Copy Cat!

I read JT's blog and saw a similar posting and decided to "borrow" the idea and list 10 things that you might not know (or care) about me. Here goes...

1) I grew up in Monahans, TX...a small town of about 8,000 people is the desert of Texas (west of Odessa). Lived there 18 years until I moved to Abilene. Lived there 4 years and then moved to the big city.

2) I played basketball in college at McMurry University for 2 years. I was recruited out of high school and I loved every moment of it. I actually was a starter my sophomore year!! I met 5 girls that I played ball with that I still keep in touch with and love! I had to stop playing for several reasons, the first being that I was diagnosed with Viral Encephalitis, a condition where a there is a viral infection in your brain causing it to swell. I was in a out of the hospital and it was determined that I had to stop playing sports because any blow to the head could potentially be deadly. Reason #2..I dropped out of school for financial reasons and that is when I started into the working world. I used to be quite bitter about that, but now I see the glory in it. I would not have met my sweet husband, and my brother would not have met his sweet wife, had I not followed that path. All's well that ends well.

3) I was an All-American Cheerleader 2 years in a row. DON'T LAUGH. I had to try out at camp, around 350 girls tried out and 13 made it each year. I hated the stererotypical cheerleader girl in high school, but LOVED cheerleading. Go figure.

4) I hit a cow. HUH? Yes, I hit a cow with my car. It was late at night, I was late getting home...no lights on the small country road I lived on, I slow down when I see a pair of eyes in the middle of the road (WHO LET THOSE EYES OUT???), but it was too late. I smacked that poor cow and killed it. Totalled my car. Didn't have my seat belt on and was going around 65 on impact. My guardian angels were working over time that night...I was shaken up but didn't have a scratch on me.

5) I burned down my college dorm room. I was out one night with a group of friends, got home (my roommate was out of town), lit a candle and placed it on the speaker. Since my bed had books and clothes all over it, I decided to sleep in her bed and placed the candle on the speaker on her side. 6am the next morning, we decide to go to the lake. I roll out of bed and leave. When we get back later that day there are firetrucks at the dorm...I remember thinking, "OOOH, sucks to be that person. Well, as it turns out, it sucked to be me. The candle was still lit when I left, it caught the speaker on fire and then the bed. Once again, angels were working overtime...nothing on my side was damaged. NOTHING. Had to do some community service, was asked to kindly NOT COME BACK to the dorm, and the rest is history.

6) I grew up with convicts. Again...HUH??? We actually lived in a small town outside of Monahans, named Pyote. My dad was the superintendent of the West Texas State School there. This is a campus for juvenille deliquent boys (ages 13-18) that had committed some crime, but were too young to go to jail. Since my dad was the big boss, he needed to live in the housing on campus, so that is where we grew up. I spent most of my nights and weekends playing basketball with the boys that were locked up (under supervision of course). That is why playing basketball against girls bores me to tears.

7) I have a lisp that I have worked really hard to overcome. It is really obvious when I have to read out loud for some reason, but for the most part people don't seem to notice. The hubby notices it and thinks it's "adorable".

8) I've been an insomniac for as long as I can remember. Once I go to sleep I am ok, but it is the falling asleep that is has always been my nemesis. I have tried every sleeping pill out there, I try to read, I've taken a warm bath before bed, I've watched TV, NOTHING WORKS. Cool thing is, I haven't had trouble ONE NIGHT sine getting married. It's super.

9) I was minutes away from being named Wynona. Wynona Williams. Poor Ryan was going to be named Waylan. My older sister is Whitney, and my older brother's real name is Wesley (he goes by John now)...so my dad wanted us to be Whitney, Wesley, Wynona and Waylan Williams. Thank GOD for my strong mother putting her foot down. I still got made fun of for being named Reagan, but I have a feeling that Wynona would have been much worse.

10) Since turning 18, I have had 11 piercings. Only a few are left...my nose, and my ears (5 between both ears). Are you dying to know what else?? Too bad. :)

There you go! Now you have ammunition to make fun of me.

Eager Mind, Tired Body

I don't own a scale to weigh myself for several reasons. 1) I am too cheap to buy one 2) I have never seen my weight as a big enough issue to justify buying one 3) I am scared of what it might say when I get on it. The only time I am weighed is when I go to the dr...and then I am always shocked that I am the overweight. By overweight, I don't mean that I am so big that I can't move...I just mean overweight for my frame. At 5'3" (On a good day), my ideal weight is between 115-125. Ok, so I am over that...and I have made up my mind that I have to do something about it. I love to work out, but I have been so bad at it...I guess in my brain I think that they extracurricular activities that I do (softball, kickball, occassional walk with dogs) is enough to shed those unwanted pounds. WRONG. I know my problem is my diet so that is something else I have to change. Yesterday I had a twix bar for breakfast, mac and cheese for lunch and chicken and linguine for dinner. Not terrible, but certainly not a diet that insinuates healthy living. SO, today I begin. I am going to dust off the Tae Bo DVD and suffer through 35 minutes of Billy Blanks telling me, "You feeling it? Only 3 more sets!!!" All the while, the man is barely sweating and his little gang of superfit sidekicks are giggling and bouncing around. Just pisses me off. My goal is to work out 4 times a week (3 days with weights cause it burns fat SO much faster). We'll see. I plan to drop 15 pounds by Christmas. YES, I do need to lose it...when I feel a roll in my stomach when I bend over...that is when I have to do something about it. :) We'll see how it goes...I hope that my laziness and procrastination do not triumph. Feet don't fail me now!!!!

BROKEN?!?!?!

I posted a comment last week about the kickball extravaganza...the fateful game where I deemed it necessary to DIVE into second base. This is where I jammed two fingers on my left hand. It has been 10 days now, the swelling has not gone down much and the pain is almost unbearable. I can't bend my middle finger, and now there is a knot on the side...that is never a good sign. I honestly think that I may have broken or dislocated 1 or both fingers. UGH. So, now I must make a decision...do I go to the doctor only to have him tell me that my fingers are just badly jammed...or do I live with the pain and risk damaging it further? Luckily I am covered on my husband's insurance, but now I have to possibly take a couple of hours from work (hard to do when it is only my 3rd week...). UGH. Stay tuned for more exciting details!!

"Sumo" FUN!

We had a great time in Bay City this past weekend for the boys party...it was a Halloween party and Curt and I dressed up and had a blast. It was fun to see the family and to hang out with all of them! Saturday we got to go to the Rice Festival Parade...that was just awesome! There were over 100 floats, it was spectacular. We got up Saturday morning and went to my sisters house and rode with them to the parade. The weather was beautiful and it was so enjoyable to just relax and hang out with the kids and my brother, sister, and brother in law. Then we went back to my sisters house and got ready for the Halloween party...the kids were so cute. Bradley and Braden were both Power Rangers, Jordan was a fairy, and Emily was a cheerleader. Too cute. My older brother bought a mask for the kids to wear around...here it is...pretty huh?

The kids loved, mom hated it...mission accomplished. We finished the night on Saturday with an intense game of Texas Hold Em'. Buy in was $15 each, so the winner took $60 and second took $30...it was a heated battle, but I am proud to say that I got 2nd and won mine and Curt's money back. Who won? Well, my mom (of course). She acts so innocent like she is just a little old lady playing a fun game with her kids...but don't let that fool you. She is out for blood. :) It was hard, as always, to say goodbye to the family...seems like the time with them is never long enough. We have the holidays to look forward to, so my heart wasn't as heavy. I am just so blessed to have a family like mine, and a husband that loves them as much as I do. Great trip!!

Family Time

So tonight we are travelling to the big Bay City to see my sister and her kids, and my mom. The boys are turning 6 tomorrow and we are going to their bday party. My sis decided to just do a Halloween theme so the kids could dress up...the boys want to be Power Rangers. Since they will fight over who gets to be what color...my sis just decided that they will both be the blue guy. Curt and I decided that we would dress up, I am certain that we will be the only adults there in costume, but we will go to any lengths to make those kids laugh. :) My older brother is driving in from Abilene as well, so it will be a fun-filled weekend...one that I will need a few days to recover from. We are going to surprise the kids by bringing Roxy and Gus. Is this really a good idea? 5 hours in a car with 2 Toy Fox Terriers is probably not the smartest decision...but their normal dog-sitter is out of town so we have no choice. Should add an interesting element to our weekend. I love going to visit Bay City, it is such a small town with the small town feel. Tomorrow is the anual Rice Festival, there will be a parade and all kinds of neat booths in the town square. Reminds me of my child hood when things were so laid back and people actually left their houses and interacted with each other. That is so rare here in the city. So...now I am watching the minutes tick by, ready to get out of here and get on the road. I will post some pictures on Monday of the weekend. :)

Kickball

What was I thinking when I agreed to play kickball for fun? I should know well enough that I can't just go and play ANY sport "for fun"...my competitive side just completely takes over. We had a couple of games last night and the first game we just got SPANKED. To make matters worse, the team we were playing was talking noise the entire game. That is just fuel for the fire for me. Most people can just shake it off, but not me. It's terrible. We finally got our act together for the second game and played really well. The last inning was a doozy...I over ran second base and had to go back...well in my head I thought they were going to throw it at me to get to out so at the last minute I decide to slide. Yeah, there was really no sliding that took place, just me bouncing on the bag...and jamming two fingers in the process. So, now I have two fat fingers on my left hand, I can't even wear my wedding ring. Is kickball REALLY worth it???????? Well, we won...so I say YES! It was worth it. :)

My Twin

I just love my twin brother, Ryan. He is SUCH a good guy. I think sometimes I take him for granted...but I just talked to him and it made me realize what a sweet guy he is. Oh, don't get me wrong...some times I could tackle him cause he makes me crazy, but for the most part, he is SUPER. :) We have always been close, and the older we get, the closer we get. I always know when he is having a bad day or when he needs to talk, I can just FEEL it. The same goes for him...he knows the exact moment to call and make me laugh. He is such a hard worker, he works 50+ hours a week and goes to school full time. I know his wife wishes he was home more, but he is doing it for both of them, he wants to be able to provide and take care of her. They are such a great couple and I am SO happy that Ryan married Lesley. I have known her for almost 8 years, we were friends long before she and Ryan met. I am real lucky to have her as my sister in law. I get to see them both tonight and I am SO excited!

Weekend!!

WOW! What a weekend it was! We found out at the end of last week that my dad had a heart attack...it has been a rollercoaster since then. My twin brother and his wife flew down to Odessa on Friday to see him and take care of him. My dad had open heart surgery 10 years ago, and now his heart is in some danger. He only has 30% usage on it and I worry that he is too stubborn to stay on his medicine until it gets strong enough for the doctors to try and repair it. We have to wait 30 days and then re-evaluate the situation. The hardest part about this is that I have not talked to my dad in almost a year until Friday. There are so many emotions going on in my head, it is all so much to process. Only time will tell how it all plays out.

On a lighter note, we did have a really fun weekend with Connor. We took him to the Wax Museum Haunted House on Friday night! He was so brave, he LOVED it. He walked in front the whole time while I buried my head in Curt's back and screamed the whole time. Needless to say, I am not a fan of paying someone to scare me....but my boys enjoyed it, so I sucked it up! Saturday we took him to his baseball game in Frisco, he was 2 for 2! That little dude can HIT the ball, we were so proud. Then it was off to Six Flags for Fright Fest! I love having season passes, it is so worth the money! We only got to ride a few rides, but we had a good time. Yesterday we had to watch the Giants/Cowboys game, and I am sad to say that our Giants lost! :( Curt was so bummed out, there is nothing worse than losing to the COWGIRLS. UGH. After he recovered, it was off to our Co-Ed softball game last night. We won and are still undefeated! It was my first night at second base and I did pretty good, although I was SO nervous!!

Now it's Monday and another week begins...I need some rest from our weekend! We have to take Connor back tonight and that always bums us out so bad. I love that kid, I wish he never had to leave. 3 years of doing this, and I don't think I'll ever get used to him leaving. Oh well, that is why we just enjoy the time that we have and make the most of it. :)

Here we go!

I decided to give this a shot, we'll see how it goes. I love to write and needed a place that I can just yap on and on about nothing, so why not! :) I have decided that my first official post will be about my sweet husband. WOW, do I LOVE being married to him. He is the coolest! Last night after class I had to go to Target and of course I always spend WAY more than I need to...but we needed a few things. While I was there I decided to do something sweet for Curt, not expensive...just sweet. Well, he needed socks and deodarant (not exciting at all) but then I thought it would be fun to get him some comfy pants to hang out around the house in and then I saw the BeeGees greatest hits for $8 (we both LOVE the BeeGees...keep your giggling to a minimum) so I picked that up too. I bought a gift bag and wrapped everything in tissue paper and then bought a cute little card.

I got home and Curt was on the phone ordering our dinner so I acted real mysterious about what was in the blue gift bag until he got off the phone. The suspense was too much!!! I had to give him his little fun package! You would have thought he opened up a brand new motorcycle. He was so sweet and appreciative and kept saying, "I have the coolest wife ever!!!!!" It just goes to show that things from the heart are so important in a marriage.

Did I mention that I LOVE being married to that man????