2007 - A year in review

Everyone loves to review the year that is about to pass, so in the time honored tradition - here is a review of my year, month by month:

January - After a VERY stressful December we rolled into January in style. Celebrated my final year in the 20's with great friends at Spaghetti Factory where many trips to the bathroom lasted mysteriously long for some reason! And our friend Becky worried if her husband was being persued by a younger woman who tantalized him with the wonders of being 10!

February - Shortest month of the year ended up being the busiest! We spent a weekend peeking Behind the Cellar Door. And then preparing for Mimsy to turn the BIG 60! We threw a HUGE surprise party with all her friends and collegues!


March - Very interesting month. Not only were we celebrating Rick's birthday but we were also preparing for our first Family vacation to Cabo San Lucas Mexico at the end of the month. Little did we know that I would also be released from my hellish job just in time to be able to actually relax on the beautiful sandy beachs of Cabo while sipping a Margarita and NOT thinking about having to return to the terrible place I called work.

April - After our super fun trip to Mexico in the begining, the rest of April fell short with the only memoriable thing being the ever fun job search.

May - May found me working for a new company and us trying to recoop financially from me being off work for almost a month. All in all an rather uneventful month!

June - Aw, romance and wedding anniversary. We spent our 7 year anniversary camping and having a great time.

July - We celebrated our countries Independence in style - kickin' back "where da Vodka" drinks and lounging by the pool. Much to Miss Amelia's dismay!

August - As the summer came to an end we decided to wave it off with the Brown's camping in Terra's childhood camping area Bear River Resort/Ravin

September - One of the few uneventful months in 2007. Nothing happened and we made it to October!

October - Another big month. In the begining of the month my father passed away and left me to deal with unaddressed feelings. Rick and I had a much needed weekend in our favorite area Amador for their Big Crush weekend where we had amazing food and fun. October also brought Rick's dreams into reality with the launch of his first class at Natoma Station that helped him segway into other schools for the Spring sessions.

November - With Rick's classes going strong and schools signing up left and right we started into the Holiday Season with little stress. The one blip on our radar was the decision to move in January to a new and improved house (more on that later). We spent early Thanksgiving morn - helping Turkey's Trot and then enjoyed a yummy dinner at my Aunts. Then we spent the day after wine tasting and spending quality time with Jeffrey (Rick's brother).

December - As previously posted we went into Christmas more prepared than I've ever been for anything and ended up having a wonderfully relaxing and enjoyable Christmas Eve Open House, and Christmas Day dinner, with our favorite and our best family members and friends there to share the time with us.

Now that we're on the last day of the year I look for 2008 to be more spectacular and fun. Rick's business is picking up a synergy that I know will only spread. We're moving into a home that we love. And hopefully it will be a year of peace and tranquility to everyone!

Informed Consumer - small year end rant

I believe in being an informed and educated consumer. When I buy products I try to know what I will be receiving, what the limitations of that item are and how it will bless my life. I realize that not everyone does the same thing - not everyone makes an educated decision about purchases and thus the reason that most places have a return policies. However some items in your life I would hope common sense would prevail and consumers would educate themselves on how to use whatever they are purchasing.
It is one of my biggest pet peeves when someone makes a life altering decision and does no research into and then turns around to complain about the limitations or guidelines of said purchase. A great example: health insurance. Regardless of if it employer sponsored or an individual plan we're talking about your health here. I've been in the health insurance industry for upwards of 8 years, I've seen every side of the industry. People sit back and complain about how damaged Health Insurance is and while I don't disagree, I think it would be a lot less damaged if consumers would educate themselves on what is and is not covered.
Every single plan that is offered by ANY health insurance company has (by law) a benefit summary which will in detail explain what is and is NOT covered. If people would read this and try with some effort to follow the rules people would NOT have an issue. Alas people do not read this and do not follow the rules and then want to sit back and say its the insurance companies fault that they had a procedure that wasn't covered or bought a drug that wasn't covered.
I know people who put more thought into the television programs they wish to watch than they do the health care policy they pay for monthly. I have family members, friends, COWORKERS who know less about their health care policy than they do about how to built a house. I've had these same people sit and complain to me about their policy and when I offer to look at it, they're amazed that by just reading the book, I can tell them what is covered. They seem to think that the book is in a language not their own.
To conclude my small rant - read before you buy and know more about the important stuff (like insurance) than the unimportant stuff.

Please can I come in and Wassail?

Poor Willow gets stuck outside whilst wassailling abounds indoors

Glorious glorious sleep

After my night of insomnia where I finally fell asleep somewhere between 330am and 4am by the time I got home yesterday I was exhausted. Thankfully my dear hubby had just the cure. He made an amazingly tasty dinner of peanut/thai chicken, brown rice and green beans (a friend of his from work gave him a peanut thai marinade that was SO good). He also made me a Dancing Reindeer (which is sparkling wine and blood orange italian soda). After having a full tummy I was amazed to find that the clock only read 7pm so I was faced with a conundrum: a. take a nap which would possibly ruin the rest of the nights sleep b. force myself to stay awake which might onset another night of insomnia or c. dose myself with Tylenol PM, have another Dancing Reindeer and have visions of sugar plums dancing in my head. I opted for choice C.

Two Tylenol PM, another Dancing Reindeer and only 3.5 hours of sleep the previous night and hubby was lucky I could get into to bed on my own accord. I was out like a light by the clock hit 8:15pm and slept like a log. I remember at one point (it felt as if it was the middle of the night however I know it wasn't because hubby was still awake and I believe asked what I was doing) crawling out of bed and feeling my way to the rest room and then feeling my way back to bed, I am pretty sure my eyes weren't even open.

Needless to say, I am now bright eyed and bushy tailed today. And while the count down to Christmas is at 5 days (till Christmas Eve) the bigger count down to "Terri's 20+10 Vegas Extraviganza" is at 14!!

Oy - Insomnia

I don't know why, but it seems I've picked up the habit of being an insomniac. I am not a fan of this. In fact its rather annoying. Especially when my dear dear hubby is passed out snoring in bed right now and its 250am. Thats right folks almost 3am and I am WIDE awake.
I've been editing and playing on my blog for at least the last 30 minutes - which I thought would make my eyes tired. Guess what? They're not. I've done all I can think of to do with the blog. It's cute now right? Fun colors that are a better respresentation of me.
Great now if I could just those fun colors to be painted in my mind while I dream that would be perfect. To make matters even worse, I can't think of anything to write about right now - so while this is boring its not even taking my mind of the fact that I can't sleep. In fact its so boring I would think that my own writing would be putting me to sleep but alas, it is not.
Blah Blah Blah.
I shall try to go watch my "sleepy" movie, which is Cars. I've seen it so much and it makes me so happy that it usually puts me to sleep with good dreams. So off to watch Lighting and Mater. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be functional at work (HA!). Good night! or rather Good morning!

Things that irritate me during the Holidays

I like the Holidays. I am BIG Holiday person. I like the parties and the decorating and the cheer and the wassailing and the good will towards man and all that crap. What I don't like though is the following:

1.) Angsty, wanna be Indy, post teen/pre adult, retail store seasonal workers. Look - you're out of high school and maybe your local JC isn't treating you quite as well as your hopefully yuppy Benz driving parents had hoped but take it out on someone else. I don't have the time, the patience or quite honestly the compassion to deal with your moody, stupid douche bag hair, spoiled brat attitude.

2.) Yuppy, non working, track suit wearing, stay at home mothers - living beyond their means that have nothing better to do with their day than troll the local department stores. Who think they're darling, screaming, running wild, snot nosed child should be allowed to run muck in the department store and you should just deal with it and GAWD forbid the little darling run into you, you should be watching out for them and move out of there way. Like just because they DID procreate we as a society should feel some unspoken thanks and just allow poor behavior to abound.

3.) Sixteen year old, shouldn't have a drivers license but do idiots who don't know how to a. drive in traffic b. drive in the rain and c. DRIVE AT ALL. And who have a nicer, newer car than mine and yet don't know what its like to make a car payment.

I think if a few rules should apply at the Holidays to keep us all happy:

1.) Fore mentioned Angsty personnel should be replaced by kind, grandmotherly types that are respectful and move with the same sense of urgency as their customers.

2.) Fore mentioned yuppy, non working, track suit wearing, stay at home mothers - should not be allowed to leave the house from Dec 1 until Jan 15.

3.) Just licensed teens should a. have to drive cars that cost LESS than $1000 (trust me they do exist - my first car was one as were both of my husbands first 2 cars) b. have signs posted clearly on the vehicle designating the drive as young, inexperienced and c. not be allowed to drive from Dec 1 until Jan 15.

I really think if these simple rules were followed the holidays and holiday shopping would be a much better experience for all of us.

Holidays

It's December 11th and I am 95% ready for Christmas. Which, quite honestly frightens me. Usually I don't even have my tree up until next weekend and presents - I am a Christmas Eve shopper FOR SURE. So the fact that my home is decorated, almost ALL of my presents are bought has me shakin' in my boots. What am I supposed to do with all of this free time I have. All of this non stress that is consuming me. I am actually stressed out about NOT BEING stressed out - whats up with that?
To be quite honest its a little ridiculous. I am a procrastinator. I thrive on putting stuff off. I am GOOD at putting stuff off. I excel at putting stuff off. So how is it that we're not even half way to Christmas and I am done? Because my dear dear hubby is trying to NOT be a procrastinator. He's trying to make us "prepared and organized". I don't know how to be prepared and organized. I know how to run around like a chicken with my head cut off and stress out. Its not the holidays if I am not up until 3am at least 4x's in the month of December. And I don't have at least 1 major crying fit breakdown? I don't know how to act.
I may need to have a breakdown about not having a breakdown. I'll report back if this happens.

Quick driving thought

This thought came to me this morning while I was driving to work. Their is construction happening on Mather Field Rd (the major street I take to work - also the major street used to access our housing development). They've written the following with spray paint on the ground just before you hit the part of the road they're working on:

Down
Slow

I've never understood why all rules of English language are thrown out when it comes to stuff being written on the street. It's almost as if Cal-Trans (and other companies that work on our roadways) think that for some reason because we're in a car we suddenly stop reading from top to bottom. Another example:

Ahead
Stop

Make sense to anyone else?