a little dumber?

well, justin had his wisdom teeth removed last friday. he did very well. he was a little nervous going into it. he originally asked for deep sedation (knocked completely out) but they didn't have any openings before christmas. so, they had to give him IV conscious sedation. this means, you're awake for the procedure, but pretty much don't remember anything, or if you do it's all happy. justin doesn't even remember them doing the local numbing. after they were all finished, i went in to see how he was doing. he was great, but a little loopy. he told me about 5 times that they "had a rookie" putting in his IV and he missed the first time. he did get a pretty awesome bruise on the back of his hand. we made it home with him wearing his awesome double ice pack. as silly as it looks, that thing was awesome. i think i went through a whole bag of ice from the gas station refilling that thing for 3 or 4 days. he really didn't swell until saturday afternoon and i think his worst day was sunday. but he's gradually getting better each day. today he had his one week follow up and they said his gums are a little inflamed, but nothing to worry about. yay for a complication free procedure!!

p.s. 10 points if you got the really bad joke that is the title of this post.

ok ok i'll do it

well, for those of you who don't know, in the blogging world there's a thing called "tagging". basically one person fills out some sort of questionnaire or does some sort of silly task and then "tags" other people to do it too. well, i've been tagged. and normally i ignore it when people tag me, but this time i'll give in. i've been tagged twice, for two different things.

here we go, #1. post the 4th picture from the 4th folder in your photo album and explain what it's from. well, i'm on my work computer (I KNOW! posting at work-shame!) so i don't have NEAR as many pictures and most of them are ones that have been e-mailed to me. this picture is of my best friend, meaghan and me at her rehearsal dinner. She got married 2 weeks before I did and we were each other's maid of honor. although, i must say when i got married, meaghan was a matron. ha! i have this picture because i made a scrap book of our lives together and i was compiling a bunch of pictures. i think meaghan's husband, jeremy e-mailed me this one. or maybe i got it off facebook? i don't know and i'm rambling.

on to the next challenge. four random things....

1- i love to do lists. crossing things off gives me a sense of accomplishment. sometimes i put things on there i've already done just so i can cross them off.

2- i love making and decorating sugar cookies-if you can't tell. i'm really excited to make my christmas ones. sometimes i look up designs on the internet and sometimes i just make them up in my head. mostly from the internet though. you should try them someday. they're kind of big deal.

3- in keeping with cassie's hair theme for random thing #3, i've only had abbe` do my hair since i was a freshman in high school. no one else makes the cut. (see how i did that? makes the cut. she cuts my hair. good one huh?) that kind of stinks when you don't live in the same state. i haven't had a hair cut since march or may or whenever it was that i cut a foot of hair off. i can't wait to go home for christmas and get my hair cut.

4- justin is, right now, as i type, on a plane to LA. he's at 40,000 feet and traveling 464 mph. (i love flight tracker!) he plays a show tonight there, and then they fly to vegas. ah the life of a traveling musician. he'll be home on thursday, just in time to fast for his wisdom teeth extraction on friday.

ok, that's it. i'm not going to tag anyone else, but feel free to act like i did, if you want to carry on the chain.

all i want for christmas is you

giving thanks

well we had a great thanksgiving and the turkey ended up turning out great. (although, i don't think i'll use an oven bag again. didn't like how it burned the skin.) we had some friends over who didn't go home for the holidays. it was a small and kind of random group, but we had a good time and good food.

it was so fun to have 4 days off - in a row! justin and i had fun just hanging out together. we decorated the house for christmas and put up our icicle lights around the porch and our christmas tree. sadly our little christmas tree had the bottom third of the lights go out. i may try to fix it, or i might just say screw it. justin wants to fix it. maybe i'll just let him do it. i'm thinking next year we need a new tree!

we also did a little shopping, although we waited until saturday. justin found a jacket at the first store we looked in! if any of you know me, you know how happy that made me. get in, get out. that's my shopping motto in general.

december is going to fly by! i already can't believe it's the first. we are pretty busy until we head back to kansas. i have volleyball games on monday nights, and a girl's group on tuesdays. we have small group with our church on wednesdays. and justin's busy every weekend until we head home. this weekend he was in north carolina with whitney, next weekend he'll be in san diego with married by elvis and the next weekend he gets his wisdom teeth out. poor guy! plus we have either a birthday or christmas party every weekend. craziness!

well i was going to post thanksgiving pictures, but we really didn't take any and the one of me in the kitchen looks like i'm pregnant, so i'll leave you with cookies.

"no stores were found"

this year for thanksgiving i wanted to make my turkey the way my mom always does. she e-mailed me the recipe which doesn't have very many ingredients, but is rather time consuming. i went to the store last night to buy hickory smoke flavoring, morton pickling salt and morton tender quick. 3 things. shouldn't be hard-right? WRONG.
we have kroger here instead of dillon's. ours is kind of ghetto but usually gets the job done. well justin asked at least one employee if they had pickling salt or tender quick who had no clue what he was talking about. (honestly, this isn't too surprising considering most of the people who work there are IDIOTS!) anyway, we looked and looked and couldn't find it. so i decided to go to whole foods. they have off the wall stuff-right? WRONG. the girl at whole foods also had no clue what i was talking about. we asked another person who had no clue either. now i'm stumped.
so last night i called my mom to ask her if she gets this stuff from some unknown specialty store. nope, it's just at dillon's and she saw it there that night! she told me to google it to see what it looks like so i can check other stores.
i found the morton website and got on their product locator. it lets you put in your zip code and the product you're looking for and tells you the stores that carry it in an x mile radius. there's got to be some store that carries it within a 50 mile radius nashville-right? WRONG. "no stores were found". not only does nashville not have morton tender quick, the entire state of tennessee is morton tender quick devoid. frustration. i'm going to have to figure out a different way to make my turkey this year.

keeping score

for those of you who don't know, my little brother aaron and i have been having a unofficial contest this year. basically we're trying to see who can go to the hospital more times for the most strange injuries. i think i'm winning for strange-ness. hello 2 inch splinter in my foot! although, adam did drop a hammer on aaron's head from about 20 feet up. hmmm. you decide.

here's the official run down.

first, i had the infamous spliter incident. score one for the home team! anna:1 aaron:0

then, while mom and dad were here for spring break, adam had to take aaron to the emergency clinic because he was really sick and having some trouble breathing. for aaron that's kind of a big deal considering he has a history of his lung randomly collapsing. another story for another day. anna:1 aaron:1

then i decided to slice my finger open helping justin. another trip to the ER and 5 more stitches for anna. anna:2 aaron:1

next, aaron had a slight work accident. adam dropped his hammer while working on the roof trusses. too bad he didn't realize aaron was standing right under him. trip to the ER and a few staples to the head for aaron. anna:2 aaron:2

my turn again. aaron might not count this, but i sure do! i got poison ivy all over my entire body! two trips to the doctor and two steroid treatments later i no longer look like a swamp monster. anna:3 aaron:2

well, aaron decided i couldn't win so he didn't get out of the way fast enough at work and a huge, really heavy, pile of wood fell on his leg. or something. anyway, mom had to take him to the ER this weekend. they checked for broken bones (nope!) and blood clots (nope!) and cleared him. anna:3 aaron:3

i say we should just call it a draw. what do you think?

The Great American Smoke Out

Well tomorrow is The Great American Smoke Out. I'm not sure if anyone who read this is a smoker, but if you are....SHAME ON YOU! But, you also have a fabulous opportunity tomorrow to quit! You will be joined by tons of other people all across America who are quitting with you! I have encouraged my friends who are smokers to quit and I think you should too. I understand that smoking is an addiction and it's not always easy, but there are resources out there to help you and I'm sure you have a support system of people who would be willing to hold you accountable. I was going to post a nasty ol picture of a smoker's lung, but I think I'll just link to this blogger who's got the right idea.

Side Note #1: Sorry I haven't posted in a while, we've been sick-o!

Side Note #2: The first time I typed blogger I accidentally typed blooger and almost left it because I think it's funny.

Love,
Your friendly neighborhood lung cancer researcher

i love fall!

sorry to bore you with all of my pictures, but i can't believe how vivid some of the fall colors are here. of course the camera can never capture how it looks in real life-at least not our little point and shoot. but here's a few that came close. the first two pictures are from the japanese maple in our front yard and the rest are from our drive out to natchez trace.

my favorite part of voting...

...the sticker

halloween

well, i went to a great halloween party! justin had to work-BOO! but it was a good time anyway. the party was actually on saturday instead of friday, so here are a few pictures. the first one is from friday night and the rest are saturday!

poor riley

our girl got beat up at the playground!

lost... and found?

so.... i lost my wedding ring last night. BIG DRAMA!

i was out on the back porch playing with riley and it was fairly chilly which makes my fingers shrink. (disclaimer: my ring has always been a little too big. tension settings cannot be resized.) anyway, we were playing this game where riley runs around with a toy in her mouth and i chase her and try to grab her tail or swat her butt. well (for those of you who have seen our back yard) i was standing on the very far left-hand corner of the patio. riley ran around the front of me and i swept my left hand across the front of my body to the right trying to swat her as she ran by. when i swung my arm, my ring just went flying off all the way over the the neighbor's fence on the right side of our house. i saw it all in slow motion like a cartoon. i just stood there for about 2 seconds before i ran in and told justin to come quick!!

well i explained what happened and that the ring may or may not have gone through the wire fence into the neighbor's yard because i couldn't tell. well i immediately put on a long sleeve t-shirt, gloves and rain boots for fear of poison ivy and started on my hand and knees looking. i bet i looked hilarious. i'm in a bright green long sleeved john deere t-shirt, my gardening gloves, a khaki skirt, brown leggings and my navy rain boots. our neighbor isn't home, so i ask our other neighbor across the street if she can call him to ask if we can search his backyard. well, he has no cell phone, so we left a note on his door. her husband came to help us look because apparently he finds things easily. (a favorite pair of sunglasses in the ocean, for example.)

while brian and i are looking, justin is on the phone with my parents trying to find out where to rent a metal detector. (they had to rent one this summer when dad lost his ring in the backyard. he was flailing because of some little bug or something when it flew off.) well he finds a place that rents them out that's really close to our house-thank God!! brian and i are still combing the area in both backyards when justin gets back. brain decides he's been all the help he can be and goes home. justin and i got to work with the metal detector. he swept the detector back and forth and i looked when it beeped. this would have been a good system if the stupid thing wasn't beeping ALL THE TIME! plus by now, it's totally dark and we're looking with flashlights.

i went inside to make a phone call (we were supposed to go to dinner at a friend's and i was supposed to make mash potatoes (which i hadn't even started). we were supposed to be there at 7 and it was about 6:45. i called her to tell her that we would be late, if there at all. i decided then that i would look until 7 and then i was done, we would have to resume the search tomorrow. justin came inside and i had a total breakdown. completely bawling like a baby. so, we decided that justin would continue to look in the neighbor's yard and i would go handful by handful through the leaves we had raked up to make sure it wasn't in that pile. justin went outside and i was putting on my coat and gloves. he came right back in with his fist closed. "did you find it!?" he just opened his hand and there it was!! he found it right by the fence next to the big tree in our neighbor's yard. it had flown almost 25 feet. talk about relief!! i made the potatoes and we made it to our dinner party a little late. everyone else was late too-so it was no big deal. GIANT SIGH OF RELIEF!! WHEW!!! needless to say i will be getting a spacer put on tonight!

p.s. also last post was my 100th post! woo hoo!

cloth diapers?

ok, let me preface this by saying...

1- i'm not pregnant
2- i have lots of friends who use/are considering using cloth diapers
3- i have nothing against anyone who uses cloth diapers (i just think it's kind of gross)
4- i know people use cloth diapers for more reasons than the environment, for example, cost.

i came across this article yesterday and was really surprised by what it said. this is a british article and i'll post the link at the bottom if you prefer to see the website it came from. i really am interested to hear your reactions to this.

Blow to image of ‘green’ reusable nappy

A government report that found old-fashioned reusable nappies damage the environment more than disposables has been hushed up because ministers are embarrassed by its findings.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has instructed civil servants not to publicise the conclusions of the £50,000 nappy research project and to adopt a “defensive” stance towards its conclusions.

The report found that using washable nappies, hailed by councils throughout Britain as a key way of saving the planet, have a higher carbon footprint than their disposable equivalents unless parents adopt an extreme approach to laundering them.

To reduce the impact of cloth nappies on climate change parents would have to hang wet nappies out to dry all year round, keep them for years for use on younger children, and make sure the water in their washing machines does not exceed 60C.

The conclusions will upset proponents of real nappies who have claimed they can help save the planet.

Restricted Whitehall documents, seen by The Sunday Times, show that the government is so concerned by the “negative laundry options” outlined in the report, it has told its media managers not to give its conclusions any publicity.

The report found that while disposable nappies used over 2½ years would have a global warming impact of 550kg of CO2 reusable nappies produced 570kg of CO2 on average. But if parents used tumble dryers and washed the reusable nappies at 90C, the impact could spiral to . 993kg of CO2 A Defra spokesman said the government was shelving plans for future research on nappies.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article4969413.ece

pumpkin carving party!

well on sunday afternoon/evening we had a pumpkin carving party. we had so much fun and everyone carved out their pumpkins so well! here are a few photos of our fun!

my cookies

chris, erich, daniel and rana digging out the insides

kate, me and heather working on our designs

justin shot this video after we were all finished. they look pretty good if i do say so myself!

cinnamon bread

i made cinnamon bread last night. it was kind of an ordeal (because i had NO IDEA what i was doing) but worth it to have a warm piece of cinnamon bread this morning for breakfast.

my mom used to make cinnamon bread fairly often, but i've never made it or even really helped except for the sprinkling on of the cinnamon - which is the best part.

poor justin, i think he heard no less than 3 times, "come in here please. i need your HELP!" the first time i needed him to poor the milk mixture in while i mixed the dough. (you kitchen aid girls wouldn't have this problem, but i'm anti-kitchen aid. i think it tastes better hand mixed.) then i needed him to call my mom and put it on speaker for me so i would get my new phone all dirty. the first questions were, "how much flour do i add? what consistency is the dough supposed to be? oh i was supposed to measure the flour out? oops! i've never kneaded before, this is hard work!" then after i figured all that out and was trying to roll out this mass of super elastic dough i needed to call again. "justin!! help! ok mom, how am i supposed to roll this out. it won't stay! it keeps going back to it's round shape! i'm a pansy and need to put some muscle into it? ok. it's working now, thanks."

so for all you bakers out there who would like an amazing cinnamon bread recipe, here it is! remember to pinch the seam after you roll in the cinnamon. i ignored that step and only pinched the ends but not the bottom seam and some of the cinnamon leaked out and kind of burned the bottom. i'll know next time. and remember, if you want to get to bed before 11 you might want to start before 6. have fun!

Cinnamon Bread

4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cups unsifted flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 pkg. Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast
1 1/4 cups milk
1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)
2 eggs at room temperature

Melted butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix 1 3/4 cups flour, 1/4 cup sugar, salt
and undisolved yeast. Combine milk and 1/4 cup butter in a saucepan.
Heat over low heat until liquid is warm. (Butter does not need to
melt.) Gradually add to dry ingredients and beat 2 minutes at medium
speed of mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Add eggs and 1/2 cup
flour, or enough flour to make a thick batter. Beat at high speed 2
minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in enough additional flour
to make a soft dough. Turn out onto lightly floured board; knead
until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Place in greased
bowl, turning to grease top. Cover; let rise in warm place, free from
draft, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Meanwhile, combine 1/3 cup sugar and cinnamon, Punch dough down; turn
out onto lightly floured board. Divide dough in half. Roll 1/2 the
dough into a 12x8 rectangle. Brush lightly with melted butter.
Sprinkle with 1/2 the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Roll tightly from the
8" side like a jellyroll. Seal edges firmly. Seal ends of loaf and
fold underneath. Place loaf, seam side down, in greased loaf pan.
Repeat with remaining dough. Cover; let rise in warm place, free from
draft, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
Bake, in a moderate oven (350 degrees) about 30 minutes or until done.
Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. Eat half of first loaf for breakfast.

fall fun!

we've conformed

that's right, we got iphones last night. we sold a bunch of stuff (including my laptop) and walked into the at&t store and bought them. (with cash dave ramsey-ites) we left with only $15 dollars and 2 brand spankin new iphones. they're kind of a big deal.

the main reason we switched out of t-mobile is that when justin travels, he usually doesn't get service. you can imagine how frustrating that is. we wanted to switch to either at&t or verizon. well, seeing as how at&t has the iphone, it was pretty much a no brainer. the ironic thing is that at my desk at work, i get maybe one bar of service. what are the odds!?

anyway, we had lots of fun playing with them last night. i can now get on the internet ANY. TIME. I. WANT. i officially rock.

debate '08

well the big debate is tonight, right here in nashville tennessee, about 2 miles from our house, at belmont university. i'm really excited about it, even though i'll be watching it at home like everyone else in the country. i hope it's interesting. justin and i got bored a little over halfway through the VP debate and turned on a movie instead.

belmont has been gearing up for this for weeks. they've put up this ridiculous, flimsy chain link fence around campus. like that's really going to keep people out who want to do some harm! this morning on my walk in from the shuttle lot, (that's right, i walk instead of taking the shuttle. yay me!) at least 15 pairs of motorcycle cops drove down the street in front of me. i guess they've beefed up security everywhere. anyway, it'll be interesting going home from work today. i have to drive right next to belmont to get home and they've shut down all the surrounding streets.
well have fun watching tonight!

p.s. is this new background annoying? i can't decide.

this and that

--after 2 years of stealing wi-fi from our neighbors (yes we're THOSE people) they finally password protected their network. I'm really bummed. no more internet at home anymore. we're going to try to hold out until after christmas to actually have to pay for it ourselves. we'll see how long that lasts!

--i got a free facial last night. it was fabulous! my friend, ciara, bought this "year of beauty" thing from a skin care place and gave it to me. you get one facial, one make-up application, and one waxing a month for a whole year! it's pretty cool. i'll definitely do the facial, we'll see about the make-up (i'd need a place to go all gussied up) and i don't do waxing-i'm a baby. which brings me to my next point.

--my friend, colleen, is throwing a halloween party. it's a costume party. i figure, since i get a free make-up application i should take full advantage. so, keeping this in mind, what the heck should i dress up as? and should justin and i dress up together (like matching costumes-both pirates or football player and cheerleader or whatever) or should we just do our own thing? i need your advice!

--also, i am seriously considering starting a cookie business. specifically sugar cookies with my mom's secret recipe. i have received rave reviews every time i make them and i've have multiple people tell me i could sell them. so, heck, i'm going to try. first, i need a name. we originally decided on "the sweet secret" but thanks to some of my friend's dirty minds we decided that could be misinterpreted. SO...i need your input. what would you name a sugar cookie shop full of soft, delicious, melt in your mouth, amazingly decorated sugar cookies? :)

natchez trace parkway

the other day we went to the natchez trace parkway. we explored a little, but didn't walk any of the trails because they looked a little over-run with poison ivy. knowing my track record, we didn't want to take any chances with our shorts and flip-flops. there is a concrete bridge that is over a quarter mile long that is part of the beautiful drive. it's pretty cool. the view from the top is amazing. i want to go back when the trees start to turn colors. here's the afternoon in pictures.

NO GAS!

well, hurricane ike has started to affect nashville. justin went to four gas stations yesterday before finding gas at the 5th one. the two gas stations across the main street from our neighborhood are completely out. there are no prices on the signs and bags over the pumps. i was listening to the radio today and a lady called in saying she was at a gas station in brentwood and there were 50 people in line, 5-0!! and that the cops were there keeping the peace. AND, that they would only let you have so much. you were only allowed like 10 gallons or something. craziness!! they say it's supposed to be like this for 2 weeks.

poker night

we had our small group from church over for poker last night. (get up off the floor and back into your chair. YES, our church played poker.) and we played for money! (i'll give you another minute to get back in you chair again.) we also had some friends who aren't normally in our group. we had a blast!! enjoy the photos...

this is the non-competitive group. see how they're playing for pretzels and not real money? patient erich is teaching them how to play.

these pictures show the funniest part of the night. it's chris versus amanda. amanda has no clue how to play poker and chris is very competitive. i don't know if you can tell, but the flip is a 4 and two aces. (the flop doesn't matter in this scenario) chris goes all in. amanda calls him, so he has to show his cards first. he shows and 4 and something else that doesn't matter. so he has a pair of 4s and a pair of aces. amanda shows her cards and says, "aw man! all i have is two 4s!" (this means she has a full house and wins, but has no idea.) the look of joy at amanda's tone of voice and then pain when he realized he lost on chris's face was hilarious!

the winners! colleen and amanda decided to split the pot.

3 year olds are hilarious!

i talked to dakota today. here's how the conversation went:

A: Hey Kota!

D: When are you going to come visit me? And bring Riley?

A: Aw man! It's going to be a while. Probably not til Christmas. Is that ok?

D: I guess. I look at pictures of you on Nana's computer.

A: That's cool. Do you want me to send some new ones?

D: Yeah.

A: Ok, I'll send some new ones.

D: Ok, drive safe! And watch out for gloomy guses!

root canal

justin had to get a root canal on thursday. yucky! actually it wasn't that bad. he had chipped a tooth a while ago. i made a dentist appointment for him in may and they couldn't get him in til the end of august. craziness!

anyway, the dentist said he would have to get a root canal and a crown. before he left i looked into his mouth. i originally thought, oh he chipped a tooth, there must be a little tiny piece gone. a quarter of the freaking tooth was gone!! yikes. so he's finished with the first step and only a bit chipmunky on one side. i would not advise getting a root canal. they are freakishly expensive-even if you have insurance! he was in and out in less than 2 hours which is pretty good-i think. he gets his crown at the end of the month unless we can convince them to let him in earlier. he also has to have one of his wisdom teeth removed! argh dental work.