It's only Monday.

This week is not going to be awesome:/ I say this not because I am a negative Nancy, but because Adam is working night shift...twelve hour night shift all week long. This is a big transition for us. Not only does it suck for Adam (who wants to work twelves on night shift?!,) but it's hard on me as well. I like all of our little routines and seeing his face every day :)

Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful that Adam was able to get this supervisor position in food and in Portland. It is going to give him the experience in food that he wants and needs to pursue his ideal job, but in the first four months since he has been there he has been switched from working day shift to swing shift indefinitely. I was really hoping we were done with weird shifts:/ This might not seem like a big deal to most, but for us, we enjoy the time we spend together after work, including having dinner in the evenings and unwinding together. We just like to be with one another. We're kind of in love:) Adam switching to swing shift changed our evening routine from having our little family dinners and relaxing time to a quick hello around 11:00 p.m. when Adam gets home from work and then bed time because I wake up anywhere between 6:15 and 7:30 a.m. Adam is awesome in that he still makes an effort to go to bed at the same time I do even though he is just getting home from work. It's a compromise really because on days I work later I stay up until 12:30-1 a.m. with him :) With him working 6 p.m.-6 a.m. we will literally be missing one another all week, or at least until Thursday afternoon since I have that day off.

Adam is the calm in my day. Spending time with him makes me happy. He makes those days when I get stuck going through the motions at work worth it. Need I say more on why I'm going to miss seeing his face this week? I think you get it :)

 

 

Top o' the board!

Timbers' game days are a whole different kind of weekend day:) After a Saturday of pure laziness, which was perfection, the thought of waking up to go stand in line for wristbands was not too appealing. However, Adam and I ended up staying out quite late Saturday night celebrating Racheal K's birthday out and around the Belmont area and we slept in well past 11 a.m. Whoops! Since today's game was a big rivalry game against Seattle we were going to head downtown as soon as they started handing out wristbands, but when Adam checked the Twitter feed around noon we found out that all 1000 wristbands had already been handed out. We would have to trust our luck in the regular line to get good seats 30 minutes after 1000 Timbers' Army fans had already been let in to get seats. I could tell that Adam was nervous :) Sunny, derby days are crazy! We rushed in to find two seats together and had to look through the stands for over 20 minutes! It was a mad house for sure. Finally, we got lucky and landed two seats up higher than normal for us, but right behind the goal. Insert sigh of relief here :) It really was a fabulous, drama filled game. Shittle never fails to bring the drama and the emotional outbursts lol. We saw some yellow cards and a red card in the 74th minute when a Seattle player, allowing himself to be provoked by our team captain, threw an elbow to his neck. Stupid move dude. Well worth ejecting him from the game, the big baby. In the end, Timbers got the win 1-0 and all was well with the world! The cherry on top of tonight's win was the fact that this win put the Timbers' on the top of the leader board! We're in first place! It feels really good to have a team doing so well. It has been a fun season this year with many new faces proving themselves and I can hardly wait to see what our boys can do with the two final games of the season and of course... in the playoffs :)
GO TIMBERS!

Just because I can

Today is a lazy Saturday. I have been in pjs all day with the exception of showering where in I promptly put my pjs back on. They are OSU pjs so they are more than appropriate wear for game day :) Seeing as I am spending the day watching football, drinking beers and munching on Mo's delicious snacks I figured I can allow myself a 'bye' day and share a little bit of this and a little bit of that with you. Enjoy! Or don't :)

1. Math or English? English hands down. I am terrible at most math. Truth
2. Summer or Winter? Winter! I'm a big fan or warm drinks, clothing, boots, and rain & snow.
3. Morning or Night? The night time is the right time! But seriously, I am a night owl.
4. Full House or Family Matters? Full House. That Urkle kid got annoying.
5. Tea or Coffee? I do enjoy a good cup of tea, but coffee is a part of my daily routine.
6. Harry Potter or Lord of The Rings? HP! LOTR is amazing too though, but no competition here.
7. Black or White? Black, preferably with some orange thrown in ;) GO BEAVS
8. Dogs or Cats? Dogs rule! (I'm coming around to cuddly kitties after owning a rabbit though:)
9. McDonalds or Burger King? Burger King cheeseburgers with McDonalds fries please.
10. Cake or Pie? See my blog post from October 8th...
11. Chocolate or Vanilla? Put your hands together! If I can't have a mix of both than chocolate.
12. Jocks or Nerds? Can't I have a nerdy jock??
13. Cable or Internet? Oooooh, this is a difficult one...Internet.
14. MySpace or Facebook? Myspace is so 2005. FB, until it isn't cool anymore.
15. The Simpsons or Family Guy? The Simpsons. Family Guy annoys the bejezus out of me.
16. Coke or Pepsi? Coke
17. Batman or Superman? Batman
18. Fantasy or Reality? My present reality is pretty amazing, but I do enjoy a good fantasy :)
19. Comedy or Horror? Comedy, but I love a good scare.
20. Pancake or Waffles? Waffles
21. Baked or Fried? I love baked chicken, but hot damn fried food rocks!
22. China or Japan? Japan...I have no idea why.
23. Hamburgers or Hotdogs? Hot-diggity-dogs!
24. Salt or Pepper? I lika the peppa!
25. Peanut Butter or Jelly? peanut butter
26. Boxers or Briefs? boxer briefs, I'm 30 and like a sophisticated man.
27. Amazon or Ebay? Amazon is the shiznit.
28. TV shows or Movies? TV shows
29. Pen or Pencil? The pen is mightier.
30. Phone Call or In person? In person :) So difficult to do, but always worth it in the end!
31. Video Games or Board Games? Old school video games please
32. Shower or Bath? Shower, baths take way too much work and I get a crick in my neck every time!
33. Rain or Snow? Make it rain!
34. Pixar or Dreamworks? Dreamworks
35. 30 Rock or The Office? "I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be." Michael Scott
36. Rock or Rap? I wanna rock!
37. Ketchup or Mustard? mustard
38. White or Wheat? I'm a fan of the white bread.
39. Love or Money? <3 br="">40. Movies or Reading? Can't I love them both?
41. Car or Motorcycle? Motorbike, not to be confused with motorcycle.
42. Michael Jackson or Elvis? 80's and 90's Michael Jackson.
43. France or Italy? Italy is so lovely!
44. Gift Cards or Cash? Just make it out to Cash.
45. Paper or Plastic? Paper
46. Santa Clause or Easter Bunny? Po Po Jeejo
47. Lucky Charms or Trix? They're always after me lucky charms!
48. Mayo or Miracle Whip? DOUBLE YUCK!
49. Pickles or Olives? Pickles, but I will never turn down a black olive.
50. Dr. Pepper or Mountain Dew? If you absolutely force me to choose I guess Dr. Pepper, but I will probably just pour it down the sink.

Happy weekend everyone!

Loud chatty Cathys NOT welcome

Ok, I'm probably going to get some shit for this seeing as I'm commenting on this as a NON-mother myself, but here you are...

As a nanny it's in my job description to find and plan entertaining things for my kiddos to do during the time that I am with them. Shockingly, I'm not just a glorified babysitter, I actually plan activities for our daily ventures. Today I'm going to talk about one of my major pet peeves of taking kiddos to social gatherings where parents and their kids are present. Specifically story time at the library.

Every Thursday I'm with Jack and Sam out in Wilsonville, well mainly Sam now that Jack is in kindergarten. And every Thursday we have a standing date at the library for story time at 10:00 a.m. It's usually the same crowd...fortunately and unfortunately. Most of the parents and kids are awesome, well behaved, there for stories and songs etcetera, etcetera. However...some parents get on my LAST nerve and let me tell you why. First off, I can understand how being around kids 24/7 can make you crave adult interaction in any form. I get it. I'm ok with moms coming to baby groups, music classes, and story times to catch up with their girlfriends or boyfriends while their kiddos are entertained for 30 minutes by a library 'magician.' What I am NOT ok with are those parents that sit as part of the group and talk much too much too LOUDLY to one another while the library 'magician' works her best skills. To me they resemble those douche bags that talk louder than a quiet whisper during a movie *previews included. For the record, I will be the one every time that leans over and asks you (nicely...mostly) to shut the front door if you are talking in a movie theater, but I somehow feel that saying something at a weekly activity you frequent that is full of children could be trouble. I held my tongue as the two moms next to me talked and talked and talked about everything and nothing over the voice of the soft spoken librarian. As a teacher I know how annoying it can be to be talked over while you are trying to instruct and lead activities. I'm not sure how long I will be able to hold my tongue on Thursday mornings, but I know I will have to be tactful if I do decide to say something. It is all about the kids after all and NOT what shop you went to yesterday to buy baby clothes or what you are planning for dinner tonight. Even if it is, please for the love of all that is less annoying...use your whisper voice!

365 days of new!

The New Abides Blog (take a gander:)

I stumbled upon this blog post today while searching- 'adventures in blogging' and found something wonderful! It was like reading the story of the last ten years of my life...minus the having kids part and switching out job specifics of the past. This woman has been through the same struggles relating to getting a teaching job that I have. I felt...relief as I read her thoughts. It was nice to know that I am not alone in this 'desperately seeking a teaching job' lifetime movie I seem to be constantly reliving each new school year. We both spent years working our butts off getting all the education necessary and then some only to find that teachers aren't always going to be in demand. Honestly, I never really wanted to do anything else besides spend my adult life educating children, but in choosing this career path I was also fairly confident that there would always be a need for teachers. It never once crossed my mind that I would have trouble getting a job if I had passion, studied hard, and became educated. Insert my shocked face at not landing my dream teaching job here*

Getting back on topic.. After reading the above blog posting I became inspired. What a fun way to keep my mind occupied and not stressed out during my search for a teaching job. Trying something new every day for a year is ambitious! I would love to be able to try something new each day for a whole year, however, I think that I am going to start smaller with a month of new experiences each day and see how long I can stick to it :) Wouldn't it be awesome to do something new each day for the rest of your life?? Wow. That would be one exciting life!
*I'm going to start putting a list together today :)

Lou, lou, skip to my...CHEESE AND RICE! NO MORE SKIPPING!

I had the strangest realization in the middle of jazzercise on Monday evening. On Mondays and Thursdays I'm able to just catch the last class of the night at 7:00 p.m. and after working over ten hours, I'm not going to lie...it.is.difficult. I seriously have to force my mind and body to work together so I don't trip over myself. This last Monday was exceptionally challenging because I was coming off two back to back ten hour days of work and not nearly enough sleep.

However, this stellar realization that I came to about three routines in was just how tricky and energy consuming skipping is! I'm not talking about sweet little skips while you still have breath to sing the skipping song, but arm pumping, knee driving, forward and backwards, side to side skipping to all my favorite jams. Picture in your mind if you will a nice easy skip down the street holding hands with your bff (see the above picture if you can't visualize:) vs. the super, crazy jazzercise skip that looks somewhere between a Mario power jump and a full body tantrum. Let's put it this way, to have more than two routines in a row with "skipping" is intense to say the least! Not even half way through I wanted to fall over, my side in stitches!
The instructor was hiiiiilaaaarious too. "Oh my gosh! I didn't realize I picked so many routines with skipping! Hehehehe:)" I will cut you crazy jazzercise lady!!! (Ok, clearly I'm not cutting anyone :) but that is about where I was at that point in time. I made it through the workout, I'm no quitter, but man alive I was T-I-R-E-D. So, Rachael's moral of today's blog post...skipping is not for the weak or individuals lacking energy, especially in a jazzercise class :)

Just eat it.

 

Some people don't have a sweet tooth...I am not one of these people. I'm a sucker for desserts. Adam and I laugh about it often because he is not so much a dessert guy and I would rather just have dessert for dinner. Imagine trying to force ice cream on a person! The nerve! (Ok, he eats ice cream, but probably wouldn't for every meal like I would :) A love for dessert is something that Adam's dad, Andre, and I share as well. He knows that I am always game for dessert even when Adam and Marjorie, Adam's mum, are too full:) I aaaaaaalllllwwwwwaaaayyyysss save room for dessert!

Today's blog topic is to talk about my favorite cake or pie. I don't usually pass on a piece of cake or pie, but I do prefer pie over cake. The pie that I adore the most is cheesecake, which is technically a cake (ha!) but I consider it to be more pie that cake. Who honestly doesn't love cheesecake?? To be more specific cherry cheesecake! The way cheesecake melts in your mouth is one of it's selling points for sure. The cherries are an added bonus! With cake, you often get too sweet of frosting or too bland of cake. It is difficult to mess up cheesecake. Will I still eat a piece of cake at a birthday, wedding or other function? Heck yes. However, if the choice is mine, I will choose pie over cake:)