Afternoon Matinee

Today Shane & I ventured out on the Harley for an afternoon "date". We first had lunch at On The Border (our favorite restaurant) and then made our way to the afternoon movie.

It was Shane's turn to pick the movie and he decided that we were going to see Final Destination in 3D. When we paid for the movie I was expecting to receive a fun pair of 3D glasses but instead the cashier said that there are no glasses - the movie is protrayed on a special 3D screen with special imaging and it will appear as if the movie is in 3D. I was quite disappointed there were no fun glasses :(

So after watching this movie I made 3 conclusions:

1) it was dumb and quite predictable & I can't believe we wasted $15 on it

2) the 3D screen/special imaging sucks and in no way looked 3-dimensional

3) Shane is put on "movie-probation" for awhile!

He is going to have to suffer through a few "chick-flicks" before I let him pick another movie :)

Little Bunny FuFu

Today I spent the afternoon outside pulling weeds in all the flower beds around the house, trimming overgrown bushes and shrubs and enjoying listening to Kenny Chesney while being out in the beautiful 70 degree weather.

As I was pulling weeds in the flower bed in the backyard, I made a scary discovery....or so I thought it was scary. I bent down and went to grab a huge clump of weeds when I heard this loud "squeal" and a little fluff of gray bolted out from under me and under the fence. I literally screamed out loud, lost my balance and about peed my pants. Once I got back up and calmed down I looked on the other side of the fence to see what the heck that was and I discover the cutest little bunny I ever did see. I must have accidentally grabbed him when I grabbed the weeds!? Then I remembered what Shane had told me yesterday.

While he was weed-eating against the fence he said he about hit two little bunnies and had seen them hop off into the flower bed. Totally forgot about it until now. So I spent the next 10 minutes looking for more bunnies and I ended up finding 2 more. You could barely see them all nestled in the grass but there they were - cutest things ever:

Bunny #1:

Bunny #2:

I was amazed that they stayed there the entire time watching me pull weeds and didn't move. I started to feel guilty for destroying their "hiding place" so I left a patch of tall weeds/grass behind the electric box for them to hide in. Hopefully they do ok!?!

I also discovered this not-so-pleasant insect in the same flower bed:

That would be a wolf spider with a huge sac of spider babies on her back. I still get goosebumps just looking at the picture. This spider had a leg-span the size of a half-dollar - it was HUGE! I ran and got the can of Raid Wasp killer and doused the heck out of the spider hoping it would die. After it put up a fight, the mama spider finally gave in. I hope all those babies in the sac are going to die also! It said on google that the wolf spider can have up to 600 spiderlings in that little sac - that is crazy!

Needless to say, after all my "discoveries" the beds, bushes & shrubs look great! I also managed to get a nice litte tan - sweet :)

Game Night

This evening we gathered at Melissa's house for our monthly game-night get-together. I was stuck at work late so I didn't end up getting over there until well past 8pm so I was ready for some down-time and a glass of wine with the girls.

We never got around to actually playing any games but instead decided to enjoy one of the last evenings of summer on the patio eating, drinking and catching up. It ended up being a chilly night and Melissa's husband was sweet enough to provide all the girls some blankets. As I was covering myself up in the blanket to get warm Melissa brought it to my attention that I was surrounding myself in K-State purple and she just HAD to get a picture:

If you look closely, I still managed to "show off" my loyalty to KU despite being wrapped up in purple :)

Who would have thought that we would need blankets in the middle of August? What a crazy summer weather-wise we have had! Despite the chilliness, it ended up being a fun and much-needed evening with the girls and I look forward to next months' gathering.

Another B-Day

Seems like a few months ago I was blogging about turning another year older and already I am blogging about it AGAIN! Where did the year go?

Unfortunately, this years b-day wasn't too exciting since I spent the majority of my day in a car driving back to KC from So Dakota. I was however sent off by my family with b-day wishes, gifts and hugs as well as tons of text messages on my cell phone from friends throughout the day so that was super nice! I arrived home to find a lovely card by my husband, a few cards in the mailbox, tons of b-day greetings on Facebook from friends and spent a relaxing evening on the couch with the hubby & furry-kids watching TV to end my day. Hopefully the next b-day doesn't approach as quickly as this one did!

Here is to another year older....cheers!

Weekend in So Dakota

THURSDAY: This morning I left early and made my way up I-29 to South Dakota for the weekend. It was about a 7 hour drive and I arrived in my hometown of Mitchell a little past 3pm. Once my parents got home from work, we headed to the Pizza Ranch to enjoy some salad/pizza & catching up. After our bellies were full, we headed back home to wait for the arrival of my sister, brother-in-law and nephew who were coming from Wisconsin. They arrived to the farm safely around 10pm and we all hit the sack early since we were exhausted from driving all day.

FRIDAY: I was awakened super early by the pitter-patter of little feet on the tile and as I lay in bed I decided that a 21 month old has entirely way too much energy at 6am! I chose to get up and enjoy breakfast with my family and vegged the rest of the morning playing with Tanner. My sister was in a wedding for the weekend so she left early to spend the day with the other bridesmaids and left Aunt Heather in charge of watching Tanner. We spent the day shopping with grandma, checking out the farm animals and playing with the new toys that grandma had bought for him :)

My brother, sister-in-law, nieces and nephew all arrived later in the evening and I got to meet my 5 week old nephew Lane for the first time. He was adorable and smelled heavenly - I just couldn't get enough of him :) I was amazed at how my niece Joslyn had grown and how much she is now talking. It made me sad that I don't get to see them all more often!

We spent the rest of the evening hanging out and watching Tanner & Joslyn become fast friends!

SATURDAY: Today turned out to be a cold & rainy day so it was spent inside entertaining the kids. We started our morning my enjoying made-from-scratch banana-nut pancakes made by my mom, watching cartoons with the kids and playing with toys and a few games. Later that day, we all got ready for the reason we all came home: Matt & Maria's wedding. My sister and Maria have been friends since grade school so it was wonderful to get to see her marry the man of her dreams.

After the wedding, we headed to the reception and enjoyed the evening. My brother-in-law and I ended up taking little Tan Man home early since he was wore out and my sister stayed behind with her friends. We of course managed to get a few pics before we left:

My sister Jen, brother-in-law Ben and nephew Tanner

My wonderful parents

Aunt Heather & my "Tan Man"

Me, my sister and Baby Trustem (24 weeks along)

It ended up being a beautiful day afterall...despite the rain and it was great spending time with the family. I was sad to have to leave in the morning :(

NOW - Vol 31

I have come to the realization that I am getting old. I own the music CD "NOW that's what I call music - Vol 1" which I bought back in the 90's and I discovered today that NOW - Vol 31 was released this week. 31 of them?? That can't possibly be! Last I knew there were only 18 of them!

So, out of the 31 NOW's, how many of these music CD's do you all own? I have at least 8 of them :)

To tip or not to tip...

I was having an interesting conversation today with my co-workers which made me curious as to everyone elses opinions. The topic was tipping the carhops at Sonic when they bring your food to your car.

Has anyone reading this blog ever heard of this? Or even does this? Apparently there were 4 out of 6 of us at work today who said they ALWAYS tip at Sonic. I for one have never tipped there nor had I ever heard of tipping the kids at Sonic.

I got a bit vocal during the conversation as I brought up the question "why do I have to tip someone for doing their job?" Oh my - there were all kinds of arguements brought to the table. We went round and round and I ended up ending the conversation by saying "nobody tips me to save their life and I am just doing my job...even at 2am!"

So I'm curious to know - how many of you tip your carhop at Sonic? I promise I won't say a word if you do:)

Crue Fest 2

Tonight we ventured out with our friends from the neighborhood to the Crue Fest 2 concert. We started out by having a few drinks and appetizers at Johnny's where the rest of our "crew" met up with us and before we left for the concert, we had to of course take a few pictures...

*Melissa, Shane, Heather, Jeff & Erinn

*The infamous WR gangsta-sign :)

*Bellies full & beverages shared...we are ready for the concert!

We walked across the street to the Sprint Center and arrived just in time to see the band Theory of a Deadman starting. We had excellent seats and a great view of the entire stage. Next up was Godsmack and they were awesome! The drummer & the lead singer had a dueling drum battle which Shane loved and they were a great "opener" before Motley Crue.

*Heather, Erinn, Keri, Michelle & Melissa

*Looks like someone is having a good time :)

*Ken & Jeff - always seen wearing their camo shorts!


Motley Crue put on a GREAT show. They opened up with Dr. Feelgood and ended with Girls, Girls, Girls and didn't disappoint throughout the entire performance! It ended up being a super fun evening rocking out with great friends and many pictures taken during the evening - 58 of them to be exact! WOW - that is alot of pics!

Bebe Gloton

As I was driving to work this morning, I heard a bizarre & disturbing story on the radio station I usually listen to. Just thought I would blog about it and get everyones opinions...

It seems that a Spanish toy company has introduced Bebe Gloton to society in Spain and it is the latest craze among young girls over there! This "toy" is a breastfeeding doll. Yeah - you read that right!

The meaning of the name of this toy is a "greedy baby" and was designed to promote the importance of breast-feeding in mothers.

I am cool with crying dolls, dolls that can drink and eat, and even today, dolls that can soil themselves but a doll that breastfeeds? The images in my mind are beyond disturbing. I can just see a 4 year old walking around Wal-Mart "breastfeeding" their doll as mommy is shopping for groceries....eeewww!

How does this work you ask? Well, this doll comes with a bra-like halter top for the child to wear and has Daisy flower-shaped nipples on the front of it. As the baby nears these "nipples" it makes a sucking sound as if it is breastfeeding.

Here is a demo incase the image in your mind isn't disturbing enough...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqYoZVroBZs

After watching the video, what are your thoughts? Am I crazy to be bothered by this? What’s next? Bebe Alcoholic — the doll who has a problem with a different kind of bottle, and loses their family, job and feelings of self-worth? or maybe Bebe Limp — the male doll who experiences erectile dysfunction?
I just don't get it...What do you all think?

Buster Bars

Ah - the beloved Buster Bar. Two layers of fudge, peanuts and DQ vanilla soft serve dipped in a delicious chocolate flavored coating - basically a frozen mini-peanut buster parfait on a stick.

I LOVE these things and lately, they have become my "crack-cocaine"! But this crazy addiction ends today.

As I was getting ice out of the freezer, out of the corner of my eye I spot the crinkly white wrapping around a stick and got overly excited to find a "hidden" Buster Bar. I hide stuff like this all the time because my husband will eat anything & everything sweet in the freezer (and out) and leave me NONE! So I grabbed it out of the freezer and went to hide upstairs in the office and secretly enjoyed the last Buster Bar as my husband works in the garage on his Harley. Is it sneaky and devilish of me? Yes. Do I care....NO and I enjoyed every bite right down to the last peanut :)

But it is with great sadness that I have to admit that there will be no more Buster Bars entering the Taylor house :( I have gained some weight over the summer and attribute it all to the "evil-on-a-stick"! After doing a little research on the nutritional content of these dee-lish treats, I was horrified to find out that one Buster Bar has 480 calories, 31g of fat and 45g of Carbs. WOW! Enough said - no more of these DQ treats - my waistline and my butt will thank me!

Personal Trainer

A couple of months ago I downloaded the program "8 weeks to a 5K" off of iTunes and uploaded it to my iPod. I initially wanted to start this program in hopes that it would make me a better runner.

Unfortunately, I have started this program twice and have failed at keeping it going for reasons too many to count. Well, today I started it for the 3rd time. My hope is to be able to stick with it and lose the 10+ lbs that I so desperately need to lose. (summer has been cruel to me - could possibly be the one too many trips to DQ or the Buster Bars I have hidden in the freezer?!) I have also added another weight loss ticker at the top of the blog to keep reminding me of my goal.

So, let the training begin...

Beer Butt Chicken

First of all, it goes by many names. Beer Butt Chicken. Beer In The Butt Chicken. Beer Can Chicken. Chicken On A Throne. Basically, they are all the same thing. You place a chicken on an opened can of beer so that the legs are down and the wings are up. The can should contain at least 2/3 beer in it and you can add flavorings like rub, onion, garlic, herbs, etc. The chicken then sits upright in the grill with the can and the two legs providing the support to hold the bird in the upright position. Grill 45 minutes for every 1 lb of bird and viola - you have a perfectly baked bird!

This is the first I have heard of such a thing. This evening we were invited over to our friend's Michelle & Rob's place for dinner and this is what was on the grill when we arrived. To my surprise, it came out moist, tender and had a wonderful taste. Definitely something to try and cook in your own grill.