Happy Birthday To Yooooouuuuuu

Today is Dac's birthday. He's 29. You know, OLD! =) I kid, I kid. I've known Dac practically forever. We went on our first official "just us" date when he was 16. Wowzers! Needless to say, he's been around a while. I've decided he can stay! =) (How thoughtful of me.)

Dac is great. He is one of the most caring, helpful people I know. He would truly do anything for anyone without even thinking twice. He's a family guy and he cares for his friends just like they're family too. He's funny. He's a thinker, a reader, a problem solver. He's a tell-you-how-it-is encourager. He dives into projects head first and gives 100% until it's done (except our bathroom remodel...haha). He loves to hear people's stories and really listens. He likes to be active and try new foods (I like to think this is rubbing off on me... or maybe will rub off on me.) He's a coffee and beer connoisseur. He's incredibly good looking and just happens to smell good too. He loves the Lord. He's good with money. He takes our stinky dog for a walk and rubs his belly. =) I could go on and on about all the great qualities he has but I'll spare you the novel.

Just know that he's great.

He holds my hand.

He always makes me laugh.

And he likes to stand on top of parking garages in the wind and look lovingly at me. =)
He's the best for me and I don't take for granted that I found him (even without a wait) and that I get to enjoy his company every single day. Happy birthday to my husband, best friend, business partner, and everything else he is to me. Hope it's a great one!!

PS - Thanks for being my perfect match and for accepting my forgetfulness, Target addiction, my fear of bad guys being in the house, my ponytail and sweats style, and for loving me in spite of all of it (and so much more).

Shopped 'til I dropped

We had a very busy (but not work busy for the most part) but enjoyable weekend. Let's break it down (because I know you care that much.) =)

Friday: I worked and though the morning wasn't all that delightful, by noon I was in another one of those "the weather is awesome and I'm blowin' this joint soon" moods. I went and got my brows ripped ever so delicately from my face. Seriously... not that it can ever feel good, but my wax girl, Regina at Ionic, makes it feel more like a spa day than the cruel, inhumane torture that it is. That is appreciated. I emerged a little red but much less gorilla-like... which I'm sure Dac (and everyone else for that matter) appreciated too.

Then, I went on a spur of the moment, quick trip (that ended up not being so quick) to Derby with my MIL and SIL... you'll notice a "hanging with the Call's" trend for this weekend. Anyway, we mostly just piddled around and tried on lots of cute (and even not so cute), fun, scandalously high heels. Like practically every pair we saw. It. Was. Kinda. Fun.





I found these at Kohls and loved them. They're not my usual style by any means (I tend to go a tad more classic than these) but I thought they were super fun and, surprisingly, pretty daggum comfy too. They almost felt like fuzzy slippers to my Flintstone feet. I was this close to leaving with them, but I haven't found my dress for the cruise yet, so I didn't want to buy heels until I was sure they'd go well with that.

After trying on shoes at every store we went to, we enjoyed some Buffalo Wild Wings.

Saturday: I did lots of laundry and the usual house work then went on an adventure to retrieve my purse and phone from Terese's car/house... and to Sonic.




Then Dac and I went to Wichita to look for some replacement interior doors for the couple rooms we're remodeling. We're trying to keep things pretty close to original when at all possible. At least for the more permanent fixtures. We came home empty handed. We went to Old Chicago to redeem Dac's free birthday pizza. We had "The Classic" with pepperoni, Italian sausage, and garlic... Chicago style of course. It was fun to sit and hang out for a bit... and eat free pizza. That's always good. We also kind of shopped til we dropped at the mall, Lowe's, the lumber store, and Dillon's Marketplace.

Sunday: We went to church then headed back to Wichita with Dac's family for his birthday dinner. We ate at Two Brother's BBQ. We had the new buffet and it was alright, I just don't think it's my kind of BBQ. Then we went back to the mall to shop for the boys' cruise attire. We got back and put on a fashion show for Val, then the two of us settled in to watch "Grownups". We really liked it. =) It was the perfect end to a busy weekend.

Sister Sky

Yesterday was Wednesday... and it was a good day. Work wasn't nearly as awful and crazy as it was Monday and Tuesday. The weather was fabulous! You know the type... the kind that makes you all hyper and nuts because all you want to do is get outside run, scratch that, walk briskly around like a wild woman. Arms flailing. Yeah, it was that day. Also, on top of all that, and on top of it being Criminal Minds night with Heather, I got to see my "little" Sky. With all the bad weather, etc... it'd been about a month since I'd seen her. I swear she grows more each time. =) Great, now I'm sounding old. Sheesh!

So, I picked her up and she had homework to do. Not like write a paper, read a play script, or draw a picture homework... but MATH homework. UGH!! I didn't like it when I had to do it back then, and I don't like having to do it now! I didn't even know how to do most of it. I can't believe I just admitted to that on the Interwebs of all places. Anyway, Sky was wanting to go to Subway but she had to finish her homework first.

Here's me interrupting her (I was getting bored of window shopping online if you can even believe that!)





I stopped and she got back to working hard.





Meanwhile, I'm doing stuff like this! I told you I was antsy. All I could think of when I saw this picture was "QUACK!"



Then, when she was done with her work, we took a minute for a dance party.





Then, we met Dac at Subway. At this point Sky was D to the UN with pictures. I mean, who can blame her?



As we drove back to her house we jammed ( I introduced her to the band Fun) with the windows down. All-n-all, I say it was a success.

After that, I perused Wal-Mart (and ran into my ol' pal Kasie...yay!) for some Cosmic Brownies to take to Heather's. You know, I don't want to hear it... it was the first night of the new spin off Criminal Minds that came on right after the original and you can't very well have a double header of new Criminal Minds episodes without Little Debbie snacks. =) We had fun.

Today all I have planned is work and housework. Maybe I'll go grocery shopping too? (For healthy things, not brownies). I don't know... that's pushing it.

Hold the Love Boat...

Maybe I'm a fan of Valentine's Day after all!! =D


How did I let this happen? Ay yi yi! Oh well. Happy Valentine's Day to me!!

Celebrating Early

Oh weekend, how I hate to see you go. You've been so good to me. To us. Dac and I aren't big Valentine's Day fanatics... the majority of the time we don't even do anything or really get each other anything.. it's just not something we make a big deal out of. Regardless, I feel like we had a pretty perfect Valentine's weekend. Let's recap, shall we? Friday: Came home from work (that in itself is pretty amazing) and heated up some leftover lemon chicken wings. I did some laundry and picked up, then we watched Inception. I'm still not sure exactly what I think about it. I'll have to watch it again. After that we went to bed early. Actually, I went to bed early and Dac stayed up playing Angry Birds. Ha!

Saturday: Woke up early to the sounds of this guy being absolutely ridiculous...


Apparently when you gotta go, you gotta go! =) I tried to go back to sleep, but just couldn't. Still, it was a later morning than my usual workday morning, so I can't complain! =) I did some more housework and then our friends John and Anna (and sweet little Ruby Rose) swung by and picked us up for a drive-thru Wendy's date. I ate it up good. Oh yes. Complete with a delightful Frosty! So bad but soooo good. We got to hang out and chat a bit and we took our shot at Ruby's 3-month pictures. She had been sick earlier in the week and still wasn't feeling amazing. She spent most of our time together being very sleepy and super upset. Still, she's awful cute and we had a great time with her mom and dad! =) After that, the two of us went out for a nice dinner at Biederman's Bistro. I had the turkey panini and cottage cheese, and Dac had one of the specials - southwest chicken pasta. Both were great. I came home and read part of a magazine and we watched some TV.

Sunday (Today): We went to church and heard about having genuine love for others, and treating them as such. You know, that's pretty Valentine-y. I got a few hugs from my favorite little girls, and even a Valentine from my Goddaughter. Then, after some more housework, Dac went to the home show in Wichita with his Dad, and I spent the afternoon at my parents' house. It was a great, relaxing visit! I even got to see Heidi - one of my favorite pooches. Love that ol' girl. I'm thrilled things have slowed down enough that we've had some time lately for each other, friends, and family! It's been great!! =) I'm borderline giddy about it! Now, I plan to chill on the couch and watch crime show re-runs. (I know, pathetic) with Dac and Peety! I'm certain Peety loves our Sunday night TV time. =)


So that's that. I have to work tomorrow and I have a meeting tomorrow night... so I guess it's a good thing we "celebrated" early! =) Hope you all have a fabulous pink and red day of love!

Snoooow, here's a look at my week...

Wednesday was another snow day. After digging ourselves out of around a foot of snow, we made the inevitable trek back up to my office-on-a-hill. Lo and behold, we only got stuck once. It was a doozy though. Fortunately, Dac had the foresight to pack the snow shovel in the car before we left so he was able to dig us out of that mess too. =) Was I thrilled to be going to work? No, but the important thing is that we made it and we made it safely.


After a long day and a frosty trip home, I got comfy in my sweats once again. Guh-lorious. Like last week, I made a big pot of chili. (I promise I really do cook other things but on days like this, it's so easy and just what the abominable snowman ordered).


Although the chili had lots of tomatoes in it (gotta have that lycopene) it wasn't nearly as red and gross looking as what the picture makes it out to be. =) I had tea with mine and Dac had milk because we needed to use some of it up.

Wednesday was also... wait for it... CRIMINAL MINDS!!!! My ol' pal Heather came over to enjoy the scary morbidness with me. What can we say? We just love a good psychological thriller. =) I also got super excited about the Diet Dr. Pepper my co-worker brought me back from lunch. It made my headache a little more bearable and my day slightly more sun-shiny. =) Ah Love! =) (Hi, my name is Alisha and I am an exclamation-point-and smiley-face-aholic.)

"Hi Alisha."

In other news, my MIL had a heart procedure done Monday, and the results came back squeaky clean. I took off a little early on Monday to run some errands for her and get ready in case she was staying overnight so we could go see her. When we learned she'd likely be coming home late that afternoon, I decided to run to the store and grab some stuff to make lasagna for them. I'm rarely, if ever, short on pasta, but I needed some veggies and cheese. Mmm cheese. Anyway, about the time the lasagna was done baking, we learned she was staying overnight and it wasn't much after that Austin (my BIL) called and said he'd be picking us up. S0 - we headed to Wichita and visited for a while. Then, we kids made a pit stop at I-hop around 8:30 for supper. Now, it was miracle enough that I lasted until 8:30 before eating supper. I wasn't about to avoid my all-time favorite food (pancakes, duh) while we were there. =) Pure awesome. That's all I know. We rocked out on the way home (and played Angry Birds) and that was that.

Tuesday night, my Zumba class got canceled and I was 100% totally ok with that. I hate that it was the second time in a row though. Kinda thinkin' the snow should diversify itself a little instead of coming on the same days each week. Get on that, K snow? Anyway, we took the lasagna (made with whole wheat noodles, sauce, seasoned zucchini and yellow squash, and cheeeeese) over to David and Terese, wished David a happy birthday, and ate. I also took them over some frozen chili (ground chicken, diced tomatoes, chili seasoning, rotel, and black beans) for another meal... and some cornbread muffins to go with it... but we kind of ate all those with the lasagna. =)


Last night was Wii Night. I wasn't feeling good at all yesterday... true story. I slept most the day and had this little cuddle pug by my side most the day.


I already bought all this food though and sometimes hanging out with friends is just what you need to feel better, so we went ahead and ate anyway. I baked lemon drop chicken wings and made baked zucchini fries. Not bad. If I made it again I'd definitely use more lemon and probably brown the chicken just a tad more. I forgot to take a picture though. Cori brought pineapple and Val brought dessert - Reese's Peanut Butter Egg!! YEAH! A girl after my own heart. =) I went to bed early and he we are.... FRIDAY!

Hope you all have a great weekend. I plan to.

Snowpocalypseageddon

Well friends... I considered not writing this post at all... seeing as how I've been a bit of a Grumpy Gwenevere the past couple days. BUT - in an effort to document life this year... I'm sacrificing and hoping I don't repel you, for too long anyway, with my extreme grumpiness.

It all started Monday morning. I had to trek all around town in frigid temperatures... in and out of school offices filled with puking kids with high fevers and strep throat waiting for their rides home. I drove in the wind and sleet, slipped (but not fell) on slicky stairs, and exposed myself to the cold elements and potential life-threatening (or at least real miserable-making) diseases all in the name of duty. WORK. Who the heck wants to work on a Monday anyway? =) Am I right? That day in itself was a bit hectic and annoying, but Tuesday, oh Tuesday, it was worse!

Tuesday: I awoke at 5:30 a.m. to the sound of my alarm clock. About the time I went to hit snooze, I got a call. A much expected call. It was an automated voice mail from one of the bosses saying there would be no school. Then... the dreaded finale... "12-month staff should still report to work." It's the same ol' song and dance at the end of all the messages. What do you know? IIIIII work 12-months a year. Which, in a school district, is very annoying because even though working 12 months a year is a real world reality... this is not the real world people. I'm one of few here that works all year round... even on snow days. So, I got around and donned many-a-layer before we headed off to work. Dac's car wouldn't start (I'm shocked) so he took me to work first. It started to get pretty knarly out there (single digit temps, 40mph winds, -20 wind chills, 10in of snow, etc..) and as I heard of several other businesses closing early, I thought certainly we would too. I heard nothing. And more nothing. Until mid afternoon when we got the OK to head home. At this point, there were already Mount Everest-sized snow drifts and it was so cold windows wouldn't even defrost. You also couldn't see 5 ft in front of your face. Dac was still working and I couldn't get a hold of him, so I waited (rather impatiently, as you might imagine) for him to come get me. 45 minutes later, he got there and we were on our way. Or were we? Note: I work on a hill so the only way to get gone is to go down one of four hills. News Flash... those hills? They were covered with about 4ft of snow and as luck would have it, after helping someone else get un-stuck... we ourselves get stuck! Dac dug us out and we tried another hill. No such luck. Finally, we pulled back into my office parking lot and called my brother-n-law (and his F350) to come get us. Don't worry, I re-payed him with chili... even sent him home with some extras. After I cooled off about getting stuck so bad (which obviously proved my point that we should have left work earlier), life wasn't so bad anymore. We ate chili, got in some toasty sweats, and watched four episodes of Dexter. =)

School had already been canceled for today. I knew that. I put it on the website after all. I also knew I would still be expected to come in to work. That's fine, and I did. Dac drove again and we made it to the office after only getting about stuck a couple times. Then, he stopped to drop me off at the front door and got stuck for real. Like BAD stuck. BAD. After trying and trying to get out, the girls came out to help. It was pointless, we were high-centered on a mound of snow and the car wasn't going anywhere. Oh, PS, we were momentarily locked out of the building and fuh-reeezing. Keep in mind it was literally deathly cold outside. Thankfully, we realized Dac had his key in his pocket. =) A couple guys came to help, and eventually they were able to hook the car up to a truck and pull it out. I bet the whole ordeal lasted about 45 minutes. IN. THE. COLD. Again, I was feeling a bit irritated that I had got out of bed this morning. To top it all off, nobody brought donuts. What?!?!?! IIIII KNOW!

Whew, things have settled down again. Sure, the heater in my part of the building wasn't working right but thankfully I had multiple layers on again and my trusty little floor heater I keep set to "roast" in my office. Also, much to my liking, Dac and I have scheduled a "donut date" for in the morning. I know exactly what I'm going to get too... been craving one for weeks... a... wait for it... BUTTERFLY. (A maple-covered cinnamon roll of. pure. awesome.) Am I supposed to have donuts on this diet? Negative. Do I really care right now? No? OK then. I'll just indulge and move on. And days like this? Same concept... vent and move on. Every day is new. That's life and life is good! =)

Disclaimer: I honestly do realize I have no REAL reason to be grumpy. I have a warm place to be... out of the elements for most the day... and I have warm clothes and a crock pot for making warm meals. I also have a job, to help afford these things, and for that, I am grateful. Oh, and aside from a slight sore throat, I'm healthy too! Please don't misunderstand my petty rants and dramatic whining as selfish and compassion-less. This week in all my ridiculousness, I've been reminded even more of how truly blessed I am and have found myself praying even more for those who aren't quite as fortunate right now. It really is heartbreaking to me. I pray everyone has found a warm, safe place to be during this "snowpocalypseageddon" (or whatever they're calling it now) and has all their needs (and hopefully some wants too) met.

PS - sorry for the lack of picture... AGAIN.