The "Beast"

This is Shane's 1 Ton Dually pickup. I like to refer to it as "The Beast"! I HATE driving it because it is way too big and way too long and I can't switch lanes very easily with the topper on because I can't see. Well, today my husband needed my car and asked that I take his to work....all the way down to the Plaza, in rush hour traffic, in the rain. I was amazed he was letting me take his "baby"! I was a bit nervous as I was making my way down I-35 and noticed I was white-knuckling the steering wheel all the way there. I don't know what scared me more - the traffic whizzing by me at high speeds or the fear I would hit someone while changing lanes. Once I arrived safely to the Plaza area with no mishaps, my next challenge was where on earth do I park this beast? I managed to find a parking lot 2 blocks from the hospital and backed that thing into a corner spot. My husband would be so very proud of me if he could have seen my excellent parking job. I was never so relieved to have arrived to work safely and with no problems....and secretly, I think Shane was relieved as well! He only called me twice on my way to work :)

*all the green in this picture makes me long for warm, spring-like weather :(

Spring is coming...

Two signs that spring is right around the corner here at the Taylor house:

*my tulips & daffodils already making an appearance

*my tiger lilies beginning to peek up through the rocks

A Sweet Treat

This evening I had a sweet surprise on my doorstep when I returned from the grocery store. Seems that my dear friend Keri knows about my sweet tooth and left me some Mint Chocolate Malted Balls from Harry & David! What a great friend and such a nice treat to come home to after a long, crazy day! Thank you so very much Keri :) They are definitely mmm...mmm...good!

Another "project"

This morning Shane & I got up early, dropped Neo off at Petsmart to be groomed and then headed to I-Hop for breakfast. We debated shopping to kill time while waiting for Neo to get done or just head home. Well, we ended up doing a bit of shopping - at the Home Depot! Woo hoo - what fun! Little did I know, Shane was planning yet another "project" for around the house. He decided yesterday that he was going to add a phone line to the family room, as well as move the cable/phone/electric line in our bedroom so that he could hang a plasma TV on the wall without any cords showing! Well, 2 long, grueling hours later, we leave that place with $48 worth of stuff in Shane's bag and then headed to Best Buy to "just look" at plasma TV's. After killing another hour there and walking out empty-handed (thank goodness) we decided to just head home and I would come pick up Neo later when he was done.

As soon as we get home he goes to work with the sheetrock saw and I just had to turn away and not look at the craziness he was about to incur. I find I handle it better if I just walk away and try not to pay attention to what he is doing - otherwise I get all worked up and we end up arguing. SO, I leave to go get Neo and when I return we have a lovely phone jack in the family room that actually works :) I should know better than to doubt my husband! He pulls stuff like this off everytime. Next weekend - moving the phone/cable lines in the bedroom - I think it is best if I go shopping while he is attempting all this :)

A Birthday Party

Tonight I ventured out to North Kansas City to partake in my nephew-2-be Caleb's 9th birthday celebration. He is the son of my brother's fiance Meghan. Shane opted to stay home, watch the KU game and finish a few projects around the house! All I can say is thank god for the GPS - I had NO idea where I was going without the direction of "Susie"!

*Birthday boy Caleb (red shirt) making a wish

Caleb's birthday party was held at the AMF Pro Bowl bowling alley. My brother Steve and Meghan reserved 4 lanes for all the guests to bowl, ordered pizza and later we had ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. Little did I know, half of Meghan's large Italian family would be there so I got to meet most of her aunt's, uncle's and cousins. Since we are becoming family in the near future, it was nice to meet relatives on her side of the family. They all seemed to adore my brother which makes me feel so proud as a big sister.

*Me and my brother Steve waiting for our turn to bowl

Mattress-shopping

I have finally convinced my husband that we need a new mattress. I have woke up one too many mornings with a sore back and just can't take it anymore. Shane finally caved and we went mattress-shopping today. Our first stop was the JCPenny Home store. The salesmen was quite informative and I was amazed at how much work finding a new mattress would be. We must have laid down and rolled around on about 10 mattresses trying to find the perfect amount of firmness & fluff. Lucky for us they were having a huge President's Day sale so all matresses were 50% off! Quite a bit of savings when you are talking about spending $2000 on one! Before we made a decision, we drove over to Mattress Firm and Sleep One just to see if they had anything comparible for a better price. We were sadly disappointed to see that they either didn't have the quality of mattresses or they were more expensive. So back to JCPenny we went where we settled on the Sealy Posturepedic with a memory foam pillow top. It feels SO dreamy and I can hardly wait until it is delivered next Thursday. A good nights sleep is awaiting....

Valentine's Day

Ahh - Valentine's Day. A day typically meant for romance, lovers, chocolate & flowers. For me? It meant a day of being on call, cleaning house, running errands, getting called-in to the hospital & later ordering take-out Chinese for my husband and I.

Was it romantic? Not really. Were there chocolate & flowers? No. But spending the afternoon with my husband watching KU beat K-State in basketball while eating Chinese food was perfect for us...Taylor-style :)

PS: Got this Valentine card from a girlfriend via email....LOL :)

Game Night

This months' game night was hosted by Jamie whom we haven't seen in awhile. I always love going to Jamie's house because she has a very handsome bulldog named Bruno who I love to shower with kisses and attention. It's also nice to get to see Jamie as well :)

All the ladies gathered around the island in the kitchen as usual drinking, eating and talking and later in the evening we finally settled into the living room for a fun game of Taboo. It was nice to see a couple of the girls who haven't been in awhile as well as enjoy the evening with the "regulars"!
Pictured L-R: (front) Keri, Erinn, Jamie (back) Heather, Audra, Michelle

Lunch & a movie

Wow - hard to believe it is Sunday already! These weekends seem to just fly by! Today I met the girls from the subdivision along with my girl Jill out for lunch at Granite City and then we all went to the movie "He's Just Not That Into You"! It was a super cute movie with quite a few good laughs! Really took me back to my dating days! If only I knew back in my 20's what the whole "he's just not that into you" thing was all about! Would have probably saved me countless hours of waiting by the phone wondering if "he" was going to call :)

*Michelle, Melissa, Heather & Keri at the AMC Theatre

Busy Saturday

Today was a super busy day. I don't even think I saw Shane more than 30 minutes today :( I started off my morning by working out and then running errands. Spent way too much money at Walmart & couldn't figure out how 4 bags of stuff could cost over $100!? I'm still baffled. Met my girlfriend Jill at Panera's for lunch and some much needed catching-up & then headed over to my friend Emily's house to see her and their new baby. Got my "baby-fix" in and then headed home just so I could jump in the shower and get ready for an evening out with the girls.

Tonight I met up with my friend Nickie and 8 of her closest girlfriends at GoJo's for dinner. Nickie had turned 30 years old earlier in the week and got us all together to help celebrate. It was a really fun evening and the food was oh so yummy! It was heartwarming to see Nickie surrounded by so many friends that love her to death! She is definitely one special lady! Happy 30th Birthday my dear friend :)

*The birthday girl is the one in blue :)

Shane also had a night out on the town...with the guys! He went out with his friend Chris to a bar downtown to listen to a live band. Not my kind of music so I opted to head home after dinner and catch up on some DVR'd shows. Wonder what time I should expect Mr. Taylor tonight?

Aww SNAP!

Febuary 2nd has become my new January 1st - the day I make a New Years resolution. For the last few months, I have been noticing the jeans becoming a bit more snug and I just can't deny it anymore. Rather than buy all new jeans, I need to get serious and lose some weight! I've also felt like I've been in a "slump" lately and I think it is because I haven't worked out since before the holidays.

To help with this new weight loss plan, I decided on Jan 1st to stop eating at the hospital cafeteria everyday and instead bring a healthy lunch from home. I am proud to say I have gone all month without once buying lunch at work, saved myself over $100 AND lost 2 lbs! I also recently cancelled my membership to 24 Hour Fitness due to the fact that I haven't been in 3 months, because it is over a 35 minute drive from my house and it has been jam packed with people after work and weekend mornings. Instead, I opted to join the Snap Fitness Center that recently opened up here in Spring Hill. Besides the fact that I am supporting a small town business, it is only 5 minutes from the house and open 24 hours a day so I have absolutely NO excuse not to run up there and work out for an hour 3-4 times a week....at anytime of the day! I'm also going to put a weight loss ticker up at the top of my blog to help track of what I lose. I think if I have to see it all the time as well as others seeing it, it kind of holds me accountable! So wish me luck and let the weight loss begin!

Super Bowl Festivities

This evening Shane & I hosted a Super Bowl party and invited the "game-night" girls and their spouses. We had such a fun evening with everyone! The girls missed out on most of the game as we were all gathered around the food eating and socializing - imagine that :) - while the guys were hootin' & hollerin' downstairs in front of the TV. I ended up DVRing the game just so I could later watch the commercials! I did manage to keep my eye on the scores right at half-time and again at the end of the game since I had started a Super Bowl pool at work. A few of the game-night girls got in on it also so it was fun to keep track of who was close to winning the two $100 jackpots! Shane had the winning score at the end of the game right up until the Steelers scored in the last minute! Two of my co-workers ending up winning! Oh well, hopefully we have better luck next year!

We had an insane amount of food as everyone brought an appetizer (or two) and everything was so good! I must say that Nick brought the most interesting appetizer which was Goose Fingers - think chicken fingers but made with goose meat. I was brave enough to try them and they honestly weren't bad. It tasted alot like duck - dark meat and slightly greasy. I think the Buffalo Chicken Dip that Erinn brought was the main hit of the night! Oh soooo good :)

We didn't let the evening pass us by without snapping a few pictures. As long as Keri, Melissa and myself are at a get-together, there are sure to be cameras flashing! It seems that every time us girls get together, we have to take a picture of all of us sporting our Woodland Ridge subdivision "sign"! We are so "gangsta" up in our small town of Spring Hill; population 4000 :) So as to not disappoint, here we are:

Pictured L to R: Erinn, Melissa, Heather, Michelle & Keri