hot, Hot, HOT!

Long time, no blog. Nothing blog-worthy lately, so I am going to resort to the boring-est of all boring topics - the weather.

This afternoon it was 100*. Last week it was 65*. Now, that is a big ol' swing in temps. I miss 65*!.

Jackson doesn't like the heat either so we've been cooling him down with sugar free popsicles. He just can't get enough of them.

We've got a 5K coming up this weekend and higher temperatures to accompany it. Let's hope the good ol' weatherman is wrong...I'd definitely rather get my sweat on in milder temps!!

Why go to Yakima?

We spent the weekend in Yakima cheering on Rob's little sister Stephanie and her team at the State Dance & Drill Competition...in which they placed 2nd!!

Rob and Marc weren't too into it, but they managed to stick it out.

One of my favorite performances was a school that had a whole Wicked themed dance...it was really good! At the end they turned out the lights for a big glow in the dark parade. Rob's Mom and I were sporting glow sticks around our necks...it felt quite rave-like.

Yes, it was loads of fun, but after being surrounded by all those teens for the weekend, I now know why my Dad didn't like driving my girlfriends and I to the mall. Apparently all teen girls do is shriek and giggle. ☺

My new specialty

My stitches are supposed to dissolve, but instead came loose/untied and they had been bothering me all weekend!

While I was at Target yesterday I picked up some manicure scissors and alcohol wipes with full intention of taking them out myself.

As soon as I got into my car I busted the goods out, along with my tweezers set I keep in my make up case. I proceeded to pull down my visor mirror, clean off my 'tools' and take out what stitches I could see.

I guess this was weird enough, because the man who pulled in next to me gave me the weirdest look. I think that I am ready to be a surgical intern...or at least on the cast of Grey's Anatomy, don't ya think? ☺

Not to worry, I didn't take them ALL out...just the loose ones that were bothering me. I am not completely stupid...I'd seen my Dad take out stitches before. That ought to count for some clinical hours, right? ☺

I have a post op appointment tomorrow to have things checked out and I am a little hesitant to reveal my parking lot 'procedure' to the Doc when he inquires about my missing stitches.

Hmm...how can I put a spin on that??

Never thought I'd see the day

Ever since being a pet owner I swore that I would never be one of those people who treats their pets like they are their kids by dressing them up and taking pictures of them.

Well, it looks like I might be veering a little in that direction. And I don't like it. Not at all. But my friend tells me that it's happening, so I just need to embrace it.

While at Target I got talked into buying this pumpkin shirt for Jackson. At $5 I thought 'Why not? It'd be good for a laugh.'

Turns out Jackson loves it and doesn't like it when we try to take it off him. Total goober!

Then as I was walking him the other afternoon, I thought it would be cute (ugh, I know!) to take a picture of him in the pretty fall leaves.

At this rate, we'll be doing holiday photos with our pets wearing Santa hats. Don't worry, I won't let it go that far. I've got to put a stop to all this nonsense!! ☺

We're Melting

It is hot up here.

Like 100* hot.

I know this doesn't sound that bad to a lot of you, but up here in the Pacific Northwest central air or even air conditioning isn't standard for most residences. So yes, it is stinking HOT!!

Last night as Rob and I laid on the floor downstairs with three fans blowing on us we realized we'd be much better off to

a.) be sitting in a cool movie theater

b.) drive around in the car with the air on high

c.) be anywhere but where we were

Since we've seen nearly every movie in the theaters we decided it best to put on our shorts and tanks and head over to Alki Beach.

It was SO much cooler by the water! We took a nice stroll and then had an amazing dinner at Cactus. It used to be a grocery store that was recently transformed into this funky Tex Mex restaurant.

We had a great table *bonus point* that gave us a perfect view of the beach *another bonus point*. Since it was our first time there they gave us some yummy appetizers on the house *that deserves two more bonus points* and the dinner was delish *yep, another bonus point*, so all in all, looks like Cactus has made it was into our regular rotation of restaurants.

We decided to head back home around 9:30, certain that our place would have cooled down to a much more tolerable temperature by then. We walked in the door and felt like we were hit by a heatwave. Ugh!

I've already decided that I will be putting in some time at the mall and then catching a movie after work today so that I don't have to endure any more time that necessary at our residence, which appears to have relocated to the Sun.

Don't believe everything you read

I've been sick the past few days and thought I would be proactive and change the sheets/pillowcases so as not to pass my icky germs onto Rob.

As I was changing the pillowcases yesterday I noticed that the pillows were machine washable. I always knew there were tags on pillows, I just never took the time to read them. I usually just toss out bed pillows when they have done their time and then purchase new ones. I probably should have done the same with these ones, but I thought I would do a little extra work to make sure that my pillows were germ free.

I read the instructions and followed them to the letter. I'd started the washing machine and headed downstairs. A few minutes later I heard drip - drip - drip and looked up to see the ceiling leaking. I put something under the drip to catch the water and ran upstairs in a panic to see that the washing machine had flooded all over the floor! I turned it off and took off back downstairs to attend to the drips...only to find the ceiling dripping in three more places!!

Luckily Rob got home soon after that and took over for me. Turns out that even though the instructions say that washing two pillows at the same time in a full size washer is acceptable, it really isn't. I think it's safe to say I won't be buying anymore Laura Ashley pillows...those liars. :)

My car has a mind of it's own

Yesterday I couldn't get my sunroof to close. No matter what I tried it would not stay closed! So knowing that the sun could turn to rain in a matter of minutes I knew I had to get it taken care of ASAP unless I wanted rain soaked interior. I left work and drove the 30 miles down to the dealership, all the while still trying to get the stupid sunroof to shut. Eventually I just gave up!

(Not actually my car, but you get the point...)

As I pulled up to the service department I automatically went through my normal getting out routine: turned in my mirrors, put my iPod in glove box, grabbed my purse and closed the sunroof. And what do you know...the stupid thing shut!!!

I was in disbelief so I opened it up and closed it again. Yep, it worked just fine! I felt pretty stupid going inside and telling them that my urgent appointment was no longer required. Turns out my breaks needed replacing and I was due for an oil change anyways, so my trip wasn't a total waste. Plus, I got to skip out from work a few hours early. Maybe that was the Sun God's way of giving me a few hours off?? Hey, I'll take it!!

The Retainer

Since I didn't have the self discipline necessary to wear my Invisilign at night, a couple of my teeth have shifted a bit. Bummer, I know! So I visited my Orthodontist, got a little lecture, some molds taken and was told that a wire retainer would be my next step. This is what I thought he meant by a wire retainer.

Boy, was I wrong! I went to pick it up only to find out that it is one of those old school retainers that take up your entire mouth and have the wire on the outside of your teeth! As if this isn't bad enough, it is pink with sparkles!! Why they did this is beyond me. If I would have had the choice, pink is definitely not the way I would go. Green maybe, but never pink.

Plus I got a sparkly purple case to keep it in. Cool huh...if I were eleven, and even that would be pushing it. Honestly, I think I would prefer to have my braces back on. I'm a whiner, I know.

Just my luck

For months I have been whining about not being able to find my eyeglasses. I finally got over it and bought this great new new pair.

The VERY NEXT DAY guess what I found buried in Rob's old gym bag in the garage (along with my other rollerblade!!). That's right, my old glasses!

Really, what were they even doing there!?! I have absolutely no idea and neither did Rob. Oh well, now I have two pairs. :)

Cabin Fever to the extreme

There has been a huge dumping of snow in the Pacific Northwest...this is quite the rarity for us. Because of this Rob and I have been working from home since Thursday. I have been going crazy! There is an entire list of things I need to do and places I need to go before heading home for the holidays. I am scheduled to leave tomorrow night and still have a huge list of things to do. It looks like I may have to venture out onto the icy roads for a little while tomorrow. I mentioned my cabin fever to Rob and he suggested we watch The Shining in order to gain a little perspective. He thinks he's funny!! :)

Here is an upstairs window shot of the whiteness that has taken over our lives. However, I will say that this is a really pretty sight at night though.

It has finally come to this...

Even though I am really bummed about it, we are leaning towards making our blog private within the next little while. So if you want to keep viewing it please leave us your email address in the comments. If you don't want to post your email address, just shoot us an email at robnwin@gmail.com and we will send you out an invite.

This invite is really open to anyone who reads our blog, whether we know you are reading or not. So yes, even if you are a lurker you can still keep lurking, just not as anonymously! We just want a little more control over who we are sharing things with. :)

So I guess I think I'm British

Bit of strange news. Looks like I am the ambivalent host of an alter-ego. It appears that deep down some part of me thinks that I am British. Well, part British at least. It stems from my recent fancy of Sophie Kinsella books. She is a best-selling British chick-lit author and I love her! Well, more her work than her. I mentioned awhile back that I have taken to listening to books on CD as a means to make my lengthy commute seem somewhat tolerable. Over the past few months I have listened to six (!) of her books and am just starting another one.

If I were to have simply read her books, I don't think that my I would have developed this quirk; it's the fact that the person reading the book has a British accent that gets to me. Now I often think my thoughts in a British accent, I use words that are British in my everyday conversations and emails and I have been converting prices in US dollars to British pounds (the Shopaholic books talk A LOT about the cost of things!). It's getting to be a little too much! :) I think that this is a sign that I need to start reading/listening to some different material. Next on my list is Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time.

Search Party

I cannot locate my glasses. I think I lost them when we moved. Yes, that was over six months ago. I thought I would come across them someday when I wasn’t really looking for them. Funny, but it hasn’t happened yet. I finally decided to buy a new pair but my eye doc won’t give me my prescription…says I need an exam first. What a racket this eye game is! Maybe I will just keep looking for my glasses…I never wear them anyways. Oh, boo.

***Sidenote: Blogger spellcheck is total garbage!!!***

The Snooper

As I was browsing the MSN homepage my eye stopped on this picture and the caption next to it

BEST PLACES TO SNOOP ON CO-WORKERS

It just so happens that I have the biggest snoop of a co-worker in my very own office. I will here on out refer to that person as Snoopy. I am intrigued by the site of this photo and decided to see if MSN's version of a snoop has any similarities with my nosy office mate. The name of their article is Best Places to Eavesdrop. As I am reading this, I think that it must have been written by Snoopy, only in his/her amateur days. Some points in this article mirror the exact tactics Snoopy used in his/her early days of employment with us. He/she has since graduated to much more advanced practices...only he/she attempts to disguise his/her nosiness as concern. It's the worst!!

As coincidence would have it, just as I am reading this article Snoopy sneakily, silently enters my office...looking at my computer screen the whole time, which he/she does quite often. My office is a big square with a corner desk, so my back is to the door and my computer screen is open for anyone behind me to see. I usually keep my door half open, so this provides a little bit of privacy. Not that I should need it because I am an incredibly dedicated employee who never uses the internet for anything other than work. This is clearly evident as I am blogging at work. :) Yeah, that is a whole different story. Anyway, I notice Snoopy is there, and swing around in my chair and ask him/her what he/she wants. Snoopy, holding a file I had earlier asked for, has the nerve to comment with a chuckle on the article I was reading. Word for word, this is exactly what Snoopy said to me

"Some people have no sense of others' privacy. Luckily we don't have a problem with that in our office."

I stare back at him/her with a blank look for about five seconds. That is actually a long time to stare with no speaking! I then give a slight roll my eyes, grab the file, curtly thank him/her for the file and swivel back around in my chair. Ugh, I so wish I had an office where the desk faced the door instead of away from it! Oh, and maybe a different co-worker...is that too negative of me??? :)