New York

Last year a few weeks after my stepdad passed in January ( yep he passed last January and Daddy passed this January),  I had to travel to New Jersey for business trip.  I flew into the Newark airport.  It was  a quick trip but I made sure we went into NYC for 2 nights to have dinner.  I just really love New York! I love the energy, the vibe, the history , the smells. 

If I ever win the lottery, I would be a loft in Manhattan facing Central Park.  

So, I feel a wee little bit better today about the the house. We unpacked like crazy and got a lot done.  The best news is that we got cable and internet today!!! We switched to time Warner cable and they sent someone today. Yippee!  We still don't have one completed room so we have to come home from church tomorrow and keep the momentum. We are completely out of the old house as of today. We picked up my trailer and turns in the keys.   

We had dinner with some friends from church last night and had a great evening. We had to call it short though because Todd's back was hurting him .  My knee is black and blue and my wrist has given out twice. So many aches and pains! Boo. 

Tonight we had a fun evening at a close local bar with our friends Mark and Debbie and it was a good night. We had some laughs and drinks and just got home when I realized - oh dear i have to blog !!! LOL! Again like last Saturday , sliding in at 10 pm with 2 hrs to spare. 

Hope you're having a great weekend so far.   Talk to y'all Monday! 

"M" - Moving

I thought it would be a great idea to do the A to Z challenge at the exact time I was about to move.  I must have packed my common sense along with the rest of my crap.  I had no other choice but to use Moving as my subject since I've mentioned it in almost every post.  

Today marks one week since moving day officially and when we closed on our house.   It's been a challenge. I can't say that our move has gone smoothly. 

 Our first night in house, Todd makes a trip to Home Depot at 9:45 ( they close at 10) and we have to replace the thermostat. It was 85 degrees inside our house and too hot to sleep!  

Our keypad quit working for good on our garage but fortunately we have our garage door openers now. 

My dog Jax had never once been around water, takes a dive in our swimming pool because he saw Lila on the other side of pool. We think he thought it was blue concrete or something since he's never seen a pool. He instinctively started to paddle thank goodness. I took my shoes and glassss off about to jump in. 

Lila has discovered rabbits. She has killed 3 of them. She brought a bloody dead one into our room that has carpet. 

I had to then find carpet cleaner for the blood. I now have huge stains worse than the blood from the oxy clean. 

All we have left at old house is to get my trailer and hook it up to my truck and bring to new house. We've gone to house every night picking up small stuff we didn't want the movers to bother with. 

I hurt my right hand pretty good. My thumb and pointer finger are swollen. If I hold anything in that hand, my wrist collapses. Todd and I have cuts and bruises all over from bumping into boxes, moving furniture around, you name it. 

My house is too small! I have no room for anything and it's hard to unpack when you don't have a place to put things.  I know it will get better eventually but I'm so overwhelmed and I hate it! 

Our cable/ internet guy was supposed to be here this past Tuesday. No one showed up or called. Then they were supposed to show up yesterday, nope. After being transferred to 4 people and having to repeat everything 4 times, the earliest they can come is the 22nd. That's 10 days later than the first original date of Tuesday 12! I don't care not having TV the last 10 days and 10 days more, what I do have to have is Internet.  Especially now that work is so strict using the web for anything not work related.  

Moving sucks!! I hate it .  I pray for strength and patience to get my house in order very soon so that I don't hate my house. 

I'm grateful to have a newer home to live in. I'm grateful to have a roof over my head.  I don't want to sound like a selfish brat.  One day, I want to share pictures of the house with y'all but if you were to see them now, you would call the tv show Hoarders and report me.  Better yet, they do always put the home together at end of show. Hmmm, maybe they would come unpack and organize for me. 

Last night after work we went to old house to pick up trailer, my truck has hitch on it that is locked. Didn't have the key.  Looked for hours when I get home and finally found it. Wasted trip!! 

I know this what i sound like!! Lol 

Hope y'all have a great weekend. I think y'all know what I'll be doing. 

"I" Introduction

Good morning y'all!  I also took today off from work so that I can could have another day to unpack.  I have broke down dozens of boxes but I look around and it seems as if I made zero impact  at all.  Trouble with downsizing, is that you have too much stuff with no time to decide what stays and goes.  Lots of anxiety going on!! 

Anywho, I need to get my quick post out so I can get back to unpacking and I thought I would introduce myself. 

My name is Holli and I recently got married 3 years ago in August.  My hubs name is Todd and we've been together for 5 years. The funny thing is that the whole cliche of marrying my best friend really did happen. We were best best friends for 17 years when we decided to give a go.  I wish I could tag my posts about us but I'm blogging from my phone app. 

I live in suburb of Dallas , Texas.  I was born in Dallas in May of 1968. 

I have 2 step kids - a boy and a girl and I have 2 furry kids - a boy and a girl. Jax and Lila live with us and the human kids live with their mother. 

We just bought a house this past Friday and it's been crazy.  

I work full time for a distribution company  as a corporate trainer. This year in September will be 21 years there.  We are in process of being in huge merger that was announced last year but it takes time to combine 2 companies with different systems and processes.  

I ride a Harley. Was raised on motorcycles my whole life and Todd rides too. Lately, I've been riding on the back with him but I'm thinking of buying a new bike ( trike).  We've gone to Sturgis the last 2 years and I went another time 12 years ago ( before Todd). 

My most amazing sweet Daddy just recently passed away in January and I'm still shaken to my very core.  

About 5 months ago, something snapped inside of me and I have depression and anxiety like never ever before. I feel broken and I can't handle stressful things like I used to.  I've cried everyday during this move and I hate myself afterwards.  Who am I? I used to be a rock and fiercely independent . 

I am addicted to Starbucks but of course cutting back to twice a week since moving is so expensive! 

I use explanation marks too much.

I am a quarter Choctaw Indian. My grandfather was full blooded.  

I still have both my grandmas and they are both 89.  

My little sweet mom suffers from terrible chronic disease Lupus .  I will blog about that on my letter L. 

I have a brother Jeremy that lives in Oklahoma with his wife and my 2 nieces.  

I have a stepbrother Draeger and stepsister Rachelle who both live in Northern California with their girlfriend and husband and my other 2 nieces. 

I love music more than anything outside of family and friends. We go to a lot of concerts and my music preferences are all over genres. Country and rock and Christian are the ones I listen to daily though. 

My imagination is very creative.  My mom said it's from loving to read since a very early age.  My dreams are crazy technicolor dreams and I really should write them down sometime. 

I love the Lord! I am strong in my faith and I post inspirational quotes quite a bit here. However, I have close friends that are of different nationalities and religions and I respect that. I don't like being forced anything in my face and would not do that to you either. 

Mexican food is my favorite. I could seriously eat tacos everyday.  

I am procrastinating going back to unpacking so I better run.  Have a great Monday y'all!!! 

My brother Jeremy and me

Daddy, me, Todd, and Mom

My aunt Brenda on dads side, my Incredible stepmom Deb and me. 

"H" is for Home

Ok so it's not midnight here in Dallas yet. In fact I have one hour to go if I really want to push it.  I bet you thought " yep, Holli is so busy moving and unpacking, no way will she continue the daily blogging challenge"! I must have paused 5 times at least , saying to myself that I really needed to post today. However, the unpacking was much more important .  I'm happy to say that we are almost 100% moved into our new to us house. 

We still left quite a bit at the previous house so we'll be heading over there tomorrow to get more stuff.  

Every bone in my body hurts. Mostly my back though. I've struggled with back pain for years and I had been doing to good lately. I can't stand straight from all the bending over unpacking and lifting.  

Have a great rest of your weekend. I'm going to bed! 

Signing papers on our house at title company. 

That's us with our realtor.  She was great! 

Jax and Lila found a perfect window to bark at everyone who walked by ( which was many because our front yard is a park). 

Moving and barking is Hard work!! 

Letter "E"

I am smack in the middle of packing and moving this week. Bad news is that our closing day got pushed back a day to Friday but good news is that i have all day tomorrow to pack more.  Moving is Exhausting and Emotional and Exciting all at once.  I am not sleeping well and am Eager to get rest soon to have Endurance and Energy to get me through. ! This move seems Enormous and .  I do appreciate all your Encouragement. 
Last night after work, i went home and packed several boxes before we headed out for a nice dinner with a close friend of mine Kathy that was visiting from Wichita, Kansas.  I was so Excited for her to finally meet my husband Todd.  When i've visited Kansas lately, Todd has not traveled with me.  I really Enjoyed our visit and the burger and fries was just Enough to leave with a great Experience at a new restaurant. It was nice to Engage in an evening with fun friends and to Ease my mind for an hour or so without thinking of the move. 

Hope all of you have an  Exceptional Day!


Blue October is one of my favorite bands so here's a song a song with E in it ( Angels in Everything)

A to Z- letter C

Good Morning y'all! Today is going to be short and sweet this Monday.

"C" is for Cartons today.  My house is filled with stinky Corrugated Cartons.  We got a lot of packing done over the weekend but sadly we still have much more.  I do feel like we're Capable of having it all ready by Friday minus the garage.  The garage gives me enough anxiety to go into Cardiac arrest.  Craziness!  

It's hard to walk through the house with the cartons so Close. I do have 4 bags of stuff to drop off to Charity.  

I don't have much time to Concentrate on today's Challenge so gotta go. Have a  great day with lots of Cheer and Courtesy. 

Now for a song: Calling all angels by Train

A to Z- "B"

So today is Saturday and we are BLAZING through our house packing BOXES with a vengeance.  We’re currently living in a 4 bedroom ranch style house that is filled to the brim.  We want to be at least 95% packed for the movers next Friday. The good news is that we paid this month’s rent full rent with out pro-rating it so we have a few weeks after closing to come get the small straggler pieces.

 My hubs and I have already shed some BLOOD through this mess. I got a fat paper cut when grabbing some cardboard boxes and Todd broke a glass candle holder and cut his finger.  I should add Band-aids to list of must-haves during a move.

So let me tell you a story about what my “angels” did yesterday ( Friday).  Normally on Friday’s, I work from home which also means my dogs get a break from going into their kennels all day.  I had to go into the office for half day this Friday though because of classes I was training. A little after noon,  I came home to a huge mess in my kitchen and living room.  My dog Lila is onry! She has done much damage in the 18 months that we’ve had her.  We joke that she’s “from the streets” and is ghetto girl. Her shelter name was Sweets so she’s Sweets from the Streets!! Hahaha.  She has taught Jax some bad habits.  Anyway, ironically we even bought an expensive trash receptacle that locks so that she couldn’t get into it.   That’s a BRILLIANT idea IF you remember to lock it!!!!  I had made a plate for Todd on Easter when he didn’t come because he was sick.  It had baked beans, mashed potatoes, smoked pork loin, green bean casserole, and a few other items I cant remember.   He never did eat it so I threw the whole platter in the trash.  We had take out Mexican food one night and we both had leftover beans and rice that we didn’t eat.   BELIEVE me when I tell you , they ate good!!  

So they were very BAD and they didn’t get any more treats for the rest of the day.   They knew they were in trouble when I came in and the look on their faces were Busting of guilt. 

I only took a few pictures because I had to get busy cleaning it up, eat my own lunch and then work from home office all in an hour.

How can you stay mad though at this cute face? 

So here is a song for you today.  Bad Bad Thing- Chris Isaak

  Have a great weekend y’all!!  It’s supposed to be BEAUTIFUL and BRIGHT  this Sunday in Dallas.  Yay!

A to Z Challenge- Letter "A"

I am ABSOLUTELY crazy for signing up for this challenge again but I couldn’t NOT try.  Last year was my first time to do it and I surprised myself that I blogged every day and didn’t miss one. I made some AMAZING new blogger friends that I ADORE from last year’s challenge.  I have A lot going on right now for the month of APRIL.  For one, a week from today I have movers scheduled to move into our new house  that we bought. So I’m super crazy busy packing while also working full time corporate job.  At the end of the month I am also a vendor again at a Junk show ( ANTIQUES)that I’ve got to get ready for too. 

  I have no theme.  I didn’t have time to think about one and quite honestly I did Ok last year never having a theme.  I will most likely blog about my chaotic life, there will be music involved, other ANTICS and most likely plenty of pictures of my dogs and other various things I find AMUSING.  So lets all AGREE that I can ACCOMPLISH this challenge and ACCEPT my “ I survived the 2016 A to Z challenge” button that I can post on my sidebar.   I APPRECIATE all the encouragement that comes my way!!!

A pic of my ANGELS: Lila is my girl, Jax is my boy and Todd is my husband.

Inching along

Wow- I totally didn’t expect to be gone for so long.  Mom left to go back home to Montana this past Saturday.  I really enjoyed having her for the last few weeks.  Her chronic illness Lupus really determines our days. There would be 2 or 3 days in a row each week where her biggest accomplishment would be getting out of bed and maybe dressed.  We had so many things we wanted to do but never did get to them.   I am so grateful for my job and my bosses who allowed me to work from home to keep her company and not be alone.  One week I had classes every day and I went into the office the first part of day but then would come home during lunch hour for rest of the day.  I am so blessed!  Just having Mom in the room or the next room when I was in office was comforting.   My baby brother Jeremy, my SIL Sarah and my nieces Maci and Brynna came down one weekend to spent time with Mom and the following weekend that came again minus Sarah. It was so awesome having my family all together. My grandmother Nanny also came to stay 4 nights with us so she could continue her visit with Mom and to see rest of the family. My cousin Jadona came over one night when everyone was there and we had a nice big family dinner. Mom did get to eat out at a few of her favorite spots before she left so all is good there too.  My heart was full and happy that weekend for sure. 

My last post I mentioned walking away from a house that we had contract on. The inspection showed too many big things that would be very costly and it didn’t work out.  Fast forward a few days later from losing that house, and Todd found a house he loved.  With the market as crazy as it is- we literally put contract on the house sight unseen from me.  Todd tried to facetime me but the screens kept switching sideways to upways (?) and I had to hang up. I told him it was like watching Blair Witch project and I was getting dizzy).  I got to see the house the day we had that house inspected and it’s a GO.  There are a few things on our priority list to be fixed but its basically move in ready and we are closing in just a few weeks.  Mom was with me when we got to see the house for the first time and I ‘m so happy she got to see it. Now she can visualize what I’m talking about when we’re in the house. Oh and we have a pool!! Yippee!!

Now it goes without saying that my stress level is off the charts right now! Todd is traveling every week now and has been gone for 3 nights almost every week.  We don’t have a single box packed. I did bring home some boxes though last night so that makes me happy.  Baby steps and deep breaths.  I have soooo much stuff to move that its overwhelming.  I tossed it back and forth on whether I should have a garage sale or not.  Trouble is closing is in a few weeks but we have Easter this weekend so I don’t see much packing being done.  I’d rather take time to pack and be ready then to use 2 days for a garage sale. I can always have a sale at new house.  I have donated tons of stuff on a weekly basis too so that helps.   But, if I had a garage sale that would be less to move and the money could go towards the boxes and moving company.  Ugh- so undecided!

So that’s what I’ve been up to.  Its very stressful to get all the upteen million documents to the mortgage company, prep for moving, include family visits in there, all while working full time job.  Going crazy for sure. I have had a few days of depression but I’m sure it was stemmed from the stress too. 

Have a wonderful Easter this weekend everyone.  Todd and I are dividing and conquering this holiday. He’s going to our church and then to his parents house where my inlaws and brother n law and sis nlaw will be. I am going to church at my aunts with my grandma Mimi and stepmom Deb, then having lunch at my cousins house.  Its important to spend time with my stepmom right now.  I haven’t seen her much this last month and this is a first of many holidays without Daddy.  Oh and did any of yall catch last Sunday’s TV special  The Passion that was written by Tyler Perry and in New Orleans?  Holy Cow was that so cool!! They basically told the story while using current rock and country songs.  Amazing!!

Miss yall and I promise I’ll be back one day and my hope once moved to go back to old self who blogged weekly.  

Wednesday's Hodgepodge

1. I've read several posts and status updates recently describing end of year school field trips. Do you remember taking school field trips as a kid? Where did you go and do you recall a favorite? For any parents responding today, have you ever chaperoned a school field trip, and if so where? I remember going to the Dallas zoo when I was in elementary, and to a very cool Spanish Missions when I was in junior high and attended catholic school in Coronado, Ca., in high school we went on trip to Austin and visited the Capital and LBJ library.

 2. What's something you're tired of seeing online? I can tell you that I am so tired of tons of my facebook connections do nothing but sell stuff- MaryKay, Pampered Ched, Scentsy, Plexus, you name it! They never post about themselves or family, etc. Just buy my crap over and over. HAHA- can you tell it annoys me?

 3. June is the month for roses. Which of the following expressions would you say has most recently applied to your life-'everything's coming up roses', 'there's no rose without a thorn', 'came out smelling like a rose', or 'wearing rose-colored glasses'? I will go with No rose without a thorn. The move is a rose to have a house, backyard, and closer to work, but as mentioned the last few weeks, lots of thorns popped up. 

 4. When grilling outdoors do you prefer gas or charcoal? Who does the grilling at your house? What's the last thing you ate that was cooked on a grill? I like charcoal but we have gas grill and my hubby does the grilling. 

 5. Are you afraid of the dark? Nope. I was always in the lead with my friends hiding behind me when we played Hide and seek outside. 

 6. Share a favorite song with a number in it's title. – Hmm, there were lots from the 80’s and I am total 80’s girl!! Here are a few that I liked: Edge of Seventeen ( Stevie Nicks –my fave), Its not in the title but everyone knows 867-5309 (Jenny), 1999 by Prince, I cant drive 55 (Sammy Hagar), Summer of 69 ( Bryan Adams). 

 7. "Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves."(C.G. Jung). Do you agree? Why or why not? I do agree. I’ve always believed that the very things you like about a person can be the things that drives you crazy about them. My example is that Hubby always loved my brutal honesty and non-sugarcoating and now that we’re married, he said he’s not a fan of it so much. Hmm. 

 8. Insert your own random thought here. I really am not ready to give up blogging but I have lacked either time, topics, or energy to truly blog lately. Next week, Joyce will be on a break so there wont be a Hodgepodge. I’m challenging myself to blog at least twice next week. In other news- PRAISE GOD for insurance because I have my second diamond from jewelry store. They sent my ring off and matched it as close as possible to my lost diamond. No extra fees at all. It’s the same but different. No 2 diamonds are the same so I cant expect for it to be exact. The prongs are different this time and it looks as if it doesn’t sit up as high. Oh well, I’m beyond grateful and its still beautiful for sure! 

Thank you so much for sticking with me during my slow moments. 

Jax is loving his back yard. He has a stick  in his mouth. Any one else's dog likes to eat sticks and pull bark off trees? 

Hodgepodge- better late than never . Right?

I am soooo agggravated! Just realized that this post was still in draft from last week. Poo! I've been so busy, I just noticed . Oh well.... This is from last week and will post tomorrow for this current week. Geesh....

1. Under what circumstances do you do your best thinking? I do my best thinking in the car when I’m driving to work, home, etc. I also do a lot of thinking in the shower ( when I’m not singing whatever song in my head for the moment).

  2. Are you a risk taker? What's one big risk you've taken? I believe I am a pretty big risk taker. I lump it with same category as adventurous and I’m that for sure. I’ve bungee-jumped numerous times off very high places. I’m not afraid of heights so I get dangerously close to the edges simply to look down and see everything – not trying to scare anyone. I risked a “safe” job when I interviewed for my position I have now 10 years ago. My training team was barely a year old when I applied and it was sketchy for a few years on whether our team would continue or be let go. I am so glad that I took the risk with potentially being unemployed soon after. Luckily, we are still going strong ( knock on wood) and I love every minute of my job. With the merger taking place in July, I’m a little nervous again. 

  3. Some of the most common phobias according to the National Institute for Mental Health are-fear of spiders (arachnaphobia), snakes (ophidiophobia), heights (acrophobia), fear of spaces from which escape is difficult (agoraphobia), fear of thunder and lightening (astrophobia), fear of dogs (cynophobia), injections (trypanophobia), social situations, flying (pteromerhanophobia) and fear of germs and dirt (mysophobia). True phobias affect only about 10% of adults, but of those listed which would you rate as your greatest fear? I hate snakes!! I see them often around my Dad’s ranch and they were in our pond growing up behind the house in high school, so I’m used to them- but I HATE them. I love lightening and thunder storms and we all know my love for dogs

Here's a cute one of Jax laughing 

. 4. Are you settled or do you feel the need to move somewhere new? HAHA! I am not settled and barely unpacked from my move 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately we moved into a rental home so there will DEFINITELY be another move when we buy our own house. Our plan is to buy a house and live there until we retire, then we want to move to Hill Country and retire there for good. It’s a plan at least!

 5. What is something you find annoying when dining in a restaurant? Kids are run wild. My mom was so strict with my brother and I that people used to compliment her when eating out on how good we were. I expect the same I guess. I understand that kids are going to cry- take them outside or in the bathroom. Don’t ruin everyones else’s experience. 

  6. Daffodil yellow, sunset orange, spring green, or sky blue...your favorite color this time of year? Um, sunset orange ALL year long thanks! 

  7. If you were going to take a holiday all by yourself, where would you go? I would most likely go to Galveston that is our closest beach 5 hours away. I would take a lawn chair and just read books all day. I travel a lot and referring to number 1 question, I’m adventurous. I’ve driven to Niagara Falls by myself, Banff, Whistler, all over LA, Boston, many more all by myself. 8. Insert your own random thought here. I’m working in Jacksonville, Florida this week and have had no time to blog. I still haven’t posted about my birthday last weekend. I’m crazy busy and wouldn’t change a thing but I do wish we had more hours in the day. I’m posting to this linkup a day late and on my lunch hour. I have such dear friends here in Jax that it feels like home here too. Speaking of orange sun- here are a few sunrises I’ve caught from my hotel .

Hodgepodge...

1. Share something you appreciate (or something you appreciated as you were growing up) about your mother. I appreciate my mother’s listening ear. I’ve always been able to share with her my feelings and personal thoughts without ever fearing she would judge me. Mom has always been very supportive of all my decisions good or bad. My mom was 18 when I was born so I’ve always loved that she was younger and more cool and hip than my friends moms growing up. She taught me great appreciation of old rock-n-roll and 68 camaro’s. 

 2. A quote most commonly ascribed to Plato reads "Necessity is the mother of invention." When did this last play out in your own experience? I think I’m pretty handy and can probably come up with a few times I’ve engineered something quick to get me through but I had to be creative just this morning. My puppy stays in a kennel when Todd and I are at work and for whatever reason the gate has shifted and is hard to get the metal rod that locks it in the holes and if I can get it in , its hard to remove. Today, Todd left house before me so I have a screw driver that fit perfectly that’s holding the kennel closed. I’m pretty dang proud and wished I would have done that earlier! 

  3. Share one of the earliest memories you have from childhood. I have a very good memory. My mom is amazed of some things I remember from early age. My great-grandfather died when I was very young (3 or 4) but I clearly remember him holding me in his lap. I have so many fond memories of childhood from riding with my Poppy at age 4 on the Harley and my cousins and I playing outside in the pastures at my great-grandmas house in the country. My mom used to take me to the park every week if I got a good status report and we would also get ice cream from Baskin Robbins. 

  4. When did you last 'hit the mother lode'? What was it? Last weekend I lost my kitchen garbage can which also had my smaller bathroom trash can down in and it blew out of my truck when moving. I stopped at garage sale and bought 2 garbage cans and a vintage table lamp all for 6 dollars!! I also scored mother lode when I married my husband. Not to be sappy but seriously he’s incredible. He works so hard and was amazing during the move. I am a lucky woman! 

 5. What is/was your favorite dish mom made? Do you make that dish for your family/friends now that you're all grown up? Mom makes THE MOST AMAZING spaghetti sauce. She was taught a lot of genuine Italian recipes from an old neighbor we had over 30 years ago that was from Italy. I cant touch her spaghetti and don’t even try. One thing else I always loved was this smothered chicken breasts and rice with some special sauce that I’ve also never attempted. When she comes to visit I always ask for it.

 6. Mother May I? was at one time a popular children's game. It required no equipment or parts to play. What was your favorite childhood game where you could just turn up and play-no gear needed? I loved Simon Says, Hide and Seek, Freeze Tag, all of them. We grew up playing outside until it was bedtime. We made up games all the time. 

 7. Which TV mom (past or present) is your favorite, and why? My favorite mom from past I would say was Mom from Partridge family. How cool was it that her family was in a band and they traveled in cool painted school bus. My present mom would be on Bates Motel. She’s such a great actress and creepy.

 8. Insert your own random thought here: My move did not go well. I cried every day and we still have moving to do this week and deep cleaning our apartment. Many things broke but the very worst loss of all was that I lost my Diamond solitaire out of my ring. I didn’t wear it since last Wednesday and only wore my band. I had Dr appt on Monday and put on my rings and didn’t realize until I was driving that the diamond was missing. It was insured but its just not the same. I’ll tell you more about the move later when I can type without crying.

Hodgepodge this Wednesday

1.April showers bring May flowers or so the saying goes. Are you blooming where you're planted as we begin the month of May? I don’t garden but I am moving this weekend to a house with a huge yard. I could try my hand at it soon. 

 2. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being no big deal, and 10 being full scale panic, rank your fear of spiders. Hmm, probably a 5. I spent many years growing up in the country so you just get used to them.

 3. May is National Salad Month (who knew???)...besides lettuce, what are two must-have ingredients in your favorite salad? Cheese and croutons 

 4. I mentioned on my blog last week that my Daughter1 will be moving to Washington State after she is married. Of the following sites in the Northwest, which would you most like to see in person-Crater Lake (Oregon), Seattle (Washington), Vancouver (British Columbia), San Juan Islands (Washington), Mt. Rainer (Washington) Oregon Coast (Oregon), Mt. St. Helens (Washington), or Olympic National Park (Washington) San Juan Islands and Mt St. Helens are the only two places listed I haven’t seen. I love the Pacific Northwest! I went on a girls trip through Oregon a few years ago and it was amazing! We started in Northern California and drove through the forests of Oregon and then up along the coast and went wine tasting too. I flew out of Portland back home. 

 5. This coming weekend marks the 140th running of the Kentucky Derby...when did you last race (literally or figuratively) to cross a finish line? I don’t run so it wouldn’t be literally. LOL. In order to have an answer, I would say my race for time against moving out deadline. We packed solid this past weekend and still have so much more to do. We did go recently to the horse races ( if you read last week’s post) and had a blast!! 

 6. What is something little you love? I love love love my sweet little Chihuahua mix puppy Jax! I LOVE going home and playing with him.

Jax loves work from home days. 

 I also love sweet tea. That’s a little something right? 

 7. Would you say you are more of a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner? Elaborate. I really am a little of all. Visual more than anything though. I’ve learned a lot as a corporate trainer on knowing my audience and making sure they connect to what I’m teaching. I always have handouts and slides. I can relate next to being a kinesthetic learner because doing it is the best way to remember and learn something. Audio works as well but you have to pay attention to tones, etc on the subject. I may need to hear it twice before I feel like I ‘know’ it.

 8. Insert your own random thought here. Tomorrow is last workday in office this week and then its Go time for the move. We sign the lease tomorrow, clean the house and move our clothes Thursday, and Friday the movers show up. We actually have until May 10 to be out of the apartment which is great so we can get everything out and cleaned. Wish us luck. So far our marriage is still intact. Hahaha!   I’m exhausted from packing and excited to see Jax’s reaction when we put him in his own back yard.

Pretty Little Beauty Swap

Hey y'all! How was your Easter weekend? Seriously mine was so crazy busy and fun! Friday I went to see Rob Thomas in concert at Winstar casino in Oklahoma. It's only a few hours away and it went by quickly because my friend and I were getting caught up.  The concert was incredible!! It was acoustic and he called it an Intimate Performance. I just can't stop thinking about it and that means something.  

Saturday morning, Todd and I continued packing. We got a lot done but so much more to go. We have to pack every day after work.  Later that evening, we met our friends Di and David and went to Lone Star Park horse races in Grand Prairie.  That was my first time there for the races and it was soooo much fun! I didn't win much but I didn't lose all I had either so I was happy. My friends won 18$ so they were happy. lol. The bets were 2$ so you can play for hours and only spend 10 bucks. Only complaint is that we had box seats so it was indoors but people are allowed to smoke.  I was stinky when I got home but it was worth it! 

Yesterday we went to church and then had nice lunch with my in laws. I love them like crazy and had great visit. I ate too much and went home and took a nap.  We didn't pack yesterday so it was a lazy day with Jax. 

I signed up a few weeks ago for a beauty swap over at Chelsee's blog Southern Beauty Guide.  I thought it would be fun and nice to meet new bloggers.  Who doesn't love getting makeup in the mail? I received my  package on Saturday and loved my stuff. 

I got some BB cream, some lipgloss, lip liner , liquid eyeliner ( my fave) and some mascara.  Thanks Angie!  Love it! 

 

It's fun to do swaps here and there. Now that I'm moving, back to a tighter budget so glad I did this swap now. 

Happy Monday!