Blogger Etiquette

Is there a book (or a blog) on blogger etiquette? Here is my situation-I have recently been able to find a lot of old friends' blogs through other freinds' blogs and I love to see what everyone is up to. My question is this: Is it ok to put the links to people's blogs on your blog without asking? I love to come to my blog and just click on my blog list and get caught up on everyone. No matter what the answer to this pressing question, I did put them all on my blog list and I would just like to let anyone who finds themselves there who would like to be removed that they should please let me know. I will probably cry, but I promise to take it off too.

I'm Tired of Looking at My Prom Picture

As the title so eloquently states, I am really tired of coming to my blog to go to other blogs and seeing that picture of what seems like a lifetime ago. The solution, of course, was to get out of my blogging rut and put up a new post. There is nothing particularly interesting going on in our lives, but my BFF Liza's mom made a comment on her daughter's blog that really struck a cord with me and I don't want to forget it:

"Perfection shouldn't be a stick to beat yourself with but a carrot to dangle in front of your nose."

I think that quote could be something very valuable for a lot of people, especially women that I know who try so very hard to be the best possible everything and never feel like they are worth the time or effort. You know who you are. These are inspired words to remember and I know I will try very hard to remind myself of these words often.

Garth has started working at CVS. I think he is a little overwhelmed right now, the store is the busiest in town, which says a lot when you are talking about CVS. He is worried about the responsibility, but I know that he will do great. He has also been stressed about the upcoming annual assessment and his licensure exams this summer. I just think it is really exciting that he is so close and I have confidence in his abilities.

Garth Le is having a ball at school. Today was pajama day and he wore his new Kung Fu Panda digs. He truly is the sweetest, but sometimes the stinkiest boy. I got some sugar free Red Vines for a movie date to see "The Tale of Despereaux" with my hubby and son and Garth Le really loved them, but the problem is that they can make you a little gaseous. That night when we were going to bed, he was tooting respectably even for an adult and I couldn't help but giggle at him. He got mad at me, told me it wasn't nice to laugh when someone toots. I apologized and thought to myself that it won't be too long and he will be mighty proud of those. It was just cute. I told you I didn't really have anything to blog about.

Our vacuum cleaner died, so we had to get a new one. Our cleaning lady was mad because it weighs 29 pounds and she has to lug it to 3 floors. She thinks we need to get 2 more. I think she needs to start lifting weights.

I know that our lives are kind of boring but I am grateful for that, because it means that there is nothing "bad" interesting to report, even if there is nothing "good" interesting either.

Is This Sad?

I have not been tagged, but I am at a loss for interesting blogging, so I am going to take one of the blog tags for YOU from someones blog and say that YOU is me today. Here goes.

High School Tag:

1. Did you date someone from your school? Yes, I dated the same guy from the very beginning of my sophomore year through my Freshman year of college, see picture above. My parents were THRILLED!

2. What kind of car did you drive? I wasn't 16 until my junior year, so that kind of sucked, but I got lucky and was able to drive my mom's convertible while she started full time Suburban drivership. It was a pretty sweet ride, as you can clearly see, a 1993 Chrysler Lebaron!


3. Were you a party animal? No, I was always the mother hen of my group of friends. My parents, especially my mom, thought I was horrible and they probably still think that I did a lot of bad things, but I never did. I was a bit attitudinal, but definitely no party animal. Plus I hung out with a lot of Mormons. Woo Hoo, PARTYTIME!!!

4. Were you considered a flirt? Um, probably, but I did have a boyfriend so I tried hard to keep my flirting to him.

5. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Nope.

6. What was your most embarrassing moment of high school? I probably embarrassed myself daily, nothing really sticks out though.

7. Were you a nerd? No, I was an athlete, not exactly a "cool kid", but not a nerd either, I don't think.

8. Were you on any varsity teams? Volleyball all 3 years and I played soccer my senior year and there was no JV, so I guess I was on varsity although I was no good.

9. Did you get suspended/expelled? No, I was pretty much all of my teachers' pets. I still talk to some of them.

10. Can you still sing the fight song? Of course.

11. Who were your favorite teachers? I had a love/hate relationship with my volleyball coach, Coach Langdon, but when I was looking for the picture I posted above, I read a note she wrote to me as I graduated and I guess I appreciate it a lot more now that I am a little older. I also really liked Mr. Fortenberry and Mrs. Rowe. I had lots of teachers I loved, see #9.

12. What was your school's full name? Monterey High School

13. School mascot? The Plainsmen (intimidating, I know)

14. Did you go to homecoming, and with who? Of course, see #1, we went to a lot of the school functions and we always went together. I think people that I knew in high school would be shocked that we didn't get married.

15. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Nope. Although I really did love high school, I am extremely satisfied where life has taken me and there are plenty of things that I have gotten through that I would hate to have to do again.

16. What do you remember most about graduation? I remember taking pictures outside of the auditorium and that my boyfriend's mom took 10x the pictures that my mom did (which was still a lot). I also remember sitting and listening to the talks and thinking that I hope that this is not the highest point of my life like they were making it sound like it was.

17. Where did you go senior skip day? Did we have that? I am not sure, but I never would have skipped, see #3 and #9 for clarification.

18. Were you in a club? Just sports, I think. I did do academic decathlon one year.

19. Have you gained some weight since then? Wow, I have honestly been well over 100 pounds heavier than I was in high school. Now I am much closer to my high school weight.

20. Who was your prom date? Guess.

21. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? Probably, I guess it is this summer, I don't know how I will know what is planned, if there is anything, hopefully someone will mail me something.

22. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself? Relax and enjoy the moments. I really wished my life away, I wish I would have just slowed down.

I now tag Sarah and Kate. Thanks for playing!!

Resolutions...

I would have to say that 2008 was a monumental year for our little branch of the Thomas family, for me in particular. My single resolution for this year is to not make any resolutions. I hate letting myself down, which I always feel like I do. I have spent the latter half of 2008 becoming a (much) healthier me, and I am very excited to continue this into the new year and hopefully drag my family along with me. This is the first new year in a longer time than I care to count back that I am healthy and not wishing I was thinner, or made more money, or that I was thinner (oh wait, did I already say that one?) I am already well on my way and I am looking forward to what is in store for us in 2009. Happy New Year!

Picture Update

Sometimes it takes me a while to update, but I try and make up for it by cramming as much as I possibly can into one post. Thank goodness Liza and the kids came down over the holidays so I was forced to upload my pictures from the camera, so thanks to them, here is the last month or so of our lives in pictures:

My little angel (no, seriously)! He was a little angel for his school Christmas program that told us the story of Jesus' birth. It was great, except when he started yawning and picking his nose. Too bad I didn't get a picture of that.

Here are me and my little buddy, just posing for Daddy. I would have to say that he is pretty dang cute!

More of my little angel...

We were very fortunate to have the Polar Express come to Lubbock this year and all of the cousins went in their jammies and we went on a real train to "The North Pole" where we picked up Santa and his elves, we had a good time, especially the kiddos.

I just couldn't resist this profile of Garth Le's cousin.

This picture is actually kind of funny because it shows how high the kids have to look up at the TV at my brother and sister-in-law's house now that they mounted the TV over the fireplace. I'm afraid if we go there too much we will get "tv neck".

Two little cuties that are anxiously awaiting our trip to the North Pole.

The boys had fun with our punched out tickets on the Polar Express. Not quite as magical as the book or Movie, but entertaining nonetheless.

This is an adorable picture of Garth Le holding his cousins hands as they were waiting for Santa to come, I just couldn't resist the great sepia tone photo op.

Daddy got a little sleepy waiting on the train for Santa.

BFF's

Garth Le got a little bummed at how long it was taking for us to get to the North Pole.

Liza came to visit us and she took the plunge and cut off over 10 inches of hair to donate to Locks of Love. Read about it here.

More gorgeous hair pics

(Wow, as you can see, these pictures are really out of order and I am too afraid to lose formatting to switch it around, so sorry about the wacky flow) Garth Le really loved his Leapster, even though he did drop it in the toilet the next day. We were very relieved when it decided to come back to life after drying out for a day.

More hair pics, at Target, as usual. We had a blast and now we sort of have the same hair even though I am pretty sure Liza pulls it off far better than I.

For the grand finale...(not intentional, just turned out that way)...this is what Kelton looked like after the Polar Express. You are most likely asking yourself a few things: Does Kelton have an incontinence issue? Was the ride really that exciting? Did Kelton have a little too much hot cocoa on the trip? Did Santa spill holiday cheer all over Kelton's lap? Well, none of the above are true. As it happens, his 3 year old son had a little too much hot cocoa to drink and happened to fall asleep on the way back from the North Pole and just as we are all getting off of the train, Kelton starts to get a warm and tingly sensation, and although he may have been feeling the Christmas spirit, he was also getting a good soaking from his son as well. Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Happy birthday to my Mom and Liza, both New Year's babies. Hope you all are well.

Update

Ok, so I hate it when my friends don't update their blogs in forever and here I am, the offender. I haven't blogged since we haven't had much going on, but the more I think about it, we have had some things happen the last few weeks. On Sunday, the wind was blowing 60 mph and it pushed our gate open and Spike got out. We looked all afternoon for him to no avail and that night it dropped to the mid teens, so I was wrecked with worry that he would be a Spikecicle by morning. The next day we made signs and I went to the pound just so I had covered all the bases and lo and behold, there he was scared to death in a cage. He was picked up 10 blocks from our house across a major street. The person who brought him in was very worried that something was very wrong with him because of his hair (or lack thereof), then when we checked him out, the guy who worked there asked if the vet had diagnosed his "condition". I told him it was his breed and he just laughed. He must look pretty bad, I guess we are just used to his hairlessness. Needless to say we are so happy to have him home and he seems quite happy to be home as well.

I also cut all my hair off, I think it is pretty cute, thanks mom! Garth Le got a cute haircut too, mom left it kind of long on the top so as not to upset GiGi who LOVES his hair long and HATES it buzzed, which I love, so it was a compromise, but is also pretty dang cute.

I am pretty much finished Christmas shopping and I actually sent our Christmas cards this year, but I am pretty sure I forgot a lot of people. I suck at cards.

Garth got his Christmas present early because the country club sent a letter in the mail welcoming us as new members. He was really excited, but he hasn't had a chance to play because the weather has been so bad. I am excited too even though golf is not my favorite thing, I think it will be great for us as a family and Garth Le and I can swim in the summer too. I think it will be awesome.

Garth started training at CVS, he is really excited about what is in store for him and I am really excited for his paycheck.

I guess that is all for now, I hope everyone has a great Holiday season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas Cards

Liza so generously volunteered to take some family pictures for us even though she was a lot under the weather. We went to Hobby Lobby and got some decorations and diddied up the fireplace, so here are the results. Hopefully I will actually send the cards this year.

Garth really has issues with smiling for pictures, I think it is a man thing, even Garth Le has a little bit of a painful expression in this one.

Oh so cute and cozy by the fire.

Aren't we the happy couple.

Out of Order Holiday

Here are some belated Halloween pics I thought were good.

My scary little ninja (wha ha ha).

Autumn was the cutest princess/missionary/environmentalist at trunk-or-treat.

Aunt Sarah LOOOOVES it when I take pictures of her eating.

Little scary ninja with pumpkin face paint (shudder).

All of the cereal boxas are pierced with knives, so she is a "cereal" killer...get it? It took me a while.

Thanksgiving Holiday

The Clements came to spend Thanksgiving with us and we always have so much fun, especially the kiddos. Liza and I got a night out thanks to Garth watching all of the kids for us, we went to Target (see picture), and we went out to eat and took in another showing of Twilight (which was much better the second time around).

A possible love match?

Laura's Shower

The newest member of the Thomas family is Laura (formerly Allred) who married Neils November 22. It was a beautiful ceremony and I wish them all the best!

Twilight: The Movie

So we went to the theater around 10pm and stood in line for an hour and a half before they let us get seats and they also let people who had just walked in go ahead of those of us in line, so I was already kind of in a bad mood. The radio station today said there were over 1200 people at the theater we were at last night. First of all, the previews before the movie started were terribly inappropriate for the movie, definitely not PG or PG-13. As the movie started, I was pretty sure that I was going to have some issues due to the way it was filmed, it looked really low-budget, grainy, not crisp like we have come to expect of movies, especially blockbuster movies. Kristen Stewart does a great job of playing Bella, but let me just say that I am now officially over Edward, poor Robert Pattinson was so awkward and puny looking, nothing like Edward should be. I was embarrassed when he was on screen because he was just so uncomfortable to watch. The entire storyline hinges on the reader/watcher falling in love with Edward right alongside Bella and he sooooo did not do it for me. I was honestly surprised to hear that people liked it. Even the movie review guy that was on the radio this morning loved it. There were so many times that I rolled my eyes and laughed when I am pretty sure we were not supposed to laugh. When Edward first smelled Bella in Biology class, he looked like he was going to vomit. Carlisle's make-up was horrible, his face was powdery white and his neck was tan, you could practically see his make-up line. I don't even want to go into Jasper, anyone could have played him in this movie since all he did was stand there, not move his neck and bug his eyes out as much as possible. One surprising element that I enjoyed in the movie was Charlie, he was a good comic relief and he added a lot to the story. When Edward was sucking James' venom from Bella's arm, it was just too much, I just wanted to hide my face I was so embarrassed at Pattinson's 'acting'. I guess I am hard to please and I know that the movie never lives up to the book, but I was sorely disappointed. I will go see it with Liza and hopefully see it through her eyes and appreciate it. Right now I feel like I need to read Twilight again to cleanse my brain of the putrid movie Edward. Maybe I am just tired and cranky, not that that is something new for me.

My favorite review so far from MSN:

""Twilight" can't fail. Even if it had scenes of naked men doing interpretive dance or sad clowns singing German opera, the screen adaptation of the hit Stephenie Meyer novel would slay the box office competition.
Sadly, the humor from "Twilight" doesn't come from interpretive dance or singing clowns.
Like a taco burp, it arises unbidden at all the wrong moments.
When Bella stumbles, as she does at least three times, it's funny. When the vampires first appear, looking anemic, unblinking, and impractically coiffed, it's funny. When Edward catches a whiff of Bella in biology, it's downright hilarious.
But don't blame director Catherine Hardwicke ("Lords of Dogtown" and "Thirteen"). The movie is faithful to the novel. All of those scenes and images, right down to Edward's glittering skin, come straight from Meyer's utterly adored world. Fans might laugh, but they're also going to love this movie.
(Confidential memo to Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward: Next time, wax your chest hair. Edward is supposed to look like he's carved from marble, not lambs' wool.)
"Twilight" is about a teenage girl named Bella (Kristen Stewart) who moves from sunny Arizona to rainy Forks, Wash., after her mother marries a minor-league baseball player. It's a self-sacrificing move, because Bella is all about self-sacrifice. She even tells us so in her opening lines of narration. Could she be any more perfect?
So it's no wonder that Bella is warmly (and comically) welcomed by the teens of Forks, except for one of them, Edward Cullen, who just happens to be the campus hottie. Little does she know he's one of a coven of so-called vegetarian vampires living nearby.
The mysterious Edward seems repelled by her very presence, even trying to switch out of biology so he can have a less offensive lab partner. But soon it is revealed that he likes how she smells. No, he loves it. And, like Antony and Cleopatra, like Romeo and Juliet, like peanut butter and chocolate, ~*Edward*~ and Bella must be together.
Wouldn't it figure that as soon as they get to kiss, something has to come along and wreck things? Without giving it away, one might wish Bella used a more effective deodorant. It would save all sorts of problems.
But it's like that Shakespeare guy said: The course of true love never did run smooth. If Shakespeare could have known Edward, though, he would have edited himself. The course of true love never did run smooth (darned chest hair). But it runs fast, even with a girlfriend on its back. Swoon."

Tonight is the Night

I am a little nervous and a lot excited about the movie premiere tonight. I am so excited because I am obviously obsessed with the Twilight series, but I am nervous that the movie won't be great. It is hard to go into a movie when you LOVED the book, knowing that the movies never live up to the hype. There are 8 screens showing in Lubbock and they are all sold out. I hope to have a happy excited post tomorrow after I see the movie.

Oh yeah, drumroll please..........

Garth has decided that he is going to work for CVS. We are actually both really excited about the decision. We have been weighing options of several different places and CVS really has stood out from the rest and they made us an offer we could not refuse. Today Garth and I both had lunch with the regional pharmacy supervisor and the pharmacist that will become Garth's partner when he graduates and we had a great visit. Garth will start interning after Thanksgiving and we are home free as long as he passes his licensure exams. Yay!

Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday, Happy Graduation and Father's Day Honey!

Garth got a pretty awesome present today, thanks to some awesome wheeling and dealing by myself and Grandpa. I am so happy for him and I am pretty excited about the purchase myself. It is going to be hard to not get to drive it since all of our new vehicles up to this point have been 'mine' and Garth has graciously taken to driving the 'old' cars. But this one is his and I am thrilled for him. He will probably let me drive it sometimes (maybe). It is really roomy and just what he wanted.

It's Really No Big Deal...

It's only our future. So Garth and I are having a great/stressful week this week following his job interviews and the election last week. He essentially has 4 offers on the table and is still waiting to hear from another. When I was looking for a job it wasn't that big of a deal because I knew that it was temporary, I mean I will probably be here for 5 years or so when all is said and done, but in the overall scheme of things, that is really not that long, but hopefully (for the sake of retirement and benefits) where Garth signs will be where he will be for the life of his career (that is if we still have jobs in healthcare). It is so difficult to wade through information about benefits, insurance, etc. for all of these companies while also trying to factor in our country's next administration and what may happen with all of that. I won't go into it, but it is a source of major concern for me and my family. We are very fortunate for Garth to have so many choices, but we also went to college for 8 years for me and 10 for Garth and paid and are still paying for it ourselves, so call me crazy, but I feel like we have earned what we make, but some people think differently, obviously they think we don't deserve it. Oh, I forgot not to go into it. ANYWHO, we are excited for the possibilities despite the dark cloud hovering around them and we hope to have a decision and a job by week's end.

Photo Catch-Up

So here are some pictures that I should have posted a long time ago, most of them are from our trip to Colorado, but some are just random pictures that I love, enjoy! Obviously, I enjoy the sleepy shots, I truly believe that pretty much anyone is a lot sweeter when they are asleep.