No, I don't smoke 4 packs a day

Ha! Wouldn't you know it...I'm coming down with my first official "cold" of the season. I feel pretty crappy and I called up the doc and asked if he could call me in something to make me better, FAST! Unfortunately there's this virus going around...whatever....and I am in the early stages of it. Apparently it's supposed to make me feel better that there's nothing so wrong with me that I need medicine. I got the whole, drink plenty of fluids, get plenty of rest, get plenty of Vitamin C and if you're not better in a week call us back. Ha! If I'm not dead in a week, I'll call.

Anyway...my boss calls me this moring...he asks if he detects a bit of a cold coming on. After I rolled my eyes and made faces he couldn't see - I told him that yea, I think I have something trying to come on. He said his wife has the same thing and plans on blaming me if he gets sick. Ha...sorry bud...not going to be able to blame your assistant on this one. Perhaps blaming your 6 hour flight from the west coast is a better idea....no need to hack off your wife AND your assistant. He then has the wherewithall to say that it sounds like I'm a 4 pack a day smoker. Ha Ha Ha. He's a commodian, my boss. In all actuality, it does sound like I smoke that much...and that I've been smoking that way since I was 10 (so you don't have to wonder....that was 25 years ago). It was worse this morning and I had to laugh at myself as I was singing to the radio - man oh man, did I have the bass part covered! Ha!

Anyway....perhaps I will make some chicken noodle soup....make Shooter do all the housework....and curl up on the sofa with the pups. Yea, now that sounds like a plan!

I hate talking about money

Cold hard caaaaash. Moola. Cashola. Deniero. Benjamins. Daaaaahlahhz.

Ya know...I hate talking about money. BUT - you can't really get through life without it. I like to talk about wanting more money....I like money in general....but I don't like talking about how to make it go farther or not being able to spend it like a crazy woman on everything I see. I'm an impulsive buyer...always have been...unfortunately wasn't ever taught how to reign that in. I'm getting better, I'm starting to get the whole less is more concept.

Shooter and I have to get on a budget. It's gonna be a horrible session of gnashing of teeth and tears and me retreating to the corner to suck my thumb - but we need to do it. We honestly don't have a good idea of where our money goes....one minute we have some...the next it's gone. I'm sure you all understand.

We're currently going through a series on Godly money management at church. It's really smacked Shooter and I upside the head. I think more than ever about how we spend our money and what we buy. I'll keep ya'll updated on our progress - this is actually a way for me to keep myself accountable. Ugh...did I just say that. Double Ugh.

Happy Monday.... :-)

Just another crazy Saturday

Whew...I am left trying to catch my breath after another crazy Saturday....of course I'm talking about college football. Specifically Southeastern Conference college football. In the Fall this obsession competes with all other obligations I might have. My nails do not get manicured, my laundry piles up to the ceiling, my dogs howl and whine to be fed, dishes pile up in the sink and my hiney is constantly numb from sitting on the couch or in a chair watching hours of football. I suppose I come by this obsession honestly...I am after all a girl of the South. My father instilled in me a passion for college football, more specifically Southeastern Conference college football, and MOST importantly the University of Tennessee Volunteers. Yes, I was born and raised in Knoxville and bleed orange. Okay...that's cliche...however it's true, and I glow in the dark. I was born in Oak Ridge after all. Anyway, girls like me are prized in the South. I'm a girlie girl, I love to dress up and do my hair, nails and makeup. I love dresses and lovely handbags....and I love to scream and yell and throw chicken wing bones at the TV when the ref makes a horrible call. My husband loves that about me....at least he says he does....

See, I so named this blog the right thing...I ramble, I get off topic and I basically converse by free association. I realize this and I accept it....you'll get no apologies from me.

Okay....so as I was saying...I basically plopped my football loving self in front of the TV all afternoon to watch my beloved Vols play Arkansas...yes, dear ones, my Vols won! It was a glorious afternoon indeed. THEN, Shooter's "Back in Black" Georgia Bulldogs pulled one out against Auburn. He's happy, my podmate at work will not. Personally, and shhh don't tell Shooter that I admitted this, I was hoping Auburn would win...but I never betrayed myself and rooted for Georgia - they're a mighty fine team after all (Do ya'll Knowshon? You should...he'll be a Heisman winner in a couple of years). Best yet, those darn Illini beat Ohio State. I laugh in the face of the BCS right now. I have hated the BCS since it's inception and now they're completely thrown into a tizzy. I LOVE it.

Alright...now I get to pick at my cuticles, chew my bottom lip and twirl my hair in anticipation of next week. It's a big one...Vandy...you laugh but I do not. Vandy used to be the whipping boy of the SEC...no longer. They always seem to figure out a way to make the lives of Vol fans miserable. As so many pundits have said...and I've heard it so much it makes me wanna faint...we hold our own destiny in our hands....

Photography

I have recently developed a fascination with abstract photography, mostly of architectural elements. I LOVE Charleston and the seemingly endless supply of subjects. My husband and I, since I'm sure I'll refer to him often let's call him Shooter, have visited Charleston twice in the last two years. Each time we bought matted photographs from a very talented lady there in the market. I also took my own photographs, which I have to say are pretty darn good. Recently we did some redecorating in the house and Shooter helped me hang up the dozen or so frames over our new and oh so comfy couch.

The photo above I framed on it's own as a 5x7. The following were grouped together as 4x6 photos in a triple frame.

One of my absolute favorites on the wall, though, is this one:



I have my eye on a Canon Powershot G9 as a gift to myself when I get my bonus...my company is so graciously giving us an extra 20% this year and I plan to use it to further my addiction. Heh.

The Inner Child

Okay...has anyone ever accused you of being childish and immature? I was accused of that yesterday, and not by my husband (although everyone we've ever encountered knows he has grounds to do that) or by one of my friends (although lord knows they have reasons to) or by my mother (who has about a gazillion reasons and counting) - it happened in the craziest of places. The place where I am the most professional and focused - AT WORK! Now, I must confess that it wasn't just me who was accused of being childish and immature - an entire group of us were marched in to a room and we were told that we need to grow up. Apparently there are a few people in the group whose inner children aren't playing fair and are bonking others over the head with their plastic shovels. But to brand an entire group as childish - isn't that a bit much...I play fair...I share...and I smile at everyone. For Pete's Sake, why can't we lock the offending children in a room and let them fight it out....preferably put them in a room with windows so that we can all watch the hair pulling and biting and the shin kicking...