Rocket

When we moved into the new house, after leaving one with just hardwood floors and tile, we realized we were going to need a vacuum. This house also has hardwood floors and tile, but has plush carpeting in Bella's bedroom and running up the stairs and both landings, and wall to wall in the upstairs hallway. I had such good luck with my Shark steam mop, we decided to give their new Rocket vacuum a try.

The two reasons I need to vacuum daily...Bella and Desmond! It's been about two weeks since I've owned the Rocket. I have collected enough dog hair to make another dog. I love how the Rocket propels forward. It does go very fast, so you need to be prepared for that. I love dumping the container at the end of vacuuming. I also love how it came with its own hanger for the broom closet. It has its own spot and I'm not tripping over it or trying to maneuver around it in the closet.

Night Circus

I'm currently reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern on my Kindle.

The reading is going a bit slow for me right now, but I've also had little time to just sit and read. There seems to always be something else that needs to be organized, or cleaned, or bought for the house. I think we've officially been in the house for three weeks or so. Last Friday, the weather was gorgeous and I was able to sit outside and read for about an hour. I've heard fabulous things about the book, and the imagery is amazing, but I'm still kind of waiting for the story to happen. Not very often, I will be so excited to finally get my hands on a book that everyone seems to love, and then it just kind of falls flat. I'm about halfway through the novel, so I'm hoping things in the story start coming together. Rarely do I give up on books. So far, we have two dueling magicians, their two "children" and a circus which appears and disappears rather quickly. I've read an awful lot of words to only be at this point in the story. While knitting, I've been listening to Pride and Prejudice in audiobook format on my iPad. Listening to audiobooks is a true talent. If I'm distracted at all, it is a no go. I'm trying to work through the classics, revisiting some and reading some for the very first time, and since I can't spend my whole day reading, I can listen to a book while cleaning, or running, or even while driving. Big plans for today consist of laundry, going for a run, working on character sketches for my book, trying to figure out why Adsense used to work on my blog, but has stopped doing so, and CLEANING OUT MY CAR!

Major Update

So HELLO everyone! Do I even have any readers anymore? I left the blogging world last July, I believe, for a number of reasons, the main one being working 60ish hours per week. Football season at URI was also starting up in full and being married to the former Director of Football Operations (more on that) left me quite busy on my days off. I promised a major update so here goes: I'm no longer working. WHAT?! I know, crazy. What these last few weeks of not working has proven to me is that I've been exhausted. Exhausted for a really long time. I like to keep busy so I don't have to deal with stuff and well, I've been dealing with said "stuff". Funny how you can only escape for so long. Will I go back to work? Yes. I am feeling the urge to write again which is huge for me. I'm feeling the urge to blog again (more on that too). I'm also going to entertain the thought of teaching again. I know for sure that I'm not sure what I want to do yet. My husband (and sometimes blog contributer) got a fancy new job and so we've relocated back to the state of Maine. I can't say I'm pleased with being back, as I loved living on the ocean in Narragansett, Rhode Island. I worked hard to make that area feel like our home for the last 8 years. What I am feeling is committed to making this part of our journey, however long it lasts, fun and adventurous. My beloved Sierra passed away this December. You can read my archives from 2006 thru last summer about her. We added a new wonderful addition to our family. Our fabulous Desmond is now ONE! He is taking over right where Sierra left off and we couldn't be more pleased with his demeanor and funny antics. And yes, I named him after the character Desmond on Lost. Apparently, when my husband was a little boy, he wanted a dog so his parents gave him a stuffed dog, which he carried around and had named Desmond. SO we deemed it another instance of fate, like most of our relationship, and Desmond was to be our next dog's name. He loves my husband like Sierra loved me. It is so sweet to watch, but makes my heart so heavy at times because I miss my girl more than I could have ever imagined. We have a new house. We have spent the last few weeks living in a Pinterest world. Everything from window treatments, window hardware, paint colors, bed designs, you name it, it ALL came from Pinterest ideas. That's it about major updates...I'm the new secretary of Some Theatre Company and also on their board of directors. I've also joined Central Maine Roller Derby! I have a 5K color run coming up in early May. Moving forward with this blog is something I've been contemplating for about 9 months. I stopped altogether last summer and have since been overwhelmed with all of the "pro bloggers" out there in huge numbers, and I just didn't have the time or creativity to be competitive. I've been blogging since 2003 and at one time, this blog was kind of a big deal. :) I'm not sure of the direction I would like to take the blog, but I have decided to not start over with it. I'm just going to leave the good, bad and ugly in my archives and try hard to not look back and cringe. I hope to showcase our Pinterest attempts, whether successful or not, what I'm knitting or crafting now, books I'm loving or hating and document every bump, bruise and (hopefully not) broken bone on my Derby journey. Look for Bella and Desmond anecdotes and the occasional meal in pictures. It's good to be back in Blogland!

View this Morning

View this Morning

Only 5!

Only five posts in six months! I guess I've gotten over it. I can probably blame Facebook. It's so much easier to document life events that way with anecdotes and pictures and then share with family. My reading is SOLID right now. Got lots of good books in my July queue. Tonight's book is The Round House by Louise Erdrich. Also reading Sophie's Choice and The Bridge of Sighs.

I went to Roger Williams Zoo today. Had a good time. Wish I had had longer to hang and explore. I am so looking forward to the weekend and the sun and the pool.

6/13/14

Happy Friday the 13th!
I woke up this morning (again 4:45) and felt fine. When I finally got up and got the coffee going, the room was literally spinning. I'm going to blame the barometer and the humidity and living on the ocean, combined with my extra long run yesterday, plus allergies, all affecting my inner ear. It settled down enough for me to run 40 minutes today, because I refuse to let this set me back. Zach treated me to dinner at Chen's late last night. He knows I've been stressed out as of late. Not sure what I'm going to do about it all yet. I've turned into the Gump of the running world and still haven't been able to outrun this shitstorm. I'm doing a ton of reading lately. My current read is John Irving's Last Night in Twisted River. I've spent the last two weekends sitting in the sun, reading and trying to relax. This weekend I will be getting the pool ready for summer. Bella and I are super excited to go swimming!! I'm hoping my summer schedule is pretty lax so she and I can get some weekdays in at the beach. I leave the weekends at the beach to the tourists. Man, they drive me crazy. You'd think after 7 summers in Narragansett, I'd be used to it all.

5/7/14

Sooooo, totally skipped the blog in April. Bella turned 4 the day after Easter! Time flies!!! A student of mine passed away suddenly in April. It's just been full of ups and downs. Yesterday though, my husband looked at a new house for us and texted me the pics and I finally felt peaceful about it all. Not sure if that'll be the one, but I feel like things are definitely good. I feel ready for the change and the challenge. Plus what's not exciting about decorating a new place together?

3/13/14

Apparently I can only blog once per month these days. Just so busy with work, and the regular day to day and on top of that I've been sick at least every other week since sometime in December. I'm going to make this a positive post so I'm going to write a list about what I'm grateful for...

1. My husband
2. Bella
3. The rest of the family
4. SIERRA
5. No snow with this storm that seems to have dropped close to 2 feet in all the states north of us.
6. My treadmill
7. Netflix
8. My Kindle
9. Knitting
10. Yummy adult beverages


Tomorrow night, I'm going on a date with my husband. The last two weeks we've had plans but I was sick both weekends. Even if it's just a drive thru. We are getting in the same car together.

2/15/14

Oh my word. We've had at least one snow day per week from school since my last post. Another 8-12 inches is expected today. At least the last storm was only rain for us here on the RI coast while the rest of the east, Georgia-Maine got snow and ice. We won't be so lucky with this next one. It's coming in off the water, in true Nor Eastern style. Puke, right? The good news is that I have no where to be until the 24th of February. So let it freaking snow, if it must. I had better have a spectacular spring/summer/fall after this.

Valentines was nice. I had a great dinner and yummy drinks with my fabulous, sexy husband. He bought me a new North Face Denali jacket. Time to retire my pink one. This new one is all black. I love it. Makes the weather a little more bearable. He's getting a good watch per his request, assuming the weather lets up so we can go pick it up. And we're making plans for our next vacation...Vegas!! I've never been. He's been several times. I'm so excited.

I finished Zach's wool hat. He's worn it all day, every day since I've made it. Haha. I'm finishing up a bulky alpaca cowl for myself. Not sure why exactly, but this yarn is a giant pain in the butt to knit with. Maybe it's the color...charcoal-ish...maybe it's the weight...could be my needles...size 15 bamboo circular. Could be me. Unlikely. I've finished Bella's knit cotton bunny. Just have to sew it together and stuff it. I'm going to cast on my husband's hat now that Zach's is off my needles.

So today is Saturday. I'm having a pajama-Lost marathon-knitting day to ride out the storm.

1/13/14

It's been a strange start to the new year. Not bad, just strange. The weather for instance. Yes, it's winter, but no it is never really really cold where we live. It typically hovers in the 30s-50s December through February. In these first weeks of January, we've had a snowstorm, followed by 60 degree weather and rain to melt it all immediately, then freezing weather between 0-30 degrees for almost 10 days and now we've been in the 50s for a five day stretch. My sinuses are really struggling to keep up with the temp/humidity changes. Other things are strange. Bella's behaving. My husband is organizing. I'm caught up on all in services at both of my jobs. Paperwork is complete and turned in on time. I know! Strange. My knitting has turned a huge corner. I will be finished with my husband's hat by tomorrow or Wednesday. I can knit socks, mittens, scarves, cozies, cables...but I'm finding hats to be my zen knitting. As much as I love my Addi Turbos, I really love my bamboo 16-inch circular. Thank you goes to my husband for accompanying me to the yarn store. I'm sure it was the least fun he's had in a while but he and Bella were good sports while I decided on the right wool for the project. I totally want to raise my own sheep. I'm running at a pretty good rate these days. Tried on one of my bikinis and can't say I had that mid-winter "oh my god" shock. Actually looked pretty darn good so this summer will be an awesome one, especially since Bella is more agreeable these days. I plan on being at the beach in all of my spare time and I will even try to tolerate the tourists. Try. I will try.

Happy Snow Day!

Happy New Year too. I got my eight point five hours in last night. Awake by 7:30. Second cup of coffee down the hatch. Listening to Pandora. House cleaned. Gonna go for my three mile run here in a bit and shower up. My crazy busy work schedule restarts full force on Monday. Totally need to get my head in the game. I think that was a High School Musical reference. Should finish up my second knitting project of the year this weekend. These are going to be cute little gifts. Birthdays probably. Goals for this month...clean out my closet. Get paperwork caught up for job number 2. Register for some races.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

I love Christmas! I start listening to the music while floating in my pool around July! Why? It helps ease the sadness of knowing you'll be saying goodbye to summer all too soon. I like my tree up the day after Thanksgiving by the latest. People complain daily about "It's too soon. It's too soon. The stores have stuff out too soon.". These same people then bitch about the Season going by too fast. Enjoy it then idiots! Stop being stingy. Stop being depressed. Enjoy. It. Stop comparing yourself with others. Christmas for me is quiet time. I slow down. I eat what I want. I read. I play games. I SMILE. I knit. I take a few days off. My husband and I like to gift each other items throughout the year and we rarely wait for Christmas, so by the time the big day arrives, neither of us really need or want anything. We had fun shopping this weekend for Bella because she's three and toys are fun to shop for! Yesterday she and I both got our nails done. She was so cute getting her first professional manicure! Hopefully a fun holiday tradition I can share with my best girl. Of course it was in the 60s this weekend, so I have more spring fever in me now than Christmas spirit! Bring on the beach days! Okay, bring on the WARM beach days! I live on the ocean, so every day is a beach day.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

I dare say we're a bit ahead of the game this year! Most of the food prep done. Kitchen cleaned and floor mopped. Bathroom semi-cleaned. Plans for tomorrow?? Just enjoy ourselves. Hopefully play some video games and board games and enjoy our yummy food.

11/15/13

I'm up early. Wanted to sleep in since I could but I'm up an hour earlier than my alarm. I slept hard last night so maybe what I needed was a few hours of good, solid sleep instead of more hours of tossing and turning. So I am a regular reader of a blog and she's nice, so I won't call her out, and on her recommendation started reading Edenbrooke. I got about 25 pages into it in THREE weeks time and finally just brought it back to the library. How this book got 4 stars on Goodreads is beyond me. I started thinking maybe there was something wrong with me...I started Jeremy Robinson's Island 731 yesterday and am half way through, so yeah, the problem is not on my end. Can I just say how relieved I am to just get that book out of here? I have this problem about finishing books even if I can't stand them and this book has been cramping my reading style, constantly reminding me of its horrid presence, silently berating me for not picking it up. But I DID pick it up, and it was so bad, I would abandon it to clean my house. It's been three weeks of sad Hell. I handed it back to the librarian and I swear, it seemed like she sniffed it and touched it and was like, you didn't finish this. I simply averted my eyes and asked to check out Island 731 please and thank you. I half-ran/half-skipped out of there. I'm still a bit giddy with glee of having the book gone and on a high after having pulled a fast one on the librarian. The author of the blog,who recommended Edenbrooke didn't enjoy Gone Girl. I know, right??? That should have been my first clue we weren't on the same level. I don't enjoy poorly written romance. I like adventure, distant lands, strong heroines, uplifting or powerful stories of beating the odds. You get the idea. I live my life like I'm training for The Hunger Games. I want my books to match. The thought of sitting back and waiting for a man to come in and save the day...seriously, WHAT IS THAT??? I love my husband so very much and he has saved many a day but I'm proud of saving many a day myself!! Okay, long rant over. Sort of. I'm proof a woman can raise kids, work, and take care of a home, which includes cooking and cleaning, AND workout and look awesome. Arrogant? No. Confident. I've gotten here myself, with the help of God. Now my rant is over. Blog time is over. I have to pack and drive to Maine. My husband's team is playing against my college team. Can't wait to visit with family and friends!! Should be a fantastic weekend!

Great Weekend

Most weekends are good because hello, it's the weekend, but sometimes you just get an extra special one and this weekend was one of those. My husband and I went to see Elton John in concert. We figured it'd be a good night because it's Elton John and he's had huge hits in every decade our (mine and my husband's) lives and sometimes it's nice to go to a show where you know all the songs but I don't think we were expecting such a fantastic night. This man was so incredibly generous with his time, playing for three solid hours, singing all of his crowd pleasers plus some new ones. He signed autographs, played around with the audience, and just enjoyed himself. He had the 2Cellos playing with him this evening and if you don't know who they are, YouTube them right this minute. Fantastic guys. Plus my husband and I just had fun making fun of some of our surrounding seat mates. He had the very robust gay married couple next to him and to my left, I had a singing Scotsman who clearly and loudly sang along with Sir Elton. We had some drunk douches behind us and some big hair in front of us but it was so much fun. It was nice to just laugh with my husband. We don't do that enough sometimes. And then last night, after Bella went home, we had a few hours to drink some wine, break my iPhone, listen to music and watch some tv before bed. And we went to bed early. Amazing how exhausted two people can be. So yes, this weekend was perfect. It'll go down in the history books as one of my favorites.

11/6/13

So apparently my new trend is blogging only once a month. All is well just busy busy. Huge breakthroughs in my running recently. I'm beating my mile times daily and I finally got my 5K under 30 minutes. Not the 21 minute 5K of my youth, but getting there. I'm also doing circuit training 3 days a week or so and toning and lifting weights. This week, I've begun cleaning up my eating. It wasn't bad to begin with but I am really trying to cut out as much processed food as I can and I'm cutting down on my added sugar. One teaspoon at a time. Honestly though, what is the point of living if I can't have sugar in my coffee??? My body is changing daily. I'm loving it! I've certainly weighed less but this time, I'm really focusing on fitness and endurance and challenging myself and not so much on what the scale says. I've finally plowed through the worst plateau ever though, so now the scale is moving down again. I think what was happening, since I'm by no means overweight, was that I was gaining muscle at almost the same rate as I was losing fat, so while my clothes were getting looser and my body getting better looking, the scale wasn't really moving. Basically what I did was take a few days off and just eat what I wanted, within reason, then jumped right back in. Seemed to do the trick. I'm also making the effort to eat more protein after a long run...so I always have some hardboiled eggs on hand in the fridge. Also eating an apple a day. And finally, I'm sinking a lot more water and green tea.

10/10/13

Well hello!  

I've been so stinking crazy busy. Seems like I'm always on the go!  Work is busy. Working out is keeping me busy. I'm running about 21 miles per week. I need to step it up though if I want to shoot for a 10k, followed by a 1/2 marathon. 

In other news, I'm headed to Maine this weekend. Visiting family and hopefully some friends. I need some social time. I don't have any of that around here because I'm so busy working all the time. Then hopefully the movies Sunday night with my husband!  I want to see Gravity. On November 6th, we're going to see Elton John in Providence and on November 16th, back in Maine for a fun match up between my husband's football team URI and my alma mater UMaine. Not sure which side I will sit on. :)

November 16th is also my love's birthday!!  

It's Been A Long time...

I realized that it has been a long time since you have heard from Mr. Jennifer and because the public outcry has been so loud, I decided to post something.

In reality I have never posted on here for any other reason than to let you all know how awesome my wife is and to hopefully make her smile and feel loved. The past couple of months have been tough as I have started the hectic part of the year for my new job. Working close to 100 hours a week, doesn't leave much time for anything let alone being a great husband and that is something I have always prided myself on. Not being able to be there to take care of everything and just spending time doing little things like listening to 80's music on Pandora or holding hands, stinks! On top of me working all the time, she is working two jobs, watching Bella at least four days a week and driving the rest of the family all over the place. She is truly amazing. Because she is so amazing I thought I would write her a love letter...

Dear My Darling Angel Daisy,

I am the luckiest man alive. After so many wrong turns and stupid mistakes, God has for some reason blessed me with you. Who would have know that my angel was in the next town over my whole childhood and I never knew. God certainly does work in mysterious ways, and He clearly had a plan for us. Like all of Gods gifts, I am undeserving of you. I work everyday to overcome my short comings so that my gift is not your purgatory. You are the most intelligent, fun, attractive, sexy and loving person I know. The thought of getting to see you, talk to you and have you fall asleep in my arms is what keeps me going everyday. I know I fall short everyday of the greatness that I expect of myself when it comes to being your husband and I am truly sorry. There is no excuses for that and I am committed to being what you deserve.

You are my Daisy. The flower that makes the sun hesitate when it rises to take an extra look at your beauty. You are my Athena. The one that everyone turns to for the correct answer. You are my Jester. The one that makes me laugh so that any worries disappear. You are my Aphrodite. The one that everyone can't take there eyes off. You are my answer. The answer to all my prayers, questions and happiness.

I LOVE YOU MY PERFECT DARLING ANGEL DAISY!!!!

Love,
Me

9/10/13

I had such a yucky day yesterday! What was supposed to be a day when I caught up on all of my own things and got myself prepared for my week, turned into getting woken up by my boss, a schedule change and with that, all of the free time in which I was going to get things in place, disappearing before I had the chance to wipe the sleep out of my eyes. So that just set the tone for the day, to say the least. Work itself is rarely painful, and I enjoy my work, I just like more than 2 seconds notice is all, so I can cancel obligations I may have made thinking I had the day off. I'm glad days like yesterday do not happen often, but I can't help but feel there is something in the air? I just can't seem to shake it off. ALL of my enthusiasm and energy has disappeared. Let's see, it's 9:15...I need to workout because I had zero time to do so yesterday. This means I have to workout and manage to keep Bella out of trouble at the same time. I need to get my shower in there somewhere. It's going to be 90 degrees tomorrow. Hello Autumn?? I love the heat, but once school is in session, professional attire is required. Super suck, right there. Okay, I feel better venting. Bella woke up and took her adorably pajama clad body into my room for morning cuddles. We watched Lilo and Stitch, while I caught up on paperwork, and now she's eating her breakfast, painting and playing with Play-doh. Once required work is turned in via email, I'm going offline and am going to remain that way until after dinner. Tomorrow is another busy day and it will remain busy right through until Thursday night at 6. Actually, to get technical, it starts at 8 pm tonight. I work the overnight, get home at 7, turn around and be at job 2 for 9 am until 2 pm. Home at 2:30. Meeting 3:30-5:30. Pick up Zach, pick up Bella, home for dinner, back at job 1 for another overnight, home at 7 am, work at job number 2, 9 am until 2 pm and then at job number one, 3-6. CONFUSED? It's not usually this hectic. I rarely have meetings and I picked up an additional overnight so another person could take their vacation. Needless to say however, this was NOT the week to mess with my schedule.