how I know he'll be an incredible daddy

Our cat Missy has a fetish for plastic. Specifically, she likes to find the plastic, eat it, and then produce it again to let us know that she ate it earlier, along with some of her regular cat food. We don't know why she does it, or what specifically about plastic, which she is compelled to eat, makes it so much more tasty than, say, canned tuna, which she will not eat and will actually huff at if you open a can for her. Never in my life have I met a cat who didn't go completely ga-ga over canned tuna.

So the other day, I start hearing that familiar gulck gulck sound - just say the word gulck repeatedly out loud, and you'll know what it sounds like - and I start running to the chair where Missy is, ready to produce her half-digested ball of plastic and cat food. I'm frantically looking for something disposable to catch the kitty puke, because once that gulck sound starts, you have a 3-5 second window before the goo comes out of her mouth (and onto the furniture, the carpet, etc.). I'm just about to put an old blanket under her mouth when out comes Jason's cupped hands, directly under her nose, and he catches the kitty barf. With his bare hands. He did it again about 10 seconds later, too. I tell you, people, that is dedication. Fast forward however many months/years, and that is a dad unafraid of any kid's upset stomach ("do it in Daddy's hand, okay? In Daddy's hand.") Even I was unwilling to sacrifice the purity of my hands to the Barf Goddess, and heck, that's what I'm getting a degree in.

It's really touching though. In a weird, slightly gross sort of way.

avoiding the blog

Yeah, I'm doing it again. The last time I was avoiding the blog was through my miscarriage, but truly, there are no tragic events to explain how little I've been writing. Here are all the excuses I could think up, most of them somewhat pathetic:

1. I'm really busy. Not so busy that I can't waste hours playing Bejeweled, looking at my Facebook page, or blindly stare at my month-at-a-glance calendar, seeing all the things I must do but not actually do them. But busy.

2. My sleep schedule is all out of wack. I do my directed practice clinicals at ORMC on weekend nights, go to classes and my community clinicals during the weekdays, and have the occasional rehearsal or worship service thrown in there. I don't think clearly on such an irregular schedule.

3. Ever since we borrowed my friend Dan's bad-ass Canon Rebel XTi, photo-taking has never been the same. If you look on my Flickr page, look at my Colorado photos, then look at pretty much any other set of photos to see what I mean. Now that we've returned the camera to Dan, the idea of using my old camera, the one that has to think for 3 or 4 seconds if it REALLY wants to take a photo, is somewhat depressing, so I have no photos with which to pepper the posts of my blog.

4. I have fallen off the bandwagon, WW-wise and running-wise. Fallen off is incorrect: more like "taken a flying leap while giving the finger". (What a lovely image.) And for reasons #1 and #2 listed above, I've been short on motivation to jump back on. I really want to post that I bought the next size down, or show a cool picture (taken with my new boyfriend, the Rebel XTi) of myself looking all svelte, but in reality, my jeans that were falling down now fit okay. Hmmmm. I mean, the scale only shows about 7 pounds up, but it's still disconcerting about the jeans.

5. Speaking of reason #4, did you know that the floor where I do my clinicals has one of those Otis Spunkmeyer cookie ovens, as well as a whole case of frozen cookie dough pellets in the freezer? And that they bake them pretty much every shift I am there? And that they all come equipped with TRACTOR BEAM FORCE?

6. I'd like to be posting that I have graduated. I have not. I'd like to say that I am pregnant. I am not. (And please, unless you want something stapled to your head, don't ask me if I am.)

End of whine. I'll try to communicate better instead of wasting time. To solve issue #3, listed above, here's a picture of Jason at age 4 to stave off any boredom. I think it's cute.

whoops

So I got this pretty new blogger template, right? And I didn't realize that putting up the new template meant that all my links got erased. So if you were linked from my page and you are no longer linked, it just means I lost you and need you back, so leave a comment or something and I'll link ya.

my, um, humps...

This is freakin' hilarious. Thanks to Kelly for giving me insane levels of appreciation for the dry wit of Alanis Morissette. Click here for the original Black-Eyed Peas video.

sorry

I've been really busy. I go to school, I do community nursing hours, then I go to work, and I do more clinical hours in the hospital (at night, no less). Not that I'm complaining, because this is the beginning of a long-held dream come true for me, but it does explain why I've been neglectful of this blog, I hope.

As promised, here are more pictures from our Colorado trip. You can also see a bunch more on my Flickr page, if you want.

the best birthday present

Taken on my birthday on a mountaintop in Rocky Mountain National Park. Clearly, the glee is spilling out of my pores, I'm so excited. Snow is always a big deal to a Florida girl.

jason is gonna get arrested... for several reasons

Dumb laws in Florida:

Women may be fined for falling asleep under a hair dryer, as can the salon owner.
A special law prohibits unmarried women from parachuting on Sunday or she shall risk arrest, fine, and/or jailing.
If an elephant is left tied to a parking meter, the parking fee has to be paid just as it would for a vehicle.
It is illegal to sing in a public place while attired in a swimsuit.
Men may not be seen publicly in any kind of strapless gown.
Having sexual relations with a porcupine is illegal.
It is illegal to skateboard without a license.
When having sex, only the missionary position is legal.
You may not fart in a public place after 6pm.
It is considered an offense to shower naked.
You are not allowed to break more than three dishes per day, or chip the edges of more than four cups and/or saucers.
Oral sex is illegal.
You may not kiss your wife's breasts.
Penalty for horse theft is death by hanging.

okay, here you go

I've got the snucky sniffles. I don't feel very nice. And the 990 photos Jason and I took with our friend Dan's amaze-o camera are still stuck on the camera, because we don't have the cable thingy to download the photos. But, since my page (without any photos) is starting to become only slightly less interesting than, oh, watching paint dry, here you go. I'll provide as many commentaries as I have energy for:


We met at BJ and Cheryl's house for a 20 & 30-somethings get-together for our church. That's Cheryl in the blue shirt. This picture was taken shortly before we all got naked, swilled Cisco, and sacrificed a live chicken.


This is BJ. While seemingly harmless on Sundays, he will unleash his foo on you if you get too close with a camera, like Bruce Lee, Sean Penn, or similar. Maggie is attempting to explain this phenomenon to other victims.


Maggie and I


We took a girls' night out to see Five For Fighting at House of Blues, as well as have a birthday celebration for Maggie and I. Here, she is getting beautiful for John Ondrasik.


Jessica and I at Rainforest Cafe. Jess looks beautiful, as always, but I'm really trying to figure out where I found a vat of Crisco to dip my head in prior to this photo.


Me, Amanda, and possibly one too many margaritas...

leaving my heart in Colorado

We leave for Florida tomorrow. We will leave this wintry wonderland and head back to 90-degree humid heat. I am looking forward to being back in my own bed (where I really do sleep the best) and snuggling with my cat and resuming the healthy lifestyle I'd been doing before I left for vacation.

But I'm really feeling sad about leaving here for so many reasons. Granted, I've been eating some delicious, non-WW-friendly foods, like the fantastic Beau Jo's Pizza and lots of Starbucks Frappuccinos (Java Chip, thank you) and some Fat Tire Beer at the Little Bear Saloon in Evergreen. I've loved every second of it, and if I gain 5 or 10 pounds, it was worth it. Ironically enough, the population here is some of the fittest around: everywhere you look, there's open spaces and trails and hiking places and horse ranches and even just shoveling all this snow that seems to fall so often. I've never seen so many places that offer healthy alternatives on their menus - even Beau Jo's had an entire 2 pages worth of gluten-free offerings.

Anyway, being here has been so relaxing, so freeing, and not just because we're on vacation. I love that life in general here is a little more laid-back. I love how excited Jason gets at the thought of being minutes away from Red Rocks, or all the trout fishing, the mountain homes, all the horses and wildlife, and of course, the snow. He's like a kid in a candy store, and I can't tell you how full that makes my heart feel.

So, yeah, we're not really wanting to go home.

a little bit of grace and maybe some chunk

I'm writing this from my friends' house in Colorado. It's my birthday, and it's snowing outside. We're on the side of a mountain, and it looks like Christmas everywhere. (And if I had had the foresight to bring the cable thingy that lets you upload pictures to your laptop, you might see what I mean.)

So, today, I normally weigh in. I don't think I'm going to weigh in today. And my diet while on vacation has been less than spartan, for sure. I've eaten raisin French toast and French fries and homemade rocky road candy and chicken parmesan and cinnamon rolls and a really delicious open-faced hot roast beef sandwich. Needless to say, these items are not low-cal, low-fat, or low-anything. High-GOOD, really. And if it means I gain five pounds, so be it. Worrying over my weight while I'm on vacation AND it's my birthday... well, WW will say it's possible and doable, but I just don't feel like it. So THERE.

I'm going to play in the snow now.