Nothing better

When you are exhausted but forced to continue working your twelve hour shift, there is nothing better than walking to 7-11 at one in the morning and buying a Diet Mountain Dew.  That first swallow of delicious, cold, bubbly fluid is heaven.  Sometimes I think I should be paid to advertise this stuff.

Home Comfort

After one year of living in this family, Abigail has finally found her niche.  She is a remote hog.  If ever I cannot find the remote, she is laying on it.

Best News EVER!!!!

My husband said to me today that he has accomplished everything he wanted to on the hotel so he will be coming home for my birthday at the end of the month.  Now he has said before that he would be taking a break and coming to visit me but this time I actually believe him.  He will be staying here until my work contract is done the beginning of December and then we will both drive down to Guatemala.  All 2800 miles.  We will stay down there until we run out of money.  I can't wait.  Yippeee!!

Sickness

I've had a horrible sore throat for three days.  I am out of cold medicine, allergy medicine and herb tea.  Do I crawl out of bed, get dressed, and visit the store to restock and feel better?  No.  Nothing on that list is worth getting dressed for.  But ice cream, that is worthy of visiting the store @ 3am.

Taste Buds

It is amazing to me how when it is THAT time of the month nothing tastes good except for chocolate, sugar, and bread.  For an entire week I fell off the low-carb wagon and wallowed around in the joy and pain of sugar in all its may forms.  My week had started off by making a delicious Salad Nicoise.

This was supposed to tide me over my week of working.  Unfortunately with the change in my hormone status the first thing I said was "Ugg.  Tastes like dirt."  (I promise that it didn't.  It really is quite delicious.)  I am now surfacing from the week of horror and have made my first meal.

Baked Red Bell Pepper and Salami Salad.  Ahh, It's nice to be back on the wagon.

Hotel Changes

So Karen, you wanted more pictures of the hotel and here they are.  The first shot is what it looked like in March.

The before shot

The after shot (pretend the floor has been cleaned)

This is my favorite place.  Every morning we would sit out here and watch the village come alive.

I'll be back there soon enough, but for now these pictures will have to keep the homesickness away.

The End of an Era (Sort of)

After 12 years without a serious haircut, I finally had to do it.  No more luscious, flowing locks for me. Apparently, at some point during my week-long carbohydrate binge my hair got too close to the stove.  About six inches of it melted.  So I was forced to take the plunge and cut it off.

Yes, that is my pile of hair.  Now I look like this.

Back to the hairstyle I had when I was 15 years old.  Don't I look young?

Back in the Saddle Again

I have a new computer, blogger is working, my wireless speakers are blasting my favorite Christmas music, there is nothing to prevent me from reentering the virtual world again.  I spent yesterday reviewing my favorite blogs and it feels good to be reconnected, even though I was my usual invisible visitor.

So what has been going on in my life since January?

I learned how to sand and stain

Attended the birthday party of the cutest nephew in the world

Adopted a Guatemala street dog named Bailey (I promise she is cuter than this picture).  But she loves her belly rubbed.

Spent the last eight months missing my husband as he works on our hotel in Guatemala.

But look how far he has come.

And of course I have been back there several times.

So that is my life, up to date.  See you around....

The Growing Finchwood Family

Today's post about the newest member of the Finchwood family.  My old mixer was a castoff from a friend and had been shooting out blue sparks each time it was used.  Last week it beat its last batch of cookies before dying permanently.  As my Latin Lover has a tremendous sweet tooth (and I refused to beat anything by hand) we finally got one of those nice standing mixers.  

In the last three days I have made cake, bread, and cookies.  The bad news? No way I can follow a low carb diet with a new mixer.

Which Kitty Should I be Today?

Which kitty should I be today? Should I be Annie and hide under the covers all day?

Perhaps I should be Amos, constantly begging for attention...

I actually feel like being Abigail today.  The sun is shining and the outdoors is calling me.  Time to run around like crazy and pretend to be super busy.

(No face shot availible as she never holds still long enough for a picture)



The "First" Day Of My Vacation

Why Plain Jane, what a dedicated blogger you are.  I can't believe you are posting on the first day of your vacation.  This must be one of those sneaky scheduled posts. 

Dear Reader, this is not a scheduled post, but one written in real time.  This is also not the first day of my vacation.  I was supposed to leave for Guatemala last week on Wednesday or Thursday.  We were going to drive.  Unfortunately my husband got a horrific stomach flu that put him in bed (or actually the bathroom) till Sunday.  Then he discovered that he needed to take these certification classes in order to get a job and those classes take till Wednesday to finish.  At that point we decided to just fly instead of drive as my vacation days were slowly ticking away.  That gave us two and a half days to find our passports and get everything together before our flight left on Saturday morning.  We collected three boxes of clothes and toys for the kids in Panajachel, weighing and measuring to make sure there would be no problems transporting them.  At 4:30am we arrived at the airport.  Standing in the unmoving line, I pulled out the passports.  That is when I noticed the date on my husbands.  "Expires January 15, 2012".  Tomorrow.  Yup.  We placed a quick call to our buddy who dropped us off, "DON'T LEAVE YET!!"  When we got to the front of the line, the ticket checker said we couldn't fly with any boxes as there was currently an embargo in place till February 1st.  Also, he isn't allowed on the plane with a passport that expires during his trip.  Now he could go to the post office and tell them he is leaving on vacation and they would fix is passport that day, but unfortunately  they are all closed for the weekend.

By this time I had decided that this trip is not happening.  So instead of making a scene, crying, arguing, threatening to sue etc, I am going to spend the rest of this "vacation" by driving up to Utah to see my family.  Guatemala will just have to wait.  And I am fine with that.  There is always a next time.

Odds and ends

I should go on vacation more often.  Yesterday I actually did all the laundry in the house.  Not just washed    but folded and put away.  My kitties were very confused by the empty couch.  "Where have all the clothes gone?  What am I supposed to curl up on now?"   Now I realize that the reason it never gets put away is there is not enough room for it all.  In fact, I started throwing it away.  Ripped sweats, holey socks, stained t-shirts, all into the garbage. 
The next step is tackling the school papers.  How long do we really need to keep old fliers and handouts?  Apparently my hubby thinks school papers need to be held for seven years, just in case he gets audited.  Perhaps I will throw them away when he is out... 

After MONTHS of not blogging my computer has finally decided to let me back on blogger.  I really don't know what the deal was, but I can finally log on!  And just in time for the new year.  I have missed commenting and posting.  I have been able to read blogs, but what fun is that if I can't comment?  YAY!!!  Of course I have forgotten how to work the settings so now my new picture is all messed up, but oh well.

So what has happened since I last posted....Someone got married

And someone else had a baby.

But my husband and I have just been hanging out

This week my vacation starts and I will celebrate by going to the gym every day until Saturday.  On Saturday we fly out to Guatemala for a few weeks where I will hopefully loose the rest of the excessive weight I have gained over the holidays.

Who Knew?

I was having a Glee marathon last night, bundled up in my robe, eating chocolate chip cookie dough after working a twelve hour shift at the hospital.  I thought I was having a cheaters night from my diet until I realized that I didn't want the cookie dough.  For the first time in my life I was not into cookie dough.  What I really wanted was herb tea.  I was so surprised by that revelation that I ate more dough and watched another episode of Glee.  Come to think of it, I never did make any tea.....

Gypsy Blood

Should I change my career?  Should I throw it all away to pursue a dream I have had for two days?  What is missing in my life that I am always looking for change?  Yesterday my husband and I were talking about moving out of the country for a year just for variety.  Why do we want to drop everything to live in Brazil?  Or Italy?  Or Australia, Thailand, Egypt, Ireland, or Guatemala? 

I have no idea. 

So much for that idea

Let me catch up on blogs today.  What a cool blog!!! I want to make a comment.  What, I am not signed in?  I thought I was.  Ok, let me sign in again.  Really?  Not signed in again?  What is going on?  I am not Anonymous.  I am Plain Jane.  Why am I showing up anonymous?  Oh, I am  not signed in.    Let me sign in again.  This time it will work.  Nope, still Anonymous. 

I guess it is time to clean the kitchen, find my IPod, and vacuum. 

Is It Really Important?

There are so many opportunities for complaining about your spouse.  Jc doesn't put away the laundry.  He leaves his shoes, socks, and clothes out all over the couch.  He never makes the bed.  In eight years of marriage he has never cleaned the bathroom.  I wish he would occasionally clean out the car, take out the recycling, pet the cats. 

But... he washes all the clothes, rubs my feet every night after work, makes me dinner, scoops the kitty litter.  He will clean the kitchen, drive me too and from work, and listen to me complain about work.  He is always looking for ways to take little vacations, and reminds me (in a really sweet way) to be a nicer person. 

Does any of that other stuff even matter?

FINALLY!!!

I sat down at the computer this morning, zipfizz in hand, blueberries for munching, cat in lap.  I was totally ready to amaze and astound with a new blog post.  Instead I get, "page not found" or whatever.  Darn it, Blogger.  Don't you know that I wanted an excuse to sit in my robe for a little while longer?  Instead I had to go to the gym where I did an hour on the treadmill and an hour of yoga.  When I got back could I then write my clever and witty post?  No, Blogger is still down.  So once again I had to leave and be productive.  I went to Costco and ran a bunch of errands.  Now that Blogger is back I have no energy for anything but to go to bed early.  Sigh.

Z is for Zipfizz, A Blatent Advertisement

Zipfizz is the best additive EVER!!!  I get it at Costco, 30 servings for $27 so just under a buck per serving.  I add it to my water and feel energized for 8 hours.  There is a little caffeine in it, but the zip comes from the 41000%  B12.  That is right, 41,000 % of the daily recommended dose.  Nothing else comes even close.  Unfortunately it didn't work for me today as I am so drugged up with allergy medicine, but it did keep me functioning at work.

It is sure a good thing that I am on the Pacific coast so I can type this late at night and still qualify for the A to Z challenge.  It is reminding me of that book "How To Eat Fried Worms," where the kid becomes more and more creative in his attempt to eat 30 worms in 30 days.

Y is for Singing in the Shower

Y is for Christmas music in April.
Y is for Karen Carpenter, Patsy Cline, and Meatloaf (the singer).
Y is for walking into Abercrombie and Fitch and finding the entire store 40% off.
Y is for spending hours on RJR Daydeamers blog watching his YouTube videos.
Y is for a really good streach after a long workout.
Y is for having my husband gone all day so I can sing at the top of my lungs.
Y is for making homemade bread.
Y is for walking to the grocery store instead of driving.
Y is for new tennis shoes.
Y is for petting my kitties all day.
Y is for benadryl after petting my kitties all day.

Y is for Yes, I am very happy today.  How can you tell?