 or 7 days a week at the hotel, working between a couple departments. I was also helping Aaron while his dad was gone, although that seemed the least like work, because I got to spend the day with the man I love :-) Now that I've gotten my wish, and I have more hours, I wish I had a day when I didn't have to work.

Thinking about it though, what I really want is to have a life. A grown-up life. I doubt there are too many people my age who would say that, but I wish that I was done with school and I could find a job, preferably an 8-5 job, and really establish my life. Anyone who really knows me, knows that I'm an organizer and a planner. I'm also kind of lazy sometimes, and I like to have free time, which means I'm sick of working all weekend, every weekend, while going to school and working all week.

I've found the guy I want to spend the rest of my life with. We have a nice little house and a few pets to keep us busy. We're figuring out where we want our lives to go, the most important part being that our futures are together. I think I'm just ready for the next step in my life and I'm ready for my life to slow down a little. The first step to slowing down is being planned for next weekend. I have a nice, relaxing surprise planned for Aaron. That is, if I can manage to keep it a secret... But in the meantime, I hope to peak his curiosity by mentioning it all the time, including in this current blog entry. Tee-hee!!

Harry Potter

I've read the first 5 Harry Potter books and liked all of them. I mooched off my brother for the first 4 and my host family in Germany bought me the 5th for my birthday. So, thus far I haven't had to buy any of them and I was hoping to continue the tradition this time around. Does anybody have a copy of the 6th book that they're done with already?? I would love to borrow it if anybody has a copy up for grabs!! Feel free to leave me a comment and let me know one way or another. Comments in our blog are allowed :-)

My favorite Spice Girl is "Sporty Spice"

Tonight Aaron and I had dinner at my parent's house. Joining us were my brother's fiance, Becky, and my cousin, Susan. Somehow, the conversation turned to Susan's attendance at her stepson's sporting events and the seasons that they take place. At this point, my mom started making fun of me and my knowledge of sports, or what she thought was my lack of knowledge. Little did she know that I've become quite the sports fanatic!! Let me give you the run-down.

My favorite NFL team: Atlanta Falcons
My favorite MLB team: Atlanta Braves
When I was about 2 (approximately 1987) David Archer, a former ISU quarterback, was drafted to the falcons. This was the first ISU player that I knew of that was playing on a pro-team. Sharing the same hometown is one of the reasons why I like the Braves, but also because one of my favorite players, Deion Sanders played for both the Falcons and the Braves at the same time. One time, he played a World Series game and a football game in the same time. He had to be flown from one to another in a helicopter. And, he scored a homerun and a touchdown in the same day!!
My favorite NHL team: Until recently, I didn't have one, because they're in a lockout, but not it's the Redwings.
My favorite NBA team: I don't have one, because they don't play enough "D" (aka-defense) in pro-basketball. I am a big ISU Cyclones basketball fan though!!

This is a summary of all of the information that I spouted out during the conversation of my sports knowledge. By the end, my mom was laughing hysterically. But, if you know me, you know that I'm really not very knowledgeable about sports or even interested in them. Aaron is a sports fan though, and I love doing things with/talking to him about things he likes, so I've acquired all of this knowledge. All except the hockey part, that's just how I'm going to suck up to the general manager of the Hotel, because he's a MAJOR hockey fan!!

I spose this was all funnier when I was spouting it all out, basically as fast as I could, with a few pit-stops along the way to whisper to Aaron, asking for a little reminder about one of my favorites!! Thinking back, I realize that my family spent about 20 minutes making fun of me, but it really is funny and a good ending to a stressful day at work, but that's a whole 'nother story...

Our oh-so-spoiled puppy!!

Last week I decided to wash the slipcovers off our couches. I think our animals have gotten close to being done massively shedding for the summer, although I wouldn't bet any money on it!! Now, normally, our dog Steve has his own couch (yes, I realize that's enough to consider him spoiled.) He also has a body pillow and a normal pillow on his couch. Below is a picture of him, annoyed and ignoring us, because his pillows are missing.

This night was yet another reminder that I should always have my camera handy. Less than 10 minutes before this picture was taken, Steve was laying on the floor with his head on his pillow. (The pillow is seen in the lower right hand corner.) I must say, it was a very cute thing to see!!

One might accuse Aaron and I of being 'crazy' or 'childish' because we like to narrate possible thoughts inside our pets' heads. On this night, we were quite sure that Steve was thinking "Ok, seriously guys. Do you really expect me to watch TV without my pillow?!? You're going to feel really dumb when you realize that you forgot to put my pillows back on the couch." The good news, for all of you worried readers out there, is that we quickly rectified the situation and his pillows are back in place.

My question is, is there something wrong with me (us), because I'm this obsessed with my pet's comfort?? Or does it just mean that I'm a wonderful, caring person??

Optimism Comes Back With Avengeance

My parents have spent about the last 8 months remodeling their kitchen. Towards the end, they asked Aaron to make a custom island. I had the pleasure of helping him out and started referring to myself as "The Cabinet Makers Wife." This weekend I got to become "The Construction Workers Wife." Since Aaron's parents are in Mexico (directly in the path of Hurrican Emily...eeek!!) I became his assistant. I spackled and painted a little bit on Thursday night and tore the carpet tiles out of a small office. I knew we had a big room to tear the carpet out of today, but I wasn't worried, because it had been pretty easy on Thursday. After today, though, I feel like I have scraped enough carpet and glue to last me a lifetime. I have a ginormous blister on my thumb and my hands are cracked and sore. My arms, back, and legs (so basically everything from my chin down) are tense and achy.

It went something like this...The first half of the big room went about the same as the little rooms. A few tiles took a little extra finaggling with, but pretty easy overall. I was taking some carpet out to the dumpster when I made the mistake of turning to Aaron and saying, "We should be able to get this done in no time!!" When I came back in the room, Aaron was working on the same carpet tile as when I left. The last half of the room took every ounce of energy we had and there were several close calls with injury. (Imagine a sharp carpet scraper flying at Aaron's leg or a hammer claw nearing his hand at high speeds...) When we finally got the room done, we were relieved, to say the least. Unforunately, we both had to work at the Hotel tonight.

I made the error of being optimistic, yet again, when I got to work. I was going to be working a small wedding and the meal was a buffet, so I thought it would be a cinch. Wrong again!! We had staff call in sick and we ended up having to serve more tables than is standard and I had to serve the head table in addition!! Talk about stress!! Then, to top it all off, I was the tattle-tale in a case of underage drinking and the guests were not happy with me!!

Today was one of those days that makes me happy to curl up and cuddle at night, so that I can wake up the next day and have a more successful day!!

Lately I've started reading the blogs of a few friends. Generally, there's nothing extraordinarily exciting (or even intelligent--no offense) in the entries. It's amazing to me, though, how reading the everyday thoughts of others can keep me so amused. Well, Aaron and I decided to give it a shot ourselves. Our lives aren't very interesting and I won't venture to say we have anything intelligent to say, but we've decided to share it anyways, so enjoy!!

I should have been cleaning our house today, because there's no doubt that's it's a disaster area right now. But instead, I started messing around on the internet creating our new website and blog. It's been frustrating at times, but fun overall. Too much time off from work has made me lazy. Hopefully I can kick it into gear tonight, otherwise I think we'll go crazy soon from the chaos. (And yes, I just got done saying that hopefully I can get some good cleaning done on a Friday night!!)