. . . And Again.

Today celebrates a very special first birthday . . .

. . . for a very special little puppy.

Complete with presents . . .

Special treats . . .

And a special visit from 'Auntie Kelsey.'

And although he didn't enjoy it too much, there were hats involved too.

Happy Birthday, Westin!

Happy Birthday . . . Again.

A very happy birthday goes out today to my mother-in-law.

As mentioned before, our day yesterday was filled with a wonderful brunch, presents, and celebrating. See for yourself . . .

Happy Birthday, Sharla!

Happy Birthday . . .

As I've mentioned before, the months of March and April are big birthday months for us.

Between Joel's family and mine, we have seven (I think) birthdays . . . resulting in almost one a week.

Because of this, and on top of everyone's busy schedules, it sometimes results in celebrating multiple birthdays in one day.

Such as days like today.

And let me just mention that I see no problem at all in so much celebrating by the way . . .

We started our morning with a wonderful brunch at Joel's parent's house celebrating his mom, Sharla's, birthday. More on that tomorrow, as tomorrow is actually her birthday.

Meanwhile, our evening was spent devouring a wonderful Red Lobster dinner, then back at my grandparent's house to celebrate my grandpa's 79th birthday. Although a few days late of his actual birthday, we still celebrated as we usually would . . .

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

A Few MORE Random Thoughts . . .

** I really have nothing too exciting to post about lately, as you can see. Our lives have pretty much been 'routine' lately, involving working, hockey games, and sleeping. I obviously need to start becoming a little more creative with my posts . . .

** I think it's really strange, and kind of creepy, that the man that lives across the street from us carries a gun at his waist at ALL times. I think it may be part of his job, but really, do you need to carry a gun with you to the mailbox?

** My mom, who returns from Vegas today, is now an official 'pirate booty shaking' competition champion. Don't ask.

** My new favorite thing? Sushi. I'm officially obsessed.

** My job continues to amaze and terrify me at the same time. It's becoming more nerve-wracking to me: more responsibility is being laid on my shoulders, as I am doing more on my own . . . yet it continues to amaze me more and more every day. I love looking at the babies on the Kadlec website, knowing that I played such a big part in them being here. Nerdy? . . . probably, but it kind of makes me feel needed.

** One of my latest gulity pleasures is Sister Wives. Have you watched this thing? I don't know what to think about it . . .

** My favorite article of clothing? Scarves.

** Spring is fast approaching . . . actually I guess it's already here, although the weather doesn't really feel like it to me. I'm not a huge spring person, but one thing I am definately looking forward to is going to the cabin / camping.

** The movie Unknown was really good . . . I would definately recommend it.

** And finally, I've really been in the mood for a short road trip. Where to go . . .

March 17, 2011 . . .

Happy St. Patricks Day!!

We will not be doing anything particularly special in these neck of the woods today (as I will be at working tonight), but Joel and Tommy have been celebrating at the coliseum with green beer, green pop, and green shirts with ties . . .

How do you celebrate St. Patricks Day?

Tuesday Night Game Night.

Game nights around here tend to result in things like . . .

Joel wearing a pink bib . . .

Bryan attempting to tie a tie . . .

Terra doing ballet . . .

Tommy thinking really hard . . .

Joel wearing lipstick . . .

. . . and Jen and Megan laughing hysterically at it all.

Random Tuesday nights never fail to be entertaining around here . . . need I say more?

Home Project #1

Spring is quickly approaching, and I have decided it's time for some re-vamping of our house.

Last year, our time and money was spent on necessities for our house . . . sprinklers, furniture, blinds, etc. Things like that. Our house was extremely simple when we bought it, and a lot of things needed to be added in order to make it even somewhat functionable. Not a bad thing, just the way a new house purchase works I suppose.

Along the way, though, I tried to buy things that looked nice and matched at the same time. That would at least be an upgrade from our apartment. I attempted to make my house look like the picture I've always had in my head.

I was trying to save money, but at the same time get things that I wanted . . . things like our dining room table, bedroom furniture, etc. Sometimes though, I've decided, that can be quite a fine line to find.

But now that that's out of the way, I've decided it's time to make this place a little more like a home. Kind of cliche I suppose, but you know what I mean . . . it's time for some decorating and paying attention to the smaller details now.

We decided that since we didn't have any major purchases to put into the house this year (aside from a new washer, dryer, and couch I suppose), it would be time to upgrade this place a bit.

We have a few things up our sleeve. Nothing major, but some minor details that I'm hoping make this place a little more like I've wanted.

To begin this little "project," my mom, sister and I spent a day shopping recently. We were also fortunate enough to receive quite a few decorating pieces as wedding gifts as well. But during our little shopping outing, I managed to walk away with this . . .

I'd wanted something to make the entry-way right inside the front door a little more exciting. We received a gift card to Lowes for our wedding, so I decided to go on the hunt for a rug to liven things up a bit. I seem to have really good luck with rugs at Lowes (although I'm not particularly sure why), and was pleased to find this one.

My next goal is to find a small table to put here, to help liven things up even more.

So stay tuned as we manage to update things here and there. We'll just tackle one thing at a time, and see what happens!

One Down . . .

A couple of days ago I finished the book.


I have to say that it was pretty good. I think I liked House Rules a little bit better, but like I said, her books never fail to be a good read. This one was probably a little bit more "deep," I guess, especially if you have a hard time reading about depressing topics. I don't want to ruin it too much, on the off chance someone decides to read it, but I'll tell you that it addresses a bit of rape, suicide, and some murder. And how one accusation can ruin so many people.

So there you go. If you like depresssing things like that (I find myself kind of interested in these things . . . does that make me morbid?), then I would definately reccomend it.

Next on the list . . .

A Few Random Thoughts For The Day . . .

** I am amazed at how sunny it has been day after day, while I continue to read about how much snow others are still fighting.

** I have recently made it my goal to collect as many Disney movies on DVD as possible . . . eventually I would like my future children to enjoy them as much as I did growing up. I haven't made too much progress, but do now own a few.

** I think I'm allergic to my wedding ring, which is unfortunate.

** I'm obsessed with Crystal Light iced tea mix, and prefer raspberry or peach tea.

** Speaking of peaches, those are my favorite fruit, and cannot wait for them to come into season.

** As well as corn on the cob.

** I had some terrible, freaky, and weird dreams last night . . . I do not enjoy dreaming about people being shot, me shooting people, and bad experiences at work. Bummer.

** I think I've discovered that Westin is not a big fan of balloons.

** I'm hoping that my new couch comes very soon . . . twelve weeks seems like forever.

** My parents leave in about a week to fly to Vegas to see Bon Jovi. Jealous? I am.

** And finally, happy birthday today to my sister-in-law, Krista!

What's On Your DVR?

As I was cleaning out our DVR today, I realized how interesting I find it that there is such a difference between one person's DVR to the other. I just find it interesting that while one person's is filled with movies and comedy shows, another is filled with reality and drama shows. That the two could not have a single show in common.

Like I said before, we definately watch too much TV. That's just how it is I suppose. But I do love my DVR . . . if I see a show that looks interesting that starts in a week, I just find it, set it up, and don't have to worry about it again. Then, it's almost like a surprise when it appears the next week on the list of shows to watch.

I'm probably thinking into this too much, and perhaps I'm weird for even thinking about it at all. But, I think it's one of those subtle things that shows part of a person's personality. I think it shows something . . . not good and not bad . . . but something about a person's lifestyle . . . while ours has absolutely no children's shows, that's all the next one may be filled with.

It's just weird to me how so many people can use the same thing in the exact same way, but for such different reasons.

So, on that note, here's what's recorded on our DVR. Note that there are a lot . . . we are kind of pack rats when it comes to our DVR. Some shows are my choices, some are Joel's, and some are a joint decision. Keep in mind that some of these even I have no idea as to what they are. I suppose that opinion thing can change even in the same household.

But, I will list out every one out, because like I say, I think it's interesting . . .

At first I was going to list these out with some type of explination. Afterall, not everyone has 25 episodes of Cops on their DVR. But then I realized, being that there are 43 different shows (most of those have multiple episodes taped), this post would take forever, and nobody would probably finish reading it (who has time for that?). So here's a simple list . . . think what you want.

. . . Undercover Boss . . .

. . . Desperate Housewives . . .

. . . The Amazing Race . . .

. . . Les Miserables 25th Anniversary Show . . .

. . . Cops . . .

. . . DEA . . .

. . . American Idol . . .

. . . One Born Every Minute . . .

. . . Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior . . .

. . . Off the Map . . .

. . . Criminal Minds . . .

. . . Survivor: Redemption Island . . .

. . . Campus PD . . .

. . . Shinedown: Madness . . .

. . . Journey: Live in Manila . . .

. . . Southland . . .

. . . V Fest 2009 . . .

. . . The Cape . . .

. . . The Chicago Code . . .

. . . Invitation Only: Rascal Flatts . . .

. . . Invitation Only: Darius Rucker . . .

. . . On the Red Carpet at the Oscars . . .

. . . The 83rd Annual Academy Awards . . .

. . . Life As We Know It . . .

. . . Law & Order: Special Victims Unit . . .

. . . Detroit 1-8-7 . . .

. . . Toughest Military Jobs . . .

. . . Coca-Cola: The Real Story . . .

. . . 60 Minutes . . .

. . . The Sound of Music . . .

. . . The Sing-Off . . .

. . . The Defenders . . .

. . . College Soccer . . .

. . . Hallelujah Broadway . . .

. . . Cirque du Solei . . .

. . . Beyonce's: I Am . . . World Tour . . .

. . . Taylor Swift : Speak Now . . .

. . . Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights . . .

. . . Bedtime Stories . . .

. . . Avatar . . .

. . . The Women of SNL . . .

There you go. Weird, maybe . . . but that's us. So I leave you with the question . . .

What's on YOUR DVR?

One Born Every Minute

Have you ever seen this show?

I love it. It's one of those shows that the minute I see it on my DVR, it's time to stop what I'm doing to watch it.

It's based in a hospital that has cameras set up 24 hours a day in their labor and delivery rooms. Obviously a lot of editing is done, but it's sort of a reality show that simply shows people's birth stories.
I think I like it because it seems to be pretty realistic. Most of the time it makes me laugh . . . some people definately do interesting things, to say the least. Perhaps they are acting, knowing that there is a camera in the room, but sometimes I'm pretty sure that's how people are when "nobody" is watching. Like the lady that planned a natural birth, while she and her husband chanted "open" for over 24 hours. And the guy that dropped a camera on his baby while taking its first pictures. Or the grandmother with no teeth, that was adamant that her daughter would have a C-Section if that was the fastest way to get her baby out.

I'm pretty sure there wasn't any acting there.

Like I say, it's definately entertaining.

But occasionally it makes me kind of nervous. Knowing that I will be the nurse on there that needs to know what to do when something goes terribly wrong honestly makes me a little uneasy.

As you probably know, I'm in the middle of being trained to be a labor nurse at work. I've had mixed emotions about it . . . I'm definately excited about it, as it has been my goal ever since I was like 10. But at this point, the TERRIFIED aspect seems to be overpowering everything else.

I'm almost at week 5 of my 12 week orientation. So far I feel like I've learned a lot, but there is so much more to learn at the same time. There is so much that can go wrong while someone's having a baby, and instantly for that matter, that I feel like I'm not sure how I'm supposed to learn how to deal with all of those possibilities in a mere 12 weeks.

But at the same time, I've discovered that I have what has got to be the coolest job in the entire world. There's nothing better than being there while two people bring a little life into the world, and the emotions that always seem to take over, no matter what the situation is. Whether it's seeing big burly men break out into tears as their daughter is born, or a terrified mother finally open up and relax while snuggling her baby, it's always as cool as it was the first time.

I know it's always been that way, and that nurses have been experiencing this for years. But to me, it's still all brand new.

I've always been fortunate enough to be part of the birth, even as a "postpartum nurse." But for some reason I feel much more of a bond with my patients, helping them through one of the hardest things they've ever done, and being there at the end to see the reward. It's definately a rewarding process, to say the least.

So as I continue to learn for the next 7 weeks, I am hoping that I become a little more comfortable with things. I keep telling myself that I was this nervous when I first started . . . and they say that you are a good nurse if you never feel "completly comfortable" with things. Don't get me wrong, these things will become routine at some point, and the patients are always safe (I do know what I'm doing to an extent . . . :)

But for now, I will continue to learn as much as I can, and be thankful for having such an amazing job . . .

. . . Oh, and you should really watch the show . . . it's definately worth spending time on.

I Can't Believe It's March Already . . .

Reasons to celebrate March include . . .

St. Patricks Day. Birthdays. Getting My New Couch.

Westin's First Birthday. Continuing My Labor Training At Work.

Hockey Games. Warmer Weather.

And whatever else this month chooses to bring us . . .

Happy March!