What Would Jen Do

Archive for the ‘pictures’ Category

Been doing a bit of scorpion hunting around the house lately.  I take the inside and the husband takes the outside.

Scorpion hunting involves a black light and a mallet.  The weapon of choice is optional but we find a mallet with a smooth flat surface works best.  You want to get these things as quickly as possible.  They are pretty wily so you really need to mean business when killing them.

Scorpions (as well as pee stains) light up under a black light.

Here is a scorpion carcass.   This is what it looks likes in normal light.  They blend in very well with the Arizona landscape.  this one stung me a few months back. I keep the bodies of the ones who sting me.

Here is one under a black light.   They are super visible.

We’ve only had 5-6 inside this year, which I guess is good, but still no one wants 5 scorpions in their house.  I have yet to find one on a hunt, I’m just being proactive.  But they seem to come out during the day and hang out.  We try to watch where we walk in this house.  The husband has killed a few outside, he got a super big one the other day and a smaller one last night.    That’s two scorpions that won’t be coming inside.

This is my favorite wedding picture.  Minus my moms arm over there.   I have it hung up all over the place and this is the one I put into my wedding announcements.   Since we were only ‘engaged’ a couple of weeks and had a very small wedding, we went straight to announcements with a picture enclosed.

It’s even over there <——- on my sidebar.

It’s no secret that I have a probably slightly unhealthy obsession with zombies.  Not all things zombie, i have my standards.  There are a lot of crap/stupid zombie movies out there.    My favorite ones are Shaun of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead (old and new) Land of the Dead and the 28 days/weeks later movies.     I have a large zombie movie collection as well as a zombie fiction (or is it?) book collection.

About a year ago I came across an artist who could do beautiful things with your existing photos.   He hand creates his interpretation of whatever photo you send him.

And this is what my husband got me for my birthday!

zombie wedding

Welcome to Way Back Wednesday with The Adventures of Goober Grape & Monkey Man, The Life of a Sippy Cup Mom!, The Scoop on Poop! and The Nerdy Katie!

This week is all about your first car.  I didn’t start driving ‘legally’ until I was 21. I didn’t have a real desire to get my drivers license until it became pretty much a necessity. Plus I couldn’t afford a car or the insurance so I just took the bus to work for about a year and saved up some money.    I didn’t have any credit at all when I went to buy a car and had a really hard time getting a loan.  Most people buy their first car for cash after they’ve found the car of their dreams on a street corner with a for sale sign in the window. But I didn’t have that kind of cash saved up and needed a car, so financing it was.

My first car was a 1994 Geo Metro.  If you click on that link it takes you to Edmunds and it shows that the trade in value is $135.  I’m not kidding you when I say that if I could find another one of these for under $500 that ran, I’d buy it.

This isn’t my car but that’s what my car looked like, down to the color.   It cost me $6000 but with the high interest rate from not having credit my payments were $155 a month.  My insurance was $160 a month.   I bought it in September of 1995.

I later refinanced and my payments were $75 a month!  that’s how high my interest rate was.

This car was pretty awesome for being a death trap.  It had three cylinders, couldn’t make it up a hill going the speed limit and would shake if you hit 75 mph.  You also couldn’t idle at a red light and run the AC because the car would shake and threaten to stall out. No AC at red lights in AZ in the summer is not a good idea.

but it got excellent gas mileage.  back in the 90′s getting upwards of 38 mpg was unheard of.  It only had an 8 gallon tank and that was back when gas was 99 cents a gallon. (this makes me sound really old) so i could get a lot of gas into it with the change I found on the floor of my car.   I used to get so pissed because you could get things free with a fill up but a fill up was considered 10+ gallons.    Tires cost about $20 each,  the doors automatically locked when you hit 3mph and didn’t matter if you went that 3mph in reverse, they still locked.    My AC completely broke in summer and the door handle on the drivers inside busted on more than one occasion, but it was still under warranty so everything was fixed for free.

I got this car to nearly 100,000 miles and it was still going pretty strong but I was ready for something new.   so I got my next car which was a one year old used 1998 Chevy Cavalier.  that one cost me $9,000 (talked down from $11k)   I  got that car to over 100,000 miles before I traded it in for my brand new 2008 Mazda 3.  So yes, i am just about 36 and have only had 3 cars.

I keep cars a long time because I don’t like change and I also am pretty stingy with my money and don’t like spending it on cars.   If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

1.  Do you think mustaches are sexy?

I don’t really care about facial hair.   I mean I don’t have a real opinion on it.   My husband sometimes has  a full beard or a goatee, he’s never clean shaven.   But never just a ‘stache, maybe he should try that .  Anyway, if someone can really rock a ‘stache, i think it’s awesome.

2. What’s the last concert you’ve been to?

Kid Rock.   and it was OMG awesome.  It was a small music festival and the VIP tickets were just $100 and that got you a couple of free beers and access to the VIP section which was technically a general admission area at the front of the stage.  We pushed our way up to front row, a guy we were with almost got into a fight because of it and then I think Kid Rock sweated on me.

Here we are waiting for him to play, we were there hours before he went on, I think we might have been drunk. that’s me in the middle and Cat on the right.  We also know the creeper behind us, he’s not the one that almost got into the fight.

you can’t tell because of the demon eyes, but he’s looking right at me.   RIGHT???

Then his shirt opened up and Cat and I made noises that sounded kind of like Fuh fuh fuh fuh

3  What was your favorite 80′s sitcom?

As previously stated I love television, picking a favorite show is like picking a favorite child.   High on the list is the Cosby Show.

4. Were you named after anyone?

No, but I don’t think many of the tens of millions of other baby girls named Jennifer in the70s were named after anyone either.

5. When you buy new clothes, do you wash before wearing?

Mostly, sometimes I think about how many people probably tried that on and how they were probably gross people.

6. If you didn’t blog, what would you do with your spare time?

read a book

7. What is your favorite department store?

Does Walmart count?

8. If  you were to get Laser Hair Removal..where would you get it?

Probs my legs.   I forget to shave them a lot.

I’m really feeling like August is going to be a good month for me, and not just because it’s my birth month.  Even tho it’s hotter than crap outside and that usually makes me lethargic, I’ve gotten back a level of energy that I definitely didn’t have in July.   I’m taking advantage of that energy and have gotten back on my treadmill, which was all but abandoned last month.   My lungs do not agree with running for really any period of time, thanks to childhood asthma that made a comeback last year.  It’s worse in humid weather and inhalers and/or meds don’t really help much, so i don’t bother.  I can live with it the way it is and jog for very short periods of time.

anyway, my point is, i’m taking advantage of my new found energies and putting them towards something productive.  I really love walking and the 4 months a year i can walk outside, i do.   I got the treadmill specifically for the hot weather months.  And probably to the surprise of everyone, it didn’t become a clothes rack.   Like I said, I watch TV whilst on the treadmill and that really helps pass the time.   otherwise walking indoors is rather boring.

i’m also dedicating August to doing new, fun, interesting things or things that make me happy.

Strange side note here, my big dog often lays on the couch or bed or chair with his head hanging off and this makes his nose drain.   Just right now his nose drained right onto my shoes!! GROSS.

Example:

The yellowish color on the photo is from taking this picture in the dark with no flash.  He was sleeping on New Years Eve, apparently worn out from all the partying he did.

My friend Cat (go visit her) and I signed up for Bountiful Baskets this weekend.   that’s where you pay for a basket of half fruits and half vegs that is locally grown.

From their website:  Each week different items will be in the Bountiful Basket! We base the basket contents on what is in season, high quality, good value, and local. We generally have 6 fruit items & 6 vegetable items. We focus on what would be well received in our homes, and the extensive surveys we’ve done with participants over the past 5 years to know what families eat.

Cat and I are splitting the first basket for a few reasons.   Neither of us has done this before and we’re both too scared to go alone.  The closest one to our houses that had this going on at the time I wanted to go (i’m bossy like that) only had one basket left and also i have heard/seen that you get a crapload of stuff in these baskets and we weren’t sure if it would be too much for one household.   so we’re feeling it out this weekend to see what it’s like.

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.

this is what that parking garage looks like at 6am on a Friday morning, that’s my car.   Normally there are at least 5 other cars on this level of the parking garage. 

Here are some Friday blog hops, click the buttons to participate in any of them.     If you are here from any of the hops, HELLO!

This is my first normal two day weekend in three weeks.  I’m not sure how I’m going to manage only having Saturday and Sunday off.   And our next work holiday isn’t for TWO MONTHS!!!!  I wish adults got summer vacation, even a couple of weeks would be nice. 

It’s a Thursday Blog Hop!

Here are some pictures of our fresh catches o’ the day

we put a crab pot out and left it down overnight, when the guys went to get it the next day this is what we found.   That was a tasty tasty dinner.

This is a Halibut, also a tasty tasty dinner

Rockfish, caught lots of these and ate them too

Starfish, accidental snag.  This one went back in.

Some kind of spiny or quill Rockfish

Red Snapper.   Very neon.  And tasty.

We didn’t catch this but it’s a jellyfish.  and it’s HUGE.  Once we hit Sitka the water was full of them.  I hate jellyfish.

The trip was really great!

Here was our home for the week.

On day one we saw icebergs.  here is a lone iceberg.  we were very excited to see it and all ran out to take pictures.

we had no idea THIS  was around the corner.  In the middle/bottom there is the glacier all of these icebergs fell from.

The Captain navigated the boat thru all these icebergs, hitting quite a few.   It was just breathtaking.

We saw baby seals with their mommas on the icebergs.

And we even netted some glacier ice to use in our drinks for cocktail hour

And that concludes day one.   Don’t worry, I’m stopping here and won’t subject you to a day by day recap of our trip.   I will add more pictures later.   It was too beautiful there to not put up a few more.

We saw so much wildlife.  Whales, dolphins, bald eagles, sea lions, seals, one dear and some HUGE jellyfish.

Later I’ll put up the photos of our fresh catches.   We ate like kings!

I am still trying to catch up on blogs, laundry, cleaning, etc.   I am working today, but working from home so it’s a good way to ease back into going back to work after a long vacay.

So many things happened while I was gone and I came back to good news, bad news and shocking news.  Still trying to process everything.

I also won my VERY FIRST BLOG AWARD and am so excited about that.  So that’ll be my next post.

I’m trying to find a good chunk of time to catch up with everyone, but like i said, i’m super busy trying to get back into real life first.  Thank god I have another 3 day weekend for the 4th of July this weekend.