Tervis fever

Yep... I've caught it.  For anyone living under a rock, Tervis is the brand of tumbler in every store.  They have awesome little patches inside and are virtually indestructible.  And, if somehow you do manage to damage it, there's a lifetime guarantee.  You fill out a form, send it in with the damaged tumbler, and they send you a new one.  It's awesome.

I remember when I first saw these tumblers.  It was in Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  I remember thinking, I'm not paying $20 for a plastic cup.  Then, I started seeing them everywhere...at work, shopping, at friends' houses.  Now, I'm all about jumping on the nearest bandwagon...but I still didn't see the usefulness in the Tervis...it's just a cup.

Then, my parents bought into it.  My parents are the least superfluous people I know.  They are not the type to buy something just because it's on the shelf.  This confused me, maybe there is something to this...

You never know until you try.  I pack up the hubby and head to Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  I pick a 24 ouncer with a cute pink-bowed skull.  The hubby picks some random Superbowl 24 ouncer (it was half price)...and it starts.

The Tervis actually did everything it said it did.  If you fill the cup with an iced drink...it's got minimal melting.  And if you fill it with coffee...it is warm to the last drop.  Since I spend a lot of my day in the car, this is awesome.  I can fill the cup with ice water in the morning, and (as long as I keep it out of the sun) the Tervis keeps it cool until I drink it all...it's amazing!!

Recently, the hubby noticed that my Tervis was fogging up.  I get on the website to find out if my precious tumbler was damaged.  It is, I have to fill out the form and send it in.  This was a bit of a problem, since I have to send my tumbler in...what will keep my drink cold while my Tervis is being replaced??

I start to look at the products on the website...probably not the best idea.  I buy the hubby and I new 24 ouncers...customized with our names and everything.  His has an emblem of Minnesota Wild...no way I would find that in a local store.  And now, I get e-mail updates with coupons every other week...I see this fever turning into a plague in the near future!!

They even have a cute little mascot... Phil-Up. 

The chain of technology :-/

I've always been a fan of technology...and I married a technology enthusiast.  We own completely out-of-date cars...but are always on the top of it when it comes to the TV, sound system, laptops, game systems, cell phones...and I also have an awesome printer/fax in my office.  Paul has some kinda monstrosity in his office that prints...but I don't think it's called a printer.  And when one of those things breaks...we immediately find the funding for a new, most of the time updated, replacement.  We're only limited by the satellite internet...

Recently, we went to Best Buy to get an extra cable for the receiver.  Apparently, we did not have enough cords running behind the entertainment center...who knew??

We needed another cord so the sound from the new XBOX 360 could come through the surround sound instead of the TV.  While we were looking for a cord...Paul spots a whole new receiver with an open-box price.  We talk to the salespeople (yep, multiple salespeople), we talk to each other, we leave with the new receiver.  Paul (and the salespeople) explain to me that our current receiver is outdated based on our TV and the BluRay player...so we really needed to update the receiver to get the most out of the TV.  The new receiver allows for a better quality picture through the TV and is 3D compatible.  I'm not completely sold on the whole 3D TV thing...but just in case.

A few days after we get it, it completely freaks out.  One night, Paul was playing a game, and the sound just got lower and lower until it was off.  We did all the trouble shooting and I got on a live chat with a Sony tech....

Side Note...I could work as a Sony tech and be way more helpful than that clown was...all he/she did was basically cut and paste the manual troubleshooting tips... Trust me, we went through that entire manual before wasting life chatting with you.

We take the receiver back to Best Buy, they order us the same model from a different store...it'll be here in a week.

Paul changes all the settings so we can hear the sound through the TV...and found out that our TV has extremely crappy sound quality.  Thank goodness we were out of town that weekend...

We finally get the new receiver and hook it up.  Tonight, we throw in an older DVD, The Ref...a classic.  The picture comes up in a box on the screen.  It's literally like a pan-scan boxed frame in the middle of the screen...  Apparently, the receiver updated our TV to the 1080p output is was supposed to be putting out instead of whatever quality it was putting out with the old receiver.  Basically, the DVD is now outdated...

So...we went through several older DVDs...most of them are in some kind of bizarre format...square framed boxes, rectangle framed boxes, zoomed into full screen, etc.  The DVDs that we own that are post-digital filming are fine and the BluRays are fine.

Right now, Paul is on the floor in the living room pulling the older DVDs off the shelf to figure out which ones need to be replaced with BluRays...if we can even find them on BluRay.

And that's the chain of technology...we bought new surround sound for the new house, we updated the TV to catch up with the sound system, we updated the receiver to catch up with the TV, now we have to update the DVDs to catch up with the new receiver...

And it never ends...

I think I'd be a much bigger fan of technology if it were cheaper...and retro-compatible :-/

Where Heaven meets Earth

These pictures are not photo-shopped...they are an exclamation of God's perfect design...

In Salar de'Uyuni, Bolivia, there is a huge salt flat.  Most of the year, this area is dry and arid, making the ground cracked...but during the rainy season, the water turns the salt flat into a massive reflective mirror.  It's called the border between Heaven and Earth...  This is officially added to the places I want to go before I die.

Stunning...

Gotta love him

I love my husband!!  There's very rarely a dull moment.  And he brings out the craziness in me :)  Exhibit A:

The hubby tends to leave things wherever he drops them...even after I ask him to put it up.  For example, since the hubby can't seem to walk to the bathroom to put his dirty clothes in the hamper...I have strategically placed dirty clothes hampers where he tends to pull socks and shirts off throughout the house.  The hubz is really only expected to have a semi-accurate toss from wherever he's sitting to get the clothes in the bin.

I know what you're thinking...man, she's a great wife!!  The only thing that I ask is that he not put his belts in the bins...because I'd like to just pour the clothes out of the bin into the washing machine...life is simple for everyone :)

But guess what??

You got it!! I still find belts in the bins.  I didn't even know he had this many belts...he has one for each day.  So, not only are they in the bin, but they are spread throughout the layers of the clothes...  This makes me completely see red...and when I bring it up to the hubz, you know what he does??

He laughs because it makes me so angry...

Apparently, I'm not doing something right.  I've tried to make it convenient for him.  I've also tried behavior modification tactics that I've studied to work with children...no dice.

So...when I find a belt in the bin...I stick it in the microwave...

Not the working one...I'm not that crazy!! We have an extra microwave...long story...got a counter top microwave for a wedding present and bought a house that uses an over-the-stove microwave.  So, we have a microwave in storage.  Anyways, I stick the belt in the extra microwave in the utility room.  Not forever, just long enough to make it a pain for him to find.  So, when he realizes what an inconvenience it is to find an item that he didn't put up...he'll take the time to put it up the next time.  See the rationality there?

It's not just belts and the microwave, it's anything that I've just been fed up with...and anywhere I think of at that moment.

Oddly, this doesn't work either...he just finds other belts, or pens, or cups, or socks, or mice...  Yes, our house is filled with mice.  Not the rodent variety, the clickable variety...corded, USB, wireless, miniature, colored, LED...

At least it makes me feel better...or it did...until today...

Paul was looking for something.  He opens a drawer in the bathroom that is rarely opened.  'What's that?? My MP3 player??  I've been looking for that for months, I thought I was going to have to buy another one.'  WOW...

I don't even remember sticking that in there.  When the hubz found it, we both knew exactly how it got there.  And looking at it...I know exactly why it was there.  The MP3 was still attached to the arm band.  Paul came home from a run and {more than likely} slung it onto the key bowl* (key bowl* = bowl that I put on the table in the foyer by the door for the purpose of placing keys).  As any reasonable person can see...they key bowl is obviously not for MP3 players.  And that's how the MP3 player ended up in the obscure drawer in the hall bathroom.

Maybe it's time I re-evaluate my thinking process...just typing this makes me sound kinda certifiable.  Plus, I've realized that I can't even remember all the victims of my little form of home management.  And at some point, I decided that it was a better idea to hide an expensive MP3 player rather than just put it up...

There's gotta be a more constructive way...  We just went on a marriage retreat and learned all kinds of positive ways to interact with each other.  Surely, I can pull something out of my new skills tool box.

Maybe I'll try a sticker chart :)

Eternal bowling...

So...the hubz signed up for a league-type bowling thing to get a bowling ball.  It was every Tuesday night for 4 weeks, and of course, I went with him...  At the end of such league-type thing, information came out for a new LONGER league-type thing...10 weeks.  Since I figured I was going to go every week anyways, I decided to also sign up for the league-type thing...

I don't have a 10 week attention span...

Even worse, the hubz continually wants to bowl between Tuesdays...as if one night a week isn't enough.

It's fun and all, but we've been going FOREVER...I don't remember which week we're on, but I don't think it matters...because I have this sneaking suspicion that it is NEVER going to end.

I mean, this league will be finished at the end of the 10 weeks...but then what? I'll tell you then what...another league, that's what.  Is this going to become a staple once a week in our lives forever?  Yes, it will...because at the end of this league, we'll both have a ball, bag, and shoes...which pretty much ensures that we are going to want to use them.  When I'm absolutely sick of bowling at the end of the league, I'll get shiny new stuff that'll make me excited for bowling again...triggering me to sign up for another league...then, I'll be 4-5 weeks into the next league feeling the same way I do now...absolutely sick of bowling...

Does this sound incredibly like street style drug-pushing to anyone else???

Congratulations...you're an accident waiting to happen...

Ok, maybe I’m being a buzz kill…but does it make anyone else nervous that a scary number of 17 and 18 year old drivers are cruising around with limited visibility??  Maybe it’s just me and maybe it’s because I’m on the road all day and have seen SOO many.  How long are those fancy graduation cars gonna last if the kid can’t see behind them?? Are they avoiding backing up, or just holding their breath and backing up on a prayer??  I’m not saying that 17/18 year old drivers are particularly hazardous, but isn’t anyone with massive graffiti on their back windshield hazardous??  Plus, it’s completely unoriginal…can’t parents think of a better way to celebrate their child’s achievements without taking the ‘semi’ out of their semi-unsafe car?? If it does only bother me…my bad :/

Funniest blog ever...

Vampire squid

Un-vegatizing

I haven't eaten meat (beef, pork, poultry, wild game) for 2 1/2 years...it started as a New Year's resolution type think and ended up as a meat made me physically sick thing.

The hubby has been after me for a while to break back into the meat market. I understand...as the main cook in the house, I usually only cook things I can eat (we eat a LOT of veggies and fish, and a LOT of take out food). I don't cook chicken, pot roast, meatloaf, etc. Paul just wants something for dinner that is home cooked and has meat...I get it.

So, for a while now, I've been tinkering with the idea of un-vegatizing. The problem is two-fold. One: It's hard to break a habit after close to 3 years. Two: Like I said...it's makes me really sick.

Last night, the un-vegatizing process began. The hubby called to ask what's for dinner. It had been a long week and I had no intention of cooking. I told him to bring home dinner. He asked what I wanted - I thought about it - I asked for a hamburger. After the shock, the hubby agreed to pick up dinner on the way home.

We didn't have anywhere else to go, so if I got sick it would be in the 'comfort' of my home. It took me the better part of an hour (we watched an episode of Leverage while I ate), but I got the whole burger down.

And there it was...the reason this is going to be really hard...I felt like my intestines were going to explode for about an hour and a half...and you know what???

It WASN'T worth it, the burger was not that good...not a even better than the veggie burgers I've been eating the last couple of years. Me = disappointed...

I ate half of a slider patty tonight...out. The ride home was painful, but after we got home and I settled in...I was ok.

Maybe this won't be as hard as I thought it would be...I hope, I hope, I hope.

Summer Cravings

I wanna go to the beach!!! We usually don't go until August so we can incorporate Paul's birthday...but I wanna go now!!! I have been sitting here thinking of rationales of doing a day trip to the beach. It's only a 3 hour drive, no biggie. Hmmm...

Executive Decision = no changes

I signed into my blog today with the full intention of completely revamping it. The hubby always makes fun of my title anyway. Also, I've noticed that there are a lot more options to customize through blogger now, including customized URLs...I always hated that they just kinda handed one to me... So, Executive Decision = revamp blog.

First matter of business...custom URL. Easy enough (check).

Second matter of business...new title. Not as easy... I got nothing, so I start googling quotes, song lyrics, book titles...anything that'll help me think. Nothing. Executive Decision = keep current title with change later option.

Third matter of business...new layout. So...I go through some of the blogger templates. I'm not good at trying to fit pages into a template...that was my problem with MySpace, I changed the background once a week because I couldn't find one that fit...but that's a different story.

I look through a couple of websites, no go. So, I start tinkering around with my own HTML. I apply different ideas and realize that I don't like any of them near as well as I like my own. Executive decision = keep current background.

I changed little things within the HTML codes like text colors and fonts to at least make myself think that I've freshened it up...that counts!

Meeting wrap up: either I'm just not creative tonight or I got it all right the first time... Executive Decision: go with the 'got it right the first time' option and run with it :-)