Late Christmas Present Post

I had forgotten I was going to post these pictures on Christmas.

Here is KPP with her toys (on top of the kitchen cabinets), she only received the crazy mouse thing that is wearing red boots. She loves it and often tosses it at me while I am using my counters. Granted, she does not look happy in the picture, but trust me, she is!!And here is Nova enjoying her new collar (very reflective and FANCY!) and her new chew toy. Which I had to throw it away last night, because she had managed to pulverize the tennis balls sewn inside and finally made it through the outer fabric and was beginning to eat tennis ball piece. But she sure enjoyed it while she had it. Maybe I will buy her another one for her birthday or for KPP's birthday.

It also amazes me that since I have had Nova, she has more than doubled in size. Weird. Though she still looks like a dopey puppy to me. And I guess I shouldn't be amazed because when I got KPP she was<2lbs and now she is 10lbs, so that is 5-6x her weight, but her change does not seem as dramatic as Nova's, maybe because I have had 4 years to adjust to her 10lbs while Nova's 60+lbs is very tiring.

Plans for 2009!

My plans (not resolutions, because I suck at resolutions) for next year 2009 are as follows*:

Plan one- learn how to cartwheel. This was a tentative resolution that only a couple coworkers knew about for 2008 and I didn't even try it, so for 2009 I VOW to at least try.

Plan two- volunteer somewhere that is not nerd club. Now, I don't know if I am going to count single day volunteering efforts (as I do these) or if I have to be a regular. I guess at the end of 2009 I will decided. ha ha

Plan three- finish my knitting projects in time for me to wear one before the snow melts and in time to give one as a present. This should be doable since I am ALMOST done with my fancy hat.

Plan four- REALLY win Bike-A-Thon 2009. It starts on March 2nd, so I will be riding that day (unless it is raining/snowing or is too cold)

Plan five- average 10,000 steps EVERY DAY! By saying "average", it allows me to have low step days, which is inevitable, but the average should be doable.

Plan six- walk the damn dog more. She is so much more pleasant to deal with when I exercise her.

Plan seven- paint the rooms in my house! I figure the bathroom and kitchen can be the same color and then the living room/entry way/office another color and my bedroom a third color. I think it will be a good summer project.

Plan eight- develop a real budget. The main disadvantage of buying a house is that my discretionary funds are GONE! Now I did realize this would happen before I bought, but it is still hard to deal with, I like being able to buy random crap and not feeling like I am stretching myself thin.

Plan nine- take a community ed class. I was thinking I would sign up for Pilates or beginning language class, because alas I am a nerd and like classes. But I have to make sure they don't conflict with Doggy School.

Plan ten- grow at least 3 vegetables in a garden of one kind or another.

And those are my plans. I would have said lose weight, but I say that EVERY year and every year I fail miserably, BUT if I complete plans 4, 5, 6 and 10 this should happen.

Also, I have made my plans an official list on my blog, so I will remember them all year, as I kind of forgot about my plans for this year until today.

*Plans maybe added during the year, BUT I cannot delete plans once added.

Plans?

So back in April when I was at the end of my school career I made a list of things I wanted to complete. Now 8 months later, let us see how much I have completed of said list. The blue is the plan, black is my comments.

First plan, clean my pig sty house. My house is normally cluttery, but this last semester it has descended into chaos. I have a stack of like 10 magazines that I need to read. I have random papers thrown into a pile on the floor. I have a couch COVERED in kitty hair. You get the picture. Well I moved so that helped, and new house has not descended to the same level of chaos, so I count this plan as complete.

Second plan, work a normal schedule. Ahhhh, 8 to 5, never thought I would be happy working 8 to 5 every day, but after this semester it seems like heaven. The fact that I will get an hour lunch every day is the BEST part of the 8 - 5 schedule. I have missed lunch!!! I am now working a normal schedule, though now I am getting allergy shots 2-3 times a week, so I still miss a real lunch, still COMPLETE!

Third plan, beat Charlie!! Bike-A-Thon 2008 started in March, I currently have ONE measly ride to work, while Charlie is now "Charlie Seven Rides". Oh ya, lost MISERABLY!! I ended with 37 rides and Charlie ended with 60, BUT I was more than half his rides. YAHOO! Maybe next Bike-A-Thon I will win.

Fourth plan, start volunteering somewhere again. I miss volunteering! I have been so self-obsessed this past year, that I feel like a lousy member of my society. uh ya, still being self-obsessed, though I am a treasurer for my nerd club, so that is kind of volunteering. BUT in my defense, I totally emailed the volunteer coordinator at the shelter and she NEVER emailed me back, so I did try, still I FAILED!

Fifth plan, I would like to take a knitting class. At a local quilting/yarn store, they offer knitting classes. The best part is, you just sign up, pay your fee and they just teach you to make whatever you want!! That is AWESOME! I totally want to learn how to knit sweaters, so I think that is the class for me. Didn't take a class, BUT I have been knitting a lot, still it is a fail.

Sixth plan, I am going to start seriously shopping for houses!! (yahoo!) Well, ok, not going to do that until after I complete the "Opening The Door To Home Ownership - Home Buyer Education Program" which will be at the end of May. But until then, I will definitely be doing more drive-bys on houses I think are cute online! COMPLETED!! I TOTALLY OWN A HOUSE!

Seventh plan, okay I am out...oh wait I can watch more movies! Netflix is going to have to start delaying sending me movies (can't think of the term) because I will be watching so many!!! TOTALLY COMPLETED!! I have watched a TON of movies!!

Eighth plan, go on a REAL vacation!!! San Francisco here I come!! Completed!!! And it was grand. In fact, I am going back, but for a conference, so not quite a vacation. In 2009, my vaca will be Disneyland for my Mom's 60th birthday.

Ninth plan, hmmmm, okay now I am really out. COMPLETED! as this was not a real plan.

6 out of 9, not bad, not bad at all!

I am going to have to think about what my plans for 2009 shall be....

Baking

This Christmas season, I did some baking. I decided that I wanted to make treats for humans and doggies (kitty treats were complicated and I couldn't find wheat germ or catnip).

So here is Nova while I was baking...
Here are the 126 dog biscuits I made..
Here is Nova after I tested one on her...She really liked them and thought if she came REALLY close, she would get another one (and she did).
I also made three kinds of cookies for humans, the fancy kind in the back were a pain in the bum to make, so I only did a batch of those, but the sugar sprinkle chocolate kind were super easy and very delicious so I made like 4 batches of those. The sugar cookies were only a pain to roll out and frost, so I made two batches of those. When all was said and done, I think I made about 150-200 cookies, and I would have made more, but I ran out of brown sugar.

I also dipped pretzel rods in caramel and chocolate, but I didn't get any pictures.

AND my favorite things that happened this weekend were (in no particular order):

1. I bought a Kitchen Aid stand mixer for $160, I am VERY happy about that deal, it was basically half price due to it being a breast cancer pink mixer. I guess no one wants a pink mixer so the store marked it down $100 and then I had a 20% off coupon. SCORE!! (not that I could afford to shell out $160 on a mixer after I shelled out $114 on my dog, but still)
2. I went to Jeremy's 30th birthday party! I had a really good time catching up with Mary, Jeremy, Natalie, Marcie and Shawn. I totally don't see them enough (especially Mary and Marcie)
3. I FINALLY got my cable out let in my "tv" room hooked up. YAHOO! I can sit on my couch again to watch tv. I had missed my couch! I instantly fell asleep while watching tv, oh how I have missed that.
4. Sleeping in Sunday morning with my kitty, while the D*mn Dog was outside. I really do miss having KPP on my lap every time I sit down...
   

My least favorite thing over the weekend was:

1. Nova having to go to the vet for kennel cough and then INSTANTLY getting worse the minute we get home. And spending so much freaking money on drugs for her, but if it makes her not have a snotty nose and disgusting cough, then it is worth it right?

Basically everything is good in the Oman household. and maybe I will post a Christmas brag letter later, or maybe I won't.

Christmas

As everyone knows, Christmas is in 9 days. So last night I decided to hang the stockings. Now I don't actually have a stocking for myself (well I don't know where it is), but Meadow has provided some for my animals. She made KPP's stocking the first Christmas I got her and Hazel picked out a stocking for Nova earlier this month.

The problem with stockings for animals, is that they have to be hung where the animals cannot get them, so I hung them on my molding.

Here is a picture. Guess which stocking belongs to which pet. (Big hint, KPP's has her initials on it)

Also, last week we went to Body Worlds3. It was pretty cool, but I will probably never go to another one again.

BUT they did have this thing where you could text a message in and the skeleton would say it. AWESOME! I made it say hello to Hazel. I think she liked it, as she likes to see her name in print.

And Now For Something Completely Different...

I haven't posted any pics in a while so here we go...

Zoe came to visit with my Mom (and Ben) over Turkey Day. It was great. She had a armful of flowers and was not big on putting them down, so she carried them around all the first day.
Hazel had to take some pictures.


For Girl's Night Out we went on the Holiday Gallery Stroll. We passed this sign and I think we all got pictures of it. Because it is funny. I think the new motto for the Rio Grande Hotel should be "We put the 'ho' in hotel!"
Last night, it was peaceful at my house* This was the scene.
*Then Hazel and Meadow came over to give Nova an early Christmas present, which was her VERY OWN STOCKING! (I did not get a pic). But after Meadow decided she needed a picture of Hazel and Nova, because Hazel really does love Nova, even if Nova tends to go CRAZY around Hazel, probably because they are about the same height. Man, that was a long, long sentence.

Here are the results.

Hazel going in for a hug.
Nova noticing Hazel is coming for another hug.
She is having no part of it.
The two friends next to each other, since one does not like hugs.
Nova deciding Hazel is delicious and she is going to eat her (okay not really)
Nova "smiling" for my camera

Meadow may have gotten a better hug shot, but personally, I like the picture where they are just standing next to each other.

Oh and I must add, KPP was sitting on her perch the whole time and did not hiss, even though she does not enjoy little blond girls. I am so proud!

Single Home Owners

This weekend I figured out why single people (women to be more precise) don't usually buy a house. It is all the D*MN yard work. I can totally understand why people what until they are married or shacked up to buy a house, it is so they can make the other person do the work!!

Now I really do like owning my house and I even like to do some yard work, but not all of it. And trying to do all of it makes me really really really tired/sore and feeling like I should have accomplished more since I am so freaking sore.

At least I got all my front leaves raked and it only filled up 5-6 bags. (mind you, I have already filled my yard waste bin, THREE times with leaves from the back and front about a month ago). And I got a measly 75 feet of lawn edged, which took me like 1.5 hours and bruised my tummy (I used my tummy to help me push). AND when I looked at the edge this morning, all I could think was "meh". It doesn't even look that good! When I finished it last night I was like, "man, that looks so much better" now I just think it was exhaustion and dehydration that lead me to believe that.

OH WELL! It is supposed to snow today, which means I don't have to worry about lawn/garden care until spring.

Now I just have to design my yard make-over. I am seeing topiaries, arches, fountains and oh wait, wrong yard. I am really seeing gravel and garden boxes...

Poem about Nova.

I have a little puppy,
She weighs a mere 55-60lbs.
Kibble she does love to eat,
She also loves to lick feet.
She is a nice dog,
But man, her farts smell like a bog.

This poem was inspired by my dog's stanky-a%$ gas. However, it has gotten less frequent now that my nephew has left...coincidence? maybe, but most likely no.

Does anyone have any suggestions?