"A Woman Happily In Love, She Burns the Souffle"

Today, D and I took a big step toward a big milestone in life. And today, I am proud of us.

It may not work out.

But also, it might.

So for today, I am happy, and for today, I am proud of us for making a choice all on our own and following it through without anyone else’s opinion.  (Other than the expert’s opinion, which was really all we needed.)

So, maybe it will go smoothly. And maybe it won’t. Either way, I am happy about our choice.

{ 1 comment }

As my longtime readers and friends know, I lost close to 30 lbs in 2010…kept it off in 2011, minus a few pesky pounds that crept back on over the holiday season. I am hoping those will be gone soon because for most of the 12 days of 2012…I have been a fitness FREAK!

For most of my adult life, I’ve enjoyed physical activity….but I often had to let it drop in favor of other things, such as school and work. Right now though I am working a job with terrific hours that does not eat up all of my day, so I am finding that I have more time for fun fitness related things.

I have discovered two new fun things this year…zumba! And….pole fitness! I am not terribly good at either, but I have had a blast so far. I have only attended one pole fitness class so far, but I did enjoy it. However, I am wondering if my money might be better spent on a home version. I enjoyed the class, but I felt that I might perform better without having so many other people around…I am sort of a solitary performer until I am absolutely 100% proof positive that I am FABULOUS at something…which is probably a hang up that I need to get over. I started running in 2011 and preferred to run by myself at odd hours until I got to the point where I could run a decent amount of time, and then started running with friends. So maybe the class is good for me after all…maybe I need to overcome that particular hangup in 2012.

I also want to take a few classes in bellydancing and yoga…both things that I have dabbled in before, but have never gotten very serious about. I have practiced yoga on my own for a few years, but I would love to get REALLY good at it.

So…lots of fun things to look forward to in 2012! Hopefully this time in 2013 I’ll be writing about how awesome it was to get so in shape!

{ 0 comments }

Tonight, spurred on by hunger and a $50 wal-mart gift card, I bought a “ninja” food processor.

I love to cook, and after crushing oreos for truffles in an ancient blender last Friday night, I decided that I would buy a real food processor at the nearest opportunity.  So, tonight, my opportunity came.

I was extremely hungry, and thirsty (and a lot of other “y”s), so I decided I would get the ingredients for homemade salsa and tortilla chips. I came home, washed my nifty new chopper up, and set to work on my salsa masterpiece. Four roma tomatoes, two cloves of garlic, and a handful of fresh cilantro later, I had my perfectly blended salsa. By this time, I was even MORE hungry…which led to me eating nearly half a bag of chips and the entire container (save for a few teaspoonfulls) of salsa that I had made. IT WAS SOO GOOD. If I could have crawled into bed with it and snuggled it, I would have.

As you can imagine though, one does not feel quite so…perky after eating all of that.   I think my 2-clove garlic breath would knock a vampire dead (sorry, Edward), and now I am even thirstier after eating all the salty chips. Blech.

So in short: food chopper=good. salsa=good. chips=good. strawberry daquiri=good. excess of the latter 3=no bueno.

{ 0 comments }

Dear Santa, I mean, D:

Just count your blessings that my amazon universal wishlist button somehow mysteriously disappeared from firefox…the timing seemed to suspiciously coincide with my recent searches of the Mercedes-Benz website. Just be happy that as of yet, I have not figured out how to add the shiny, shiny black car to my official wishlist.  However, I was able to add jewelry from Tiffany’s without a hitch…stinks to be your wallet these days, haha. Just wait….I will get that magical button back ASAP.

Love,

Rachel

{ 0 comments }

Today, I had my kids (uh..the kids that I teach, I didn’t magically pop any out or anything) write a story about a bird. This is the list of words that I was asked to write on the board so they could see how they were spelled:

• Gamestop
• Fashion
• Vicious
• Vampire
• Forest

I didn’t get a chance to read those stories yet…but somehow I’m betting that nothing good happened to those birds.

{ 3 comments }

Well, after promising not to be such a crap blogger, I turned right around and didn’t blog for almost another month.

Anyway.

Maybe I won’t do it again…time will tell.

Let’s see…what’s new in the world of Rachel?

Well, D got a new car. I like the new car, but more than the fact that I like the car, I like the fact that we can stop looking at cars. I actually like looking at cars, but I do not like having to buy them. Actually, more specifically, I want to buy ALL the cars. Well, maybe not every car, but every time we would get in one that was reasonably nice, I would say “I like this one, here is my money.” Ok, that is not exactly what I said, but that is the gist. Too bad that D is so practical. That shiny black Mercedes was really me. Oh well, someday, shiny black car.

I like the car we got, and I also like the fact that we got rid of the gas guzzler. Let me just tell you that getting rid of a Lincoln Navigator in the current economic environment was somewhat of a pain. And everyday that it sat in the driveway, I wondered what possessed us to buy that particular car four years ago. Don’t get me wrong, it was a nice car, but much too big for two people.

In other money spending news, D and I are house shopping.  It’s kind of funny because our tastes in cars and houses are somewhat reversed. I point out little houses, D points out monstrosities. I point out shiny cars and D quotes the MPG.

Luckily though, we can always come to an agreement (usually because the bank forces us to, haha) and meet somewhere in the middle. Right now, we are looking at houses that need a bit of renovation so that we can choose what we like. We also have the blueprints for a house on hand in case we decide to go that route.

So anyway, big changes all around and I’m sure more to come. I’ll get my moving boxes ready…shouldn’t be an issue because some of them I haven’t unpacked since the last time I moved, haha.

{ 1 comment }

Heya, internet. It’s me, your very best longtime friend (VBLF). I’m sorry that I have woefully neglected this blog as of late. A lot has happened. Well, when I say “a lot”, I actually mean that thanks to my super-password creating mad skillz, I created a password that was so awesome I couldn’t remember it, and then could not be fussed to change it, thanks to work and other general life things just kind of taking over so that I kind of forgot about blogging.

I’m sorry, blog, I lurve you, I really do.

Anyway,numerous things have happened since I last blogged. Let’s see….I got sick numerous times, once while we were on vacation, which resulted in us coming home early. The sick episodes were caused by my gallbladder, which was apparently abnormal…and was removed last week.  I am healing well though, and glad to have that over with. I  no longer have a gallbladder, appendix, wisdom teeth, tonsils, nor adenoids. I’m like an Operation game missing some of the pieces.

I just realized that I used the word “numerous” twice in that last paragraph, and it kind of made me sound like a prat. Oh well.

Oh, I must add though, that after having my gallbladder removed I can now eat like a freaking champ. Before, I had come to regard eating as something that must be carefully thought out, as to avoid any possible…unpleasantness that might occur as a result of eating. Some people may have noticed that I looked thinner and unnaturally wan. The thinness I can blame on gallbladder issues, the unnatural wanness is actually natural. I wear the very lightest shade of foundation Clinique has to offer, and sadly, even Alabaster foundation must  be blended EXTREMELY well to avoid an unfortunate line on my jaw.  The paleness, I have it. The Cullens have nothing on me.

Hmm… what else? Well, I dyed my hair black, over my natural chestnut. I like it better this way. My eyebrows are straight up black. My parents are both black-haired, but neither started that way. Actually, my father’s hair followed the same path as mine did.  Very blond, to strawberry blond, to dishwater blond, to a golden brown, chestnut, then black. I am reasonably sure my own hair will do the same. That is, if the grays do not overwhelm it. I thought I had something in my hair the other day, but no, it was just the gray peeking through.

So…that’s what is new in my world. What’s new in yours?

{ 0 comments }

Last night:

Me, trying to get comfy, and fluffing my pillow.

D: “Ouch!”

Me: “What?”

D:” You hit me in the eye with your pillow!”

Me: “So? You can still see.”

D: “Oh, shut up.”

{ 1 comment }

I have had sort of a lazy day today…my summer is dwindling to an end, and I have to go to some party for work tonight. So, I’ve spent most of the day flopped down in a chair with a Janet Evanovich novel, enjoying a quiet house.

That is until my doorbell rang. First of all, let me say that I do not open the door unless I am expecting someone. We live in a neighborhood and people frequently go around selling things. Plus, anyone that would come to my house that I actually know would shoot me a text first. Anyway, the doorbell rang and I just ignored it.

Then, I heard the storm door handle turn. Obviously, at this point, I was a little alarmed. My dogs were growling at this point, so that did not help my calmness level any. Thankfully, the storm door was locked…I hear the doorbell go off again, and this time someone is really laying into it. I decided to investigate since I knew for sure now that the storm door was locked.  I go to the door and open it just a crack (leaving the storm door closed) and see two 13-14 year old boys standing on my front porch.

Me: “Yes? Can I help you?”

Boy: “Uh, we were wondering if you might have any chores for us to do?”

Me: “No, I am sorry. My fiance takes care of all of that.” (I was assuming he meant outside stuff.)

Boy:”Ugh! Ok, fine.” Walking away: “Ahh, I really need some money!” (All said in v. snotty tone of voice.)

Ok….first of all, I sincerely hope that their parents were working and had no clue what they were up to. Because what kind of parent lets a kid go up to strangers doorbells and ask to do chores? I have never seen these kids in my life, so I am just guessing that they don’t live in this neighborhood. If my parents had caught me doing something like this, I would have needed a lock pick, because they would have locked me up until I was old and gray.  Second of all, rude! I said no, but if they had been polite, sweet kids, and I saw them around again, I probably could have thought of something they could have done (like pulling weeds, which desperately needs to be done).

So kids, just a few words of advice…it’s probably not the best idea anyway to go around ringing strangers doorbells. You might think that you are grown-ups, but you would be easy pickings for someone who wanted to do something horrendous. I know that we live in a nice area, and you wouldn’t expect something like that to happen, but things like that can and do happen everywhere. Probably not the best idea to try to open someone’s storm door. This is Tennessee, you know, and people are quite fond of their guns.  Secondly, when someone politely tells you no, it’s best to be polite back. I’m not old enough to be your mother, but I’m also not that far from it.  Maybe you just moved to the area, but down here, if you don’t have good manners, you don’t have anything.  Lastly, it would be better if you thought of something specific to do and asked to do that. What are you good at? “Chores” is really vague and what if someone wants you to do something that you really don’t want to do? Like picking up dog poop or something. If you had asked to do something specific, I would have thought a lot harder about it.

Just some food for thought, rude little boys.

{ 2 comments }