My peeves need pet

Two of my lovely blogger friends, Lindsay and Kristie, posted their pet peeves the other day so I thought I would share mine.

* Invading my personal space. If I don't know you, the last thing I want is you to touch me in any way. Don't tap my shoulder, don't touch my arm, don't stand close to me. Stay away!

* The toilet paper being on the roll so it rolls out under. Drives me nuts.

* When there are NINE empty stalls in the bathroom, I get all uppity when someone sits in the stall next to me.

* Ignorance. There is no need for it.

* Intolerance.

* Obsessive behavior. I know quite a few people that are very obsessive to the point of that is all their life is. It disturbs me greatly.

* Having to wait a whole year in between Stephanie Plum books! Boo!!

Somewhere over the rainbow....

I meant to post this picture the other day, but forgot! After I got home from the horse show, my brother said to look outside because the rainbow was extremely bright.




Also, my prayers are with those in Chile or with family/friends in Chile after the devastating earthquake this morning. And I hope all those in California and Hawaii are kept safe if a tsunami hits. The Earth has been a little unhappy lately.

What's new pussycat...

So Tyson Tuesday is a day late, but hey, he's cute!
He hates his picture being taken...really hates when I try to take a picture of the both of us. Haha!



As every cat owner knows, nobody owns a cat.
Author: Ellen Perry Berkeley

Beaker makes me smile.

Mobsters, Dogs, and Rain aka The Horse Show

Tina and I made plans to take her daughter and my niece to the horse show yesterday. I woke up with sinus issues plaguing me (my head is sucked into a vacuum cleaner, I swear!) and to rain. It only figured that because they said it was only a 20% chance of rain that it would actually do it. After consulting with Tina on what we should do, we decided to play it by ear and head that way. By the time I got Michaela picked up and heading towards Tina's house, it had stopped raining. But the drive over to McDonald's, where we had promised the girls lunch at, brought on the rain again. We let them play for a bit and the rain let up so off to Scottsdale we went.

Michaela is an animal lover...in particular she is a dog lover. Essentially for her, the trip to this horse show meant one thing -- seeing lots of dogs. And until I finally had to tell her no more asking, she stopped everyone we saw that had a dog and asked to pet their pooch.



Tina and I do the horse show as often as we can and are more than happy to sit and watch the competitions take place. For an eight year old and a five year old, this was not good times. So after watching two quick competitions we headed out to see what we could see.



Unfortunately due to the rain, West World was a great big mud pit and a lot of the barns were closed down as they were starting to cancel competitions for the day due to weather. One extremely generous owner of one of the larger barns did ask if the girls had seen a lot of horses and when he heard they had not, he not only allowed them to feed carrots to his horses, but he brought out one of his prized stallions for the girls to get an up close encounter. They were both thrilled and a little apprehensive at this large animal moving around.




We stopped to watch a couple more competitions where Abby inquired with a little concern if the English Pleasure Riders were actually mobsters as that is how she felt they were dressed. After Tina and I laughed and reassured her they were not mobsters, she settled in with Michaela to watch...and name...all the horses that were passing by. By then the rain had started again and we were muddy and tired. (I was wiped out!) So we headed back to Tina's house so the girls could play for a bit...and yep, "Aunt Chelle" took a nap on Tina's couch.

I love, love, love going out to the Scottsdale Show and already have plans to attend a couple times next year when it comes again (2 weeks every February, today is the last day). Hopefully there won't be rain the next time as I had really wanted to explore more, take more pictures, etc.







A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

Author: William Shakespeare

Thursday Thoughts...

* I bought the new Girl Scout cookie flavor, Thank u Berry Munch. Delicious!!! I need to find a recipe for cranberry cookies like these. Yum!


* I finished "The Heretic Queen" by Michelle Moran. I think up next is "This Charming Man" by Marian Keyes. What I really miss is a good ol’ Stephanie Plum mystery, but has to wait for July. Boo!

* I am working on getting my movie reviews for "Valentines Day" and "Percy Jackson & The Olympians" done and posted.

* Saturday is the big Arabian horse show in Scottsdale. I can’t wait! Going to go do a little shopping, a little horse gazing, and hope that the weather holds out as nice.

* Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook continues to be one great big ol’ time suck. It is amazing how much time you can lose playing one minute rounds of that game.

* A big thank you and love to Kristie for the darling Valentines Card and stickers. They are fabulous!

* I am craving sushi for some reason…which is not a good idea considering I’ve been feeling under the weather all week and currently have an upset tummy. (And I don’t even really LIKE sushi…)

* Lesli gave me The Sunshine Award last week…it was and is so greatly appreciated! I haven’t forgotten that I need to acknowledge and pass it on yet, I’m getting there.

* I work with someone with a lot of gray hairs…I have to fight temptation to reach out and pluck them frequently. ::sighs::

And now I think I'm going to go have one of them cookies...

C is for cookie that's good enough to eat...
Cookie Monster

Frivolous want.

I don't drink tea, but that does not stop me from wanting this:



How cute is that? The Beatles inspired Yellow Submarine tea strainer. Only available in England and Tel Aviv. Yep, I am being denied.

So we sailed on to the sun,
Till we found the sea green,
And we lived beneath the waves,
In our yellow submarine,

Cat nap!

Because I think I have the cutest kitty in the whole wide world, I present you with Tyson Tuesdays!





Cats sleep Anywhere, Any table, Any chair, Top of piano, Window-ledge, In the middle, On the edge.
Author: Eleanor Farjeon

Happy Birthday to one of my favorite guys!

Happy 7th Birthday to my handsome nephew! Seven!! I remember the day my brothers and I took the drive down to Yuma to meet our newborn nephew, Curtiss. Love at first sight! It just blows my mind that it has been seven years!

And I find this just fascinating, for another look at new life being born:



Baby Jellyfish that were born at the San Antonio Zoo, [Courtesy of Zooborns] I'm fascinated reading about them. It is really strange how much I love sea life considering I have hydrophobia (fear of open bodies of water) and have a panic attack if I am in a pool, lake, ocean, etc.

Be intent upon the perfection of the present day.
William Law

Happy Love Day!

First up, my Valentine in all his cuteness!



Next, I give you my top 5 favorite couples:

5 - Paul & Jamie from "Mad About You"



4 - Ross & Rachel from "Friends"



3 - Marshall & Lily from "How I met your mother"



2 - Han & Leia from "Star Wars"



And #1 - Carrie & Big from "Sex and the City"! So much love for them!

Friday already!?!

Where did this week go!?!

So on Monday I started a week of no spending, but knew going in that it would end today because I have weekend plans. Other than an unexpected but necessary pharmacy stop, I didn’t spend any money all week. It was not really hard in any way, but mentally. I do find myself stopping at the store on the way home for work for no reason other than just wanting to stop at the store and that is when I generally find myself buying something that I don’t need. (Okay, to be honest, I also "spent" money this morning but it was just hitting approve on the bill pay notifications that pop up with my checking account letting me know that they are due and let's face it, the bills have to be paid. I don't consider that spending as it was definitely not something I wanted to do. Ha-ha!) I'm working on some other budgeting options to figure out what is going to work best for me. Finances, you are going to be conquered!!

The unexpected pharmacy stop came from ulcer issues. Ugh! Of course, it was my fault. I know the trigger foods and not only didn't avoid them, but enjoyed them quite a lot up until the pain set in on Tuesday night. Ha! That will teach me, right?

I am going to be trying some different things with my blog over the next few weeks. I keep trying to find the right click for me with blogging. I have ideas, definitely, so we'll see how it looks when I apply some of them.

I'm watching the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. They are so lively and the spirit in there is just amazing. However, the tragedy that happened to Nodar Kumaritashvili of Georgia this morning is heart breaking for the country.

Money Free Monday

The bad thing about not being able to spend any money this week isn't the fact that I *can't* spend money, it is the fact that my mind is obsessed with spending money. It is like a resolution, it is meant to be broke! I didn't spend a dime today, though.

I had an inquiry back on an application I sent out for a job this morning, asking if I would be interested in relocating. Hmmm...depends on the location! Such as I am not interested in moving to the middle of nowhere with ten feet of snow. I need a move theater, a GOOD grocery store, a book store, and a Target.

I baked yesterday.



Brownie pie. Turned out pretty good, a little rich so you definitely only want one small piece. Now I have to decide what is next on the baking agenda.

A short and sweet update...not much going on today other than the fact I survived Monday and "The Big Bang Theory" is on tonight.

Super Bowl 44

I wasn't overly invested in either team playing, but if there is only one game I see a year, it is the Super Bowl.

I think The Who were dull! All I thought was "oh, hey, there is the theme song for CSI...oh hey, there is the theme song for CSI: Miami...Are they done now???" Horrible!

The Doritos commercial w/ the little boy warning the guy to keep his hands off his mom and his Doritos was hilarious. I love the Budweiser Clydesdale commercials every year. The "Casual Friday" underwear commercial was kind of hilarious. Nothing too spectacular.

But it was an incredible game! And I think the best moment of it all is this:



Saints QB and MVP, Drew Brees, holding his little boy after the game as the celebration went on around them.

Congrats Saints.

From Paris With Love

And my review is posted for the movie today! Rock on!! I promised myself that I would stay on top of the reviews this year as I really flaked off last year towards the end of the year!

Anyway, if you want to read it, My review of "From Paris With Love" is here.

Yay for the weekend!

Today just flew by! I woke up around 5:30AM and lay there for a bit before picking up a book, hoping it would make me fall asleep. Didn't happen. So I got up and turned the computer and the TV on. Let me just say there are some stupid cartoons on for Saturday Morning TV now. I remember when I was little planning the first couple hours of a Saturday around what cartoons were on and they were always entertaining. Now? Crap! If you can find them, that is.

Molly had an appointment to be groomed today so I took that opportunity to go to lunch with my mom. My friend, Wendy, had been urging me to try out Culver's for their cheese curds. I had a mushroom, swiss burger with crinkle cut fries and got a side of cheese curds to share. The mushrooms were very few and the burger was okay. (I think that Carl's Jr. is better.) The cheese curds, however, were fabulous! The ice cream looked delish, but I didn't have any. (Instead I craved it the rest of the day/night.)

I made the trip over to my AMC to check out "From Paris With Love". I had a huge crush on John Travolta back in the day...Danny Zuko was IT! It was a typical shoot-em-up movie, but oh my is Jonathan Rhys Meyers pretty to look at!

Tomorrow is the typical laundry in the morning, then I'm off for Mexican food & Margaritas with Paula before settling in to watch some football! At some point before meeting Paula, I guess I better go to Toys-R-Us to get my absolutely adorable nephew's birthday present bought...and to pick up what I need to make a brownie pie for dessert tomorrow. Because...Monday, the "no spending for a week" goes into effect!!

Bazinga!

Oh Jim Parsons, how you make me smile!



And on the opposite end of smile...how about one big ol' ball of WTF:

Miley Cyrus 9 year old sister launches clothing line.

That whole thing is just sad! And really what parents are really going to want their little girls parading around like that for all the pedophiles of the world to check out?

What do you mean I can't buy that??

I have mentioned my friend Lesli at Pretty Random Thoughts numerous times for the fun contests and lovely blog posts. But she has recently started a new blog detailing her journey this year to get her debt under control and declared this the year without shopping (within reason, of course). Lesli is such an inspiration as she cheerfully tackles the task of paying off debt and changing her shopping ways. This week she was issued a challenge to go all week without spending any money and I am going to follow in her footsteps...Starting on Monday, February 8th, I am going to go all week (Well through Friday the 12th) without spending any money. I was going to go through the weekend and still may, but I did make plans already for the weekend to attend the big Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show. I will have to see what I can juggle around, if possible. The plan is to go grocery shopping on Sunday for what I will need for breakfast and lunches for the week and any other incidentals that I am going to need (such as cat litter).

I am an impulse buyer, that is the biggest challenge I am going to have next week, I think. I like shopping. No, I LOVE shopping. Especially at the book store! And Target! Oooh, and craft stores. Oh, oh, oh and at Bath and Body Works! For instance, here is my impulse buy of the year. I went to CVS Pharmacy after work tonight to pick up cat food. I hate the CVS layout as the air fresheners and candles are down the same aisle as the pet needs. And I had to stop (Yes, I had to) and check out the candles. And bought this in the small soy candle:



The currants & acai soy candle is just amazing!

You will hear this a lot from me for a while...

Oh.
My.
LOST!



Holy Cow!! But this show is just going to give me a heart attack. Monday night stress rush from 24 and now Tuesday night brings LOST.

Step by Step...

I'm working on firming up plans to go to Las Vegas in May with some of my girls. It will be a fast weekend trip. The three of us coming from Phoenix (myself, Tina, and Paula) would be leaving at dark o'clock in the morning on a Saturday & we would come back on Sunday. But...it is an adventure and it is for one reason only:



Oh yeah, going to the New Kids on the Block concert!!