It's Okay Friday

It's Okay...

*To leave certain chores to the men. Clogged dishwasher? No thank you.

*To desperately NEED to sleep in.  I am stinking tired and haven’t slept past 6:45 in weeks!!!!!!!!!!!

*To totally love VS bras.  Not the kind that make your girls look gigantic, just the good quality kind that provide support without digging into your collar bone or cause other unwanted pain.

*To have LOVED “X-Men First Class.” I mean LOVED it.

*To want to present some awesome games at Family Camp next week. I am stoked to be in charge of games and I am feeding my creative side.

*To want all mosquitos to die. Yeah, I said die. They are nasty little blood suckers.

*To really want to become a coupon expert.  I am trying but I have yet to get anything free...not to say that saving 51% is a small thing but I really want to get free stuff!

*To think that the new trend of having one bizarre fingernail a different color than the rest on your hand is completely lame. And weird.

*To be totally looking forward to a weekend with no obligations so I can re-clean my house and wash all my clothes and sheets from a week full of company.

*To have thought that a Wednesday night drive to Centennial for dinner with my favorite people during the summer solstice was about the most perfect moment of 2011 thus far.

Happy Friday!!

The Great Tent Story

As the 4^th of July nears and our annual family reunion gets closer and closer on our schedules, Doug and I have spent extensive amounts of time discussing camping.  The Shoopman’s have a family reunion every 4^th of July in the mountains.  This will be my first reunion as a married woman and when this realization dawned on me I went into complete panic mode because we have NO camping supplies. None! Zero! PANIC!!

Ok, wait, I breathed for a minute and realized we have camping chairs. That’s a start, right? Oh! For our wedding my aunt and uncle gave us camping dishes (that was a great present)! I also have a flashlight for the frequent power outages our town experiences.  So….3 things? Yup, we have 3 things on the list of the billion things you need to spend 4 days in the great outdoors. Now, back to that panicking thing….

Last weekend while we were in Rock Springs Doug asked his Mom and Dad if they had a tent we could use and bless their hearts they did! So we borrowed a tent. This story is about that tent and my first experience putting a tent up. It goes like this…

Sunday, June 12, 2011

The roar of the crowd at the 6^th game in the series echoed through the living room blaring through the speakers on the TV.  Dallas was up and I was pretty sure the Heat wasn’t going to be coming back so I was getting pretty bored.  I asked Doug how much time was left on the game and he answered with something like: “8 minutes, why?”

“Because I’m BORED. Let’s put up the tent.”

He looked at me like I was maybe crazy for a minute and then I proceeded to explain that we ought to make sure all the parts are there before we are at 8100 feet and stranded with a tent that could be missing a pole.  He agreed at this point and decided it wasn’t a bad idea after all. Well, at first he didn’t think it was a bad idea. That was until I told him we weren’t putting the tent up in the yard; we were putting it up in the living room. Duh.

I have no cognitive reasoning.  I will begin to rearrange an entire room without once measuring the wall I think that couch should fit on and end up putting it all back because my reasoning is that bad. Knowing this, Doug warned me the tent wouldn’t fit but I am pretty sure I am part mule and I chose to completely ignore him and move forward anyway.

Alas, he was right and I was moving chairs and stuffing corners of the tent under the couch but by George I was making this work! I wasn’t going to cave in to logic, you see, because that would have been….well, logical.

So I plowed forward putting the tent up and got the poles for the cross part placed through the loops and popped the tent up.  Then I told Doug I would just hold this part of the tent while he put the rest of the poles in.  He looked at me like I had three heads and said, “Have you ever put a tent up before?”

“No, I told you, I always stayed in someone’s 5^th wheel!”

“Ok, well we need to put all the poles in while the tent is on the floor and pop them all up at once.”

So, we did and it was a great success! Tada! There was a tent in our living room! Woo hoo!

I quickly demanded he put the rain fly on so I could see it as well and I thought he was maybe putting it on backwards. I made the mistake of expressing this particular concern because he quickly said to me, “Listen, 5^th wheel, you just stand over there and let me put this on.”

Finally, we had a tent.  I wanted to sleep in the tent and play camping all night but Doug was not at all as excited as I was about putting my first tent up and told me it was time to roll it up and put it away. Buzz kill.

I am glad we did a practice round. Now no one will see me making an utter fool of myself when we go camping over the 4^th….which I am SUPER excited for. It will be a brand new tent experience!

It's Okay Friday

It's Okay...

*To have an It's Okay Friday totally based around my marriage.

*To celebrate my 6 month anniversary.  I decided in my first year of marriage all bets are off.

*To brag about my husband being utterly awesome, showing up with a gift for me at work and separating out the colors of my Mike and Ike candies so I only get the ones I like.

*To think being married is awesome.

*To have managed to adjust to married life like I was just made to be a wife.

*To be excited to continue celebrating tonight.

*To think that time has FLOWN by so fast you almost missed that it had even been 6 months.

*To plan romantic dinners...at HOME.

*To fall more and more in love with him as time goes by. I learned that you aren't the most in love with a person the day you get married, it only gets stronger and deeper with time.

*To love having a partner that is so completely the wind in my sails.

*To be looking forward to all the many adventures that are to come in our life together.

Happy Friday!!

Thankful Thursday

I Am Thankful For:

The Trials that help develop my patience in preparation for someday being a Mom.

The beautiful weather we have been blessed with recently.

The Semi-Annual Victoria's Secret bra sale.

My unbelievably comfy bed.

Storage Sheds.

Netflix.

Unlimited Texting.

Dirty dishes because it means there is food to eat.

SHOES!

Ice Cream.

Watermelon.

My husband mowing the lawn.

It's Okay Friday

It's Okay...

*To spend an entire evening watching Netflix. I mean, as long as your husband is at work.

*To be white and not pay for a false tan. It is better for your skin and when you're in your 40's and 50's you will be thanking your twenty something self for not turning your skin into leather.

*To think this website is amazing: http://www.dontevenreply.com/

*To love lunch dates. They are the perfect break from your work day and when had with awesome friends so rejuvenating. In fact, I'm due for one soon.

*To be looking forward to some time with my in-laws this weekend but not looking forward to what that will do to my waist line.

*To know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if I won the lottery I would invest in private flying so I could visit all the people I love whenever I felt like it.

*To cry.

*To smile.

*To have thought the google guitar yesterday was the COOLEST THING EVER.

Happy Friday!!

Thankful Thursday

Doug has a really great friend that he met in the MTC and they have stayed friends ALL these years (trust me I say ALL because there have been a lot of them). They lived together for awhile when Doug first came to college and then his friend got married and moved away and all that jazz. So anyway, I recently got the chance to to sit down and get to know them. I had met them once before but it was brief and in the dark so this last time we went to visit my Dad we went in and visited this great couple as well. I think they have to be my BFF's just by default. They are great people and I totally stole this idea from her blog. Don't worry, I asked first. I loved it so much though I had to duplicate it.

I am thankful for...
My husband

My incredible family

The mountains and the majestic peace they provide

The bean because of it's awesome gas mileage

My younger (no longer "little") brother and the incredible bond we have

Good friends that actually last and don't bail when things get deep

Britanie and the fact that even though we are in our mid 20's she is down for a girl's night and nail painting. Pure awesome? I think so.

Literature. All types of it from the most intellectual kind out there to the raunchiest humor. I. Love. To. Read.

Spellcheck for my typing-to-fast errors

The sunshine

It's Okay Friday!

It's Okay...

*To have the kind of week that you look back on it and think, "Dear Lord, please don't let next week be this awful."

*To be defeated, exhausted, tired, cranky, emotional, drained and pessimistic about said week - just have faith the next one will be better.

*To carry a wallet as a woman that is better fit for a man. Who says I have to use up all that space in my purse for a giant woman wallet? Not this girl!

*To be addicted to Army Wives on Netflix. I didn't watch the first few seasons so it has been an exciting game of catch up!

*To think my husband's new favorite video game is stupid. Assassin? What?

*To be looking forward to the Hangover Part II tonight. Doug doesn't know we are going, it's a surprise. Well, unless he reads this.

*To wonder every time I hear songs referring to the "Douggie" if they know that I married the original Douggie.

*To think it is hilarious that spell check wants to correct 'douggie' to 'druggie.'

*To be looking forward to the 4th of July for many reasons this year: another first holiday as a married couple, camping, family reunion, seeing old friends and loved ones, freedom has a birthday, fire in the sky...

*To have no desire to participate in Jubilee Days this year. That party has gone down hill.

*To love my co-worker. It has been a tough two weeks and she has had to act as a rock, a bank (I NEEDED that diet soda), a back up for my job duties, a therapist, a voice of reason, an advice giver, a document reader, a scanner, a pharmacist, a Kleenex factory, an encourager, a helping hand, an errand runner, a psychologist...well, you get the picture. She has been amazing for putting up with my craziness.

The Starfish Story: Making a Difference

I was recently reminded of this story and fell in love with it all over again. This story has been widely circulated via email and many other Internet venues but I did some research and it is said to be paraphrased from "The Star Thrower" by Loren Eiseley. Either way, it doesn't make the message any less impacting.

In a world where we all experience so many setbacks, trails, tests, tribulations...it's important to remember that we each make a difference and leave some sort of mark on this work. Whether it is a good mark or a bad mark is up to us to decide.

While Walking along a beach, an elderly gentleman saw someone in the distance leaning down, picking something up and throwing it into the ocean. As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man picking up star fish one by one and tossing each one gently back into the water. He came closer still and called out, "Good Morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"

The young man paused, looked up, and replied, "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

The old man smiled and said, "I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?"

To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."

Upon hearing this, the elderly observer commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"

The young man listened politely. Then, he bent down, picked up another starfish, threw it back into the ocean past the breaking waves and said, "It made a difference to that one."

A Failed Attempt at Seduction

Let me just start with telling you that while I was attempting to find a photo to go with this blog I googled "black lingerie images" and that was a big mistake. Big. Don't ever do that.

That being said, everyone knows that I have been on a weight loss journey to a better me. I have made huge progress and am down 19 pounds, but we are always our own worst critics. I made the mistake of whining to my husband about how I felt so defeated and as though I wasn't making progress and he was not at all understanding. In fact, he told me I was stupid. The problem is that I don't see it in the mirror yet. My most self conscious areas are always the last go. So cruel.

So anyway...Doug told me a week ago I should probably put on some lingerie so he could really tell the true difference between my wedding night body and my now body. I personally think the man will use any excuse he can in the book to get me into lingerie but last night as I was watching an Army Wives marathon the power just up and died. I called the power company in a panic (is Denise seriously going to cheat?!) and they told me tough cookies it would be a few hours. Great. Now what. I am stuck in a powerless house and Doug is at work.

After about 30 minutes of boredom I emailed my mother from my bberry and told her I needed a shower. She replied, "Then take one you don't need power to take a shower." To which I was just astonished. I mean in my brain you would need the power to shoot the water out of faucet at a high enough pressure to rinse your hair out. I expressed this concern to her and she was temporarily embarrassed I was her daughter, but assured me I could shower without electricity.

I went and got the super flashlight and hung it from the towel rack and lit a few candles and then BAM! Light bulb! In my head. Not the real lights, they weren't working yet. I had this genius idea that since I was being forced to survive by candlelight anyway I might as well take Doug's suggestion and surprise him when he gets home from work.

So, I took my shower, I shaved my legs (which I hate doing and they were in desperate need), I dressed in my version of lingerie (which is not the same as the google results, not even kind of), I lotioned up in his favorite scent and then....................I waited. And waited. And waited. And checked the clock to find out I still had an hours worth of waiting to do.

In the meantime the power came back on so I killed the candles. No use in wasting them. I might have another emergency lighting situation in the future. I turned on a night light and I laid down in bed. If I just rested my eyes.....

After that, I don't remember much. For the most part I heard it all this morning when Doug was relaying the information to me. He didn't get home until nearly a quarter to eleven and he fed the dogs, let them out, came in the bedroom, saw me sleeping, watched some TV, you know in no hurry to come to his boring sleeping wife in bed. Apparently I had gotten really cold so I had the comforter pulled up to my neck. He had no idea I wasn't wearing just my regular sweats and t-shirt.

When he finally came to bed I must have rolled over to steal his warmth because that was when he realized I was scantily clad. I vaguely remember him getting excited and asking me what I was wearing. To which he claims my response was "Ugh Meh bleh blue argh uh huh." I personally think I was saying something along the lines of.....your job botched my seduction attempt, don't touch me.

Apparently, shortly after that, the big dog jumped on the bed and in my stupor I shouted "Get that *$&# dog off the bed." Doug said he knew at that point he was definitely not getting the benefits of that black tank top and matching bottom.

While I find this utterly hilarious, he might have a different opinion of this story. Mostly though, I'm just pissed I shaved my legs for nothing.