What Would Jen Do

Happy Friday Blog Hopping, if you are here from any of these hops and want a little background info on me,  I’ll direct you to this post.

Monsoon season has been here for a month and a half, but that’s only because they decided one year to put an actual date on it. I think it might be June 15th.  you can’t really put a start date on it because you can’t predict the weather down to a specific day.   Statistically, we consider it a “monsoon day” when the average daily dew point is 55 degrees or higher.   Anyway, so it was monsoon season with no real monsoon.  But yesterday we got buckets of rain and it rained on me on the way to work this morning.   It feels nasty out there.  I know some of you are like oh woe to you, we live in a state where it’s always like 100% humidity and/or rains alot.    Arizona is a dry heat, I swear.   This is a big deal to us.    Our average rainfall is like 7 inches.

Also most of us can’t drive in the rain.    I don’t mind the rain at all, if I am not on the road.    I can drive in the rain, but it seems like most Arizonan’s just completely flip out and forget how to drive as soon as one drop comes out of the sky.   OMG WATER IS FALLING FROM THE SKY.  I certainly don’t know how you guys drive in snow…..

1. Did you have a favorite blanket or toy as a kid? If so, do you still have it?

I did and I do. It’s a blanket and I still have it.  A childs blanket serves many purposes. It’s a cape.   It’s a picnic blanket.  It can be wrapped around your waist as a long skirt.  It can be a turban.   It’s a wedding veil.   You can wrap your own ‘babies’ in it.  It’s a stylish scarf.    The possibilities are endless.

2.  Do you dream in color?

I definitely dream in color, not like techicolor or anything.

3. How tall are you? Do you wish you were shorter or taller?

I’m 5’5″, and i could go with being a couple of inches taller.    You know, and stay the same weight.

4. If you could have anyone’s (celeb or other) voice as the guide on your GPS, who would it be?

Jesus, then he could actually be my co-pilot.    Actually James Earl Jones.

5. Do you return your shopping cart to the corral or leave it wherever in the parking lot?

I always return it, i think people that don’t are especially lazy.  The corrals are all over the damn parking lot.   I really hate it when people leave their carts NEXT to the corrals, or like one parking spot away.   And don’t even get me started on the people that think it’s ok to leave their cart behind my car.

A few months ago we bought the super size double pack of dryer sheets from Costco, their brand.   They smelled really good, but the smell was over powering.  The car we brought them home in smelled for days.  We kept the unopened box out in the garage and our garage smelled very strongly of dryer sheets.  Which is not as nice as it sounds.   After a few days either we got used to the smell or it started fading on its own.    Either way, it became tolerable and I forgot all about them.

Until a few days ago when we needed a new box of sandwich bags in the kitchen.  Also from Costco, so a huge box of like a million.    The unopened box of dryer sheets had been placed on top of the sandwich bags.

OF COURSE all of the dryer sheet scent had been sucked right into that box of sandwich bags.   So now I have sandwich bags that not only smell good they make your food taste and smell like  dryer sheets.   I felt like I was being poisoned eating cucumbers that smelled and tasted like dryer sheets, but i was at work and starving and just kept eating.    Apparently I wasn’t worried enough about being poisoned to stop eating.

Those sandwich bags went into the trash.

Now that I’ve been talking about them, I can smell the dryer sheets again.

UGH, I am seriously over this whole ‘working’ thing.  I say that every week. I am just burned out.  I need a leave of absence or some short term disability or something.  I don’t think ‘burnout’ is a sufficient enough reason to get short term disability.    I know someone who gets a sabbatical every 7 years at her work, if that were the case for me I’d be closing in on sabbatical #2 right now.   She gets three months off.  I could use three months off.

We already have a semi busy weekend planned.   A birthday party Friday night and helping a friend move Saturday morning.  She has this bad habit of moving in the summer.  Then again, so do I.  I moved into this house on the hottest day of the year, which was seven years ago this month.    This is the longest I have lived anywhere since I moved out of my moms house.  For a while there I was moving every 9 mos or so.   I just finally stopped fully unpacking to make the moving easier.

I don’t prefer to be social, which is probably a bad trait.  I don’t get lonely or anything so being social is not a requirement to me.  I say that now because no matter how long I try to go without seeing other humans, it never lasts long.    Being a social butterfly was a requirement for me in my 20′s, I was out almost every night, but then I got old and tired and started staying in.    Much like wondering if my husband misses using a top sheet on our bed, I often wonder if he misses going out.  I mean he’s more than welcome to go out without me, but I’m pretty sure that if I am not with him he has THE WORST TIME EVER!

Anyway, point being, when my weekends get too filled up with things to do, that stresses me out.    and even tho we have a lot to do this weekend, it’s all over and done with by Saturday afternoon.    Which is perfect.

as per my free sample fetish,  I don’t do much leg work on my own.  I use this site.  I follow her on twitter, she does all the work and then tweets when there’s something new.   I also a couple of times per week Google ‘walmart samples’.  only because I’m too stupid to actually find the walmart free sample page on their website.   They offer a couple of free samples per week. they don’t change often but that’s where I’ve gotten my dogs quite a few treats.     And sometimes when I need or want things I Google them and go to the respective website and sometimes you’re lucky and get free samples and sometimes you just get coupons.  either way a win.   Like how I get $35 off my migraine pills.    I also use this coupon website because it’s the only one that didn’t ask me to download a coupon printer.    I stopped getting the sunday paper because the coupon savings never seemed to outweigh the cost of the paper.    so that’s how all this started.  I have not turned into one of those amazing couponers who always seem to get groceries for free, but I still enjoy saving a buck or two and getting things for free.

yesterday I picked up some Michelob Ultra dragon fruit peach.   I haven’t tasted it yet, but that seemed like a fun summertime beer.   Couple of days ago I made a Poinsettia which is cranberry juice and champagne.  I learned that one in Vegas.   Contrary to how it sounds, I do not drink a lot or often.

I also love pens and I love all things retro.  When I say retro i mean the 50′s or 60′s.   I love my vintage ad calendars.  And as you may have read before I love my retro restaurant menus.  So when I saw these pens last time we had dinner out at our fave cafe, I couldn’t stop thinking about them.  fortunately for me they still had them there yesterday and I picked them up, and not for that price listed.  much cheaper.

The Q’s..

1. Thong or Granny Panties?somewhere in between.   I don’t know how anyone wears thongs.

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2. If you see a guy with his fly down, do you tell him?depends on who the guy is.

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3. Spanx or no Spanx?I’ll definitely wear them. I need to go back to my wedding day and put them on.

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4. Do you sleep in your sheets?I don’t even know what this means, doesn’t everyone sleep in their sheets?  We don’t use top sheets at my house, I find them useless and stupid and it just makes it harder to make the bed.  Right now I’m wondering if my husband misses top sheets.

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5. What is your favorite Disney character?I don’t have one.  I’m not so much a Disney character fan as I am a fan of Disneyland.

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6. Dream vacation spot?I really think I want to go to Fiji.  I enjoy a nice beach.   We’ve been to St. Lucia and that was the best vacation I have ever taken. We almost went back for our honeymoon but ended up in Hawaii instead.

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7. What is your dream job?Stay at home mom and wife.  lame right?  i don’t think so.    but other than that, probably leader of the free world.

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8. Who is your hero and why?It’s going to sound cliche but it’s my mom.  She gets on my nerves sometimes now as an adult but she was a single mom not by choice, and I have zero bad memories of childhood.   I grew up to be basically the complete opposite of her and I’d refuse to believe we were related if we didn’t have the same unusual eye color and hands.   by unusual eye color, i guess it’s hazel.  it’s not green and it’s not brown but it’s a combo of the both and not exactly the typical hazel.   they lean more toward green.  I always wished i had bright green eyes.

1. What were your school colors?

Brown and Orange, very 70s.   I think they might be doing a revamp and changing the colors.  My friend has a kid who plays sports and sometimes they play at our old high school  (that’s how old I am) and she took pics one day and the school is now blue.

2. What’s the best compliment you ever received?

You have the prettiest face I have ever seen.     A completely supeficial compliment, but who wouldn’t love hearing that?

3. Do you buy cheap or expensive toilet paper?

I buy Charmin from Costco, so I guess it’s the expensive kind but cheap in price because I get it there in bulk.

4. Have you ever had a surprise party thrown for you? Or have you had one for someone else?

Husband tried to throw me a surprise 30th dinner, but I caught on.

5. What is one material possession that you “can’t live without”?

my laptop.   or chapstick.   or water.  or my dogs.      probably my dogs.  maybe my tv.

First of all, I was interviewed over at Friday Follow , it’s just a quick interview about my blogging history.

2nd.  It’s Thursday hop time, and this is the only hop I’m doing today.

I’ve recently become addicted to sending away for free samples because I’m convinced that it will save me money.   I might never have to buy shampoo/conditioner or feminine hygeine products again.     I’m even getting treats for my dogs!  I’m checking the mail every day because I’m so excited to see what’s going to show up that day.    Yesterday was tampons.  whoo hoo!!!  hahah.   I got a new email address specifically for this, just in case these companies decide to start spamming me.

Still iffy on the kitten.   People are really 50/50 on cats.   You either love them or hate them, there doesn’t seem to be anyone in the middle when it comes to cats.   I was told by a couple of people that if you treat the kitten like you treat your dogs, it will grow up more cuddly and into you than a cat would normally be.   I have only had dogs and I make them very codependent (which i love) and we have formed a very tight ‘dogpack’ in our home.  It’s our fault, we should have socialized them more so that going to the dog park or taking them to friends houses who also have dogs, would have been easier.   But you live and learn.   And honestly I can’t say that I mind too much that they can’t live without me!

IComLeavWe: Join the Conversation

If you are here from ICLW, hello!!!! 

The basic rundown of me and who I am is simple.  

I do not have children, but I do have two dogs who I treat like children,  probably a little too much.   But I can’t help it, they are SO CUTE!  I don’t know how many people have dogs that understand the words hug and kiss, but mine do.

I met my husband in dive a bar.  I know you’re not ‘supposed’ to do that but I figured I was in that bar and I’m a nice person….

We got married in Vegas July 19, 2008 after dating for six and a half years.  It was technically not an elopement, if you go back a few entries you can see wedding pictures.    I would love love love to get married again, I thought it was great fun. 

I watch a lot of TV, I have two DVR’s.    One for the upstairs and one for the downstairs.    I also watch a lot of TV on the internet, I should probably use my tv viewing time for something more productive, like exercise or saving the world.  Or maybe I could just pick up a book once in a while.

I was not born in Arizona but moved here when I was 2,  so I can kind of  be considered a native.   I do love it here but that is because Arizona is the only home I have known.  Right now tho with temps being at least 110* and it being monsoon season, it’s not a fun place to be.     Right now it’s not a dry heat.

I love the water, I love being near or on the water.   Except that as stated above we live in AZ and there’s no real water to be found.   I would love to live in a state that was on the ocean so I could have fresh seafood whenever I wanted.

I like a made bed, mini foods, diet coke, lavendar vanilla scented anything, vacuuming, sushi, the ocean, zombies, UFC and food.

I dislike the trendy bar scene, spray tans,  wearing shorts in public, green olives,  going to work, having a messy house, not being on vacation and staying out late.

I am not a niche blog, I don’t write about any one or two things, I just write about what happens or what I wish would happen.   Sometimes it feels like nothing happens in my life for weeks at a time and then all of a sudden I have a million and one things to write about.   

Lindsay Lohan is going to jail right now, no idea why I’m so excited about this.   Ever since Paris Hilton was forced to serve time, when most of these starlets get off with a few hours in jail, I’ve felt like all of them should go to jail.    I spend way too much time reading gossip sites……

So yesterday was our anniversary, and it was kind of a weird one because we didn’t actually celebrate the day of.  That Alaskan vacation was kind of an anniversary present to each other.   We had a nice anniversary weekend.   We went to the movies and out to dinner and Sunday night we had grilled salmon and champagne.  But Monday, the actual day of, I was at home sitting on my butt and he was at work.    And then at dinner I wrote  HAPPY ANNIVERSARY on his napkin in silver sharpie because I’m classy.

I am considering getting a kitten.  I have never had a cat in my life and am semi allergic to long haired ones.  It’s a very big decision for me based upon that alone.  What if i accidentally get a kitten that I think will be short haired and ends up long haired?  can you shave a cat?  anyway, my husband has had cats and he’s not worried about this at all.  he knows how to introduce them to dogs.   I am such a worry wart when it comes to my furbabies.    What if my dogs hate the cat?   Can’t we all just get along?

I have friends with cats, and some of their cats I have only seen once or twice.  Cats just kind of walk around self sufficient, which I think I might like.  But then I might also be sad that this cat ignores me.    For those of you who have cats, any difference between males and females that should be noted?

Nothing ever sounds like a good idea to me the first time around, i overthink everything.  I think i should just go to the humane society and get a kitten.   what do you think?

Happy Anniversary to me.  I mean US!   Two years ago today at 6:30pm we got married at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas!

We almost had an Elvis wedding but I watched a few online and realized I am not THAT outgoing.

A few years prior to getting married we were watching this show on TV called The Casino. It followed the two dot com owners of the Golden Nugget and the changes they were making to the vintage casino on Fremont St.  We were so intrigued by that show that we started going to the old strip instead of the new strip and staying at the Nugget.    If you have never been to Fremont St. it’s not as fancy or big as The Strip but it’s old school Vegas and you get more bang for your buck.

The Nugget has been completely redone and is gorgeous inside and out.    So when we finally decided to get married, the Nugget seemed like the obvious choice.

First of all, my wedding invitations were in the form of an Evite. I think you have to know me to appreciate this. I have sent out multiple evites in the past that made it look like they were invitations to shotgun wedding receptions, but when you opened them you’d see they were just invites to a poker party.   so this time I sent out an invite to a poker party in Vegas AFTER we got married.    I had to add that we were actually serious this time!

Planning a wedding in Vegas is easy if you do it at a Casino chapel. and if you have a future MIL who is willing to do most of the leg work. I picked a time, place, menu and flowers.  done.   I planned my entire wedding at work via fax.

I ordered these magnets as favors, keeping in line with the casino theme.

We booked the fanciest hotel room, the one we were saving for a special occasion.  One bedroom and two stories, and because it’s on Fremont St. it’s at least half the price you think we paid.

Everyone we invited came, we had a total of I believe 28 at the wedding, including us.

My girlfriends all came by before the ceremony for pre wedding mimosas!  this was when I realized i was bloated, barely fit into my dress and should have brought the spanx.  hi i am fat not pregnant.  That’s my $37 wedding dress!

Then we got married. Whoah, are we bored!  I asked for the shortest ceremony possible.  it was still like 15 minutes.  the minister said our last name wrong, and that set the tone for the rest of the wedding, i had the giggles.  Then he said Holy Matrimony, like Robin  would say HOLY MATRIMONY BATMAN

And done.  And please place your flowers or your new husbands hand strategically in front of your bloated belly.

Now let’s party

OK, not so much party as have dinner and cake.  The food was awesome

Afterward we all went out onto Fremont St and gambled and drank and had  a merry time.

Then we drove home back to AZ the next day and lived happily ever after.

The end.

I managed to get about an hour and a half of sleep on the couch this morning.  Then the coffee maker started up automatically at like 5:15, so I was up again. I have a feeling that I’m going to spend most of this weekend sleep deprived.

The husband gets off work early on Fridays so we are going to see Inception when he gets home.  That movie is hella long, like 150 minutes!!!!

My baby Voodoo is limping around today.   Not sure what’s wrong with his leg or foot but he’s being babied today for sure.  he had some baby aspirin today and if he’s still limping in a day. off to the vet.  i think he just likes the vet.

his tongue sticking out makes me laugh.  don’t make fun of our grass, that was so last season!

1. Do you collect anything?

bad habits?  I try not to actually collect things because I have an intense fear of being a hoarder.  What I do have that might be considered more than what the average person has are Coach purses (that habit has been curbed) Buxom Lip Gloss (the only lip gloss I use) and books.   books I never have time to read.   and old restaurant menus from around the 50′s to 60′s. I have some of them framed, I think my husband hates them but i love looking at them.  I’m always like ‘OMG a full steak dinner was $2.50????’

2. Name 3 celebrities that you find good looking.

1.  Jensen Ackles from Supernatural.

2.  Reese Witherspoon

3.  Maksim Chmerkovskiy from Dancing with the Stars

3. Do you have any scars? If so, what’s the story behind it (them?)?

I have a chicken pox scar on the bridge of my nose, covered if i wear glasses.   A random very light scar just under my right eyebrow that I have no idea how I got.   And on the back of my right knee i have an old burn scar that i got when i was about 2 and backed into a hibachi.  anyone remember hibachis?

4. What is a food that you like to eat, but others might think it’s gross or weird?

fried okra.  om nom nom nom.

5. Have you ever seen a tornado in real life?

I live in AZ we don’t really have tornado’s here.   well like once, but it stayed up high in the air.  It was a big deal