Just Say Julie

Or at least the end of NaBloPoMo.  I cannot believe I actually blogged every day for 30 days straight.  I will admit I actually doubted my ability to complete this task.  What surprised me the most is not that I actually did it but that I did it with only using blog prompts twice.  I knew I had more thoughts in my head that I wanted to get out.  It was just a matter of getting in front of the computer and making it happen.  I got a lot of positive feedback from this month though.  Not that I had any plans to discontinue my blog, but I am definitely encouraged to keep it going.  I also have some better ideas on what to write to interest people.  I do intend to make more time for blogging than I have in the past.  I don't promise to write every day.  Some days are just too busy and finding the time is near impossible.  After all, I do have a family and a job and a life (or at least some version of one).  However, I do think ...

"Look's like somebody's got a case of the Mondays!"  The line made famous by the movie Office Space, which just so happened to be filmed here in Austin.  Yep, that was me today.  After the long weekend, I woke up with absolutely no desire to return to the office.  No real reason except that my bed was warm and comfy and I didn't want to get out of it.  Plus, while I am a ton better, I am still recovering from my cold from last week.  The barking cough is gone but I am still cruddy.  That does not make for a good Monday.  My boss commented on the way out of the office this afternoon that I had been quiet today which was out of the ordinary for me.  Well, I had spent most of the day with my headphones on and tried to focus on getting my work done.  Truth was I didn't want to work late so I wanted to knock all my work out before the end of the day.  Also, I spent most of Sunday in a bad mood and really just didn't want to deal with peo...

I can't believe this weekend is over.  It was so nice to have a few days off.  I can't say they were relaxing since I was busy getting ready for Thanksgiving and fighting a cold the whole weekend but it was still a good all the same.  Since month end was Friday, we will be working on our close out to wrap up the month.  That means a busy week for us.  But then I am starting to feel like that is the story of my life.  I was able to knock out a few more Christmas gifts this weekend. I am just waiting for suggestions from a few of my family members so I can finish up.  I also need to figure when I can get the decorations out of storage so we can get the tree up and make this place feel a little bit more like Christmas.  The bad thing is I am just not ready for it to be Christmas yet.  I can't explain it but I am having a hard time getting into the spirit.  Here's hoping that adding some decorations to the house will remedy that problem.

The Sheriff decided to surprise me this afternoon with a date to see the new Harry Potter movie.  He had arranged for his parents to watch Kiddo for the night so we could check out the one movie we have both been wanting to see.  Overall I thought the movie was good but then I am a fan of all of the Harry Potter books and movies.  This movie was definitely used to set up the action that will occur in the second part.  It has been more than a year since I read book 7 so I am going to start re-reading it tonight to see what was left out and to remind myself of what will come next.  What I remembered from the book was that the time Harry, Hermoine, and Ron spent in the woods seemed long and drawn out.  It felt the same way in the film.  There were several things that I felt like they touched on in the film but kind of glossed over.  I am hoping they will be focused on a little more closely in the next film.  I am ready for the action to really g...

In the state of Alabama, there is only one football game that matters: the Iron Bowl.  This is a game were battles are fought and legends are born.  This game pits family members against each other and can turn best friends into bitter enemies.  Alabama versus Auburn.  Winner takes all.  There are so many stories to tell and so much history involved.  I have watched Alabama lose 6 straight years only to come back and shut out Auburn the next year.  I have seen last minute defeats and come from behind wins.  I had no idea what to expect today.  Alabama is the reigning National Champion while Auburn is undefeated so far this season.  But anything could happen.  Alabama came out of the gun firing hard and hitting harder, forcing 3 consecutive 3 and outs while accumulating 21 unanswered points all in the first half.  I thought we had a good shot at pulling off the win and ruining Auburn's perfect season but I tried not to get too o...

Thank goodness Thanksgiving is finally over.  I feel like I have been planning this meal for months.  Truthfully, I had planned out the meal pretty well.  I pour over cookbooks looking for the perfect recipes to complete the meal.  Once the recipes were selected, I planned the cooking method of each item and then mapped out the time everything needed to start cooking in order to be completed on time.  The Sheriff was a big help today.  He took care of the last minute cleaning and house preparation only coming in the kitchen when I called him.  The kitchen was my territory today and it was in everyone's best interest to stay out of my way.  The in-laws seemed pleased with the meal and I received many complements.  All in all it was a successful day.  However, my cold is back full force.  I guess I over did it yesterday when I was feeling better and my body is letting me know today.  There will be no 3 AM Black Friday shopping fo...

Good news! I am feeling better today.  Not 100% but at least functioning which is a vast improvement over yesterday.  The day was pretty busy.  This morning I spent a couple of hours shopping for the Children's Christmas party at my office.  Then I still had some work stuff to take care of.  I was able to scoot out a little early so I could hit the grocery store before it got too bad.  HEB was smart though offering free wine samples while you were shopping.  Nice way to relax the shoppers, HEB Plus!  We also had to pick up the turkey and a few other things for tomorrow.  The morning is going to be crazy busy but I will still tune into the Macy's Parade.  After all, Christmas can't start until Santa appears at the end of the parade.

Today started off much better than yesterday morning did.  The sound of the alarm at 5:30 wasn't as traumatic as the day before thank goodness but it was still just as unwelcomed.  You see, despite the fact it wasn't even remotely cold yesterday, the Sheriff and I decided it was time to put the comforter in the duvet cover on the bed since the cover was freshly washed.  That meant it was slightly warm (stuffy) in our room last night.  Stuffiness and my sinuses do not play well together coupled with the fact we had a freeze warning in Austin less than a week ago and it is now 80 degrees.  I woke up feeling less than 100% but it wasn't until I was half way down the toll road to work that it hit me...I am sick.  I am talking itchy, watery eyes, runny nose, coughing, sneezing, congestion, the whole 9 yards.  And of course, my beloved ClaritinD was in the medicine cabinet at home.  So I suffered through the first half of the day getting progressively w...

I know by the way I woke up this morning that is would be a rough day.  Apparently I was sleeping hard this morning when my alarm went off.  I guess I was thinking it was still the weekend because I sat up and yelled, "Oh crap!  It's Monday."  Don't know how I didn't wake the Sheriff up.  Needless to say, I didn't want to get out of bed.  But I got a move on and headed to work like normal.  Thanks to the short week, work was just as busy as I expected.  Fortunately, the Sheriff was off today so he was able to start some of the preparations for the big day on Thursday.  Most of the cleaning and laundry have been done.  Tomorrow we will be hitting the store to get the last minute stuff we need for the meal.  I am hoping to avoid the crowds that I am sure will be at the store on Wednesday.  Besides, I have to pick up the turkey from Popeye's Wednesday.  I just hope the plan I have mapped out in my head works.  We will be...

I feel like I am running out of things to say.  I know this week has probably been pretty lacking in the blog department and for that I am sorry.  I am not making any promises about the upcoming week.  For a short work week, it is going to be crazy busy.  We are coming up on month end so there is a lot to be done to prepare for that.  Also, I have Thanksgiving and all the preparation that will go into that as well.  I am sure I will be wiped out by the time Friday rolls around.  You can forget about me hitting the stores at 4 AM on Black Friday.  There is nothing I want bad enough to be out that time of the morning trying to score a deal.  (Plus, the Sheriff will be working so I have to stay home with Kiddo.)  I will consider some of the online deals that I am sure will be offered.  Those are much more my speed.  I also won't let anything pull me away from the big game that will be happening Friday afternoon.  It is no sec...

Not much to say this evening.  It was a rough day where my lack of patience and temper got the best of me.  I decided it was best to lay low because of that.  I ended up pulling out my sewing box and working on some old cross stitch patterns that I had.  I was given a sewing machine a couple of years ago and I have never used it.  I would really like to learn how to sew more.  I haven't tried to do any sewing in a long time.  It was something that I regularly did with my aunt and grandmother.  I am probably better at it than I realize but I know I have much more to learn.  I don't think I would ever be one to make my own clothes or anything but it would still be a nice skill to have.  I also used to crochet but I haven't even touched my needle in years.  I might just have to go get some yarn to see if I can remember how to do it.  Now my thumb hurts from sewing all day.  I forgot how relaxing it could be and how wrapped up...

I got some much needed girl time with my best friend today.  We have been planning it and looking forward to it for weeks.  Since we don't work together anymore, Steph and I don't get to see each other as often as we would like.  So we made plans to head to East Side Cafe for lunch then over to the Palmer Events Center for the Austin Junior League's Christmas Affair.  The Christmas Affair was crowded as usual  but I was able to score some cute Alabama items to add to my collection.  I have been debating going back down there tomorrow to do some more shopping but I know I probably don't need to.  My body is still recovering from the craziness of the Thanksgiving Pot Luck at work and walking around the events center all afternoon didn't really help that much.  As it stands right now, I am looking at hitting the bed as soon as I hit post on this entry and staying that way until the Sheriff comes home from work in the morning.  This weekend shoul...

Yep, exhausted...that would be me this evening.  We had our Thanksgiving pot luck at work today and I spent most of my day helping setup, putting food out, and cleaning up.  To say I am worn out would be an understatement.  Because of that, you aren't going to get much of a blog from me tonight.  I am sitting here waiting for the Alabama massacre of Georgia State to end so I can head to bed.  At 63-7 with 6 minutes left, I would say we pretty well have this one in the bag.  Now we just have the Iron Bowl to look forward to next week to wrap up our regular season and then an undetermined bowl game.  Here's hoping work flies by quickly tomorrow.  I am looking forward to a low key weekend.

With Thanksgiving only a week away, I had the thought that I should talk about some things in my life that I am grateful for.  Of course I have a wonderful family, a good job, and great friends and those are all things I am grateful for.  But I was thinking along a different line this morning.  I was laying in bed shivering a little bit thanks to the cold (ok...cool) snap that has hit Central Texas and the fact that I forgot to turn the heater on before I went to bed.  I always sleep with the ceiling fan on because I need air circulating so I don't get stopped up.  Well, the fan was making me cold but I didn't want to get out of bed until I warmed up a bit.  That is where my handy dandy ceiling fan remote makes my life better.  I am extremely grateful to whomever thought up the brilliant idea of a remote controlled ceiling fan.  That is one of the greatest inventions ever.  The other thing I realized I was grateful for was the snooze button. ...

Yesterday I mentioned that it can be hard to come up with topics to write about when trying to blog daily.  I received a comment in response to the post that I felt the need to respond to.  I was asked about writing about my job.  Well, one thing I learned pretty soon after entering the blogging community was that talking about your job was pretty much off limits.  Just ask Heather Armstrong what happens when you discuss your job or co-workers on your personal blog.  Beyond the basics of saying that I have a job or that work has been busy, I think it is best to leave that topic off the table.  People I work with read this blog.  The last thing I need is to say anything that could be taken wrong and put my job at risk because of it.  There are other topics that I know to leave off the table as well.  Some things are just to personal to write about publicly while others stand a risk of offending people so I just won't discuss them.  I hav...

Yay!!!  I am officially half way through NaBloPoMo.  I now understand why other blog writers find this so hard.  The truth is my life is actually pretty boring and there isn't always something to share.  I have found it hard to be creative on a daily basis.  I have also found it hard to remember to blog every day and to set aside time for it.  I have decided that I would do well to use the voice recorder on my phone to record my thoughts though.  I have come up with several great topic ideas and  written almost complete blog posts in my head during my morning drive to work.  It is the only time of the day that I truly have to myself.  So that is really when I can get lost in my own thoughts and really examine what I feel about a particular subject.  I am just glad that I have gotten this far into the month without skipping a day.  I just hope I can keep it up.  I know next week will be rough with Thanksgiving and all the p...

I'm tired tonight and the creative juices aren't really flowing so I am going to my trusty list of blog prompts and working from there this evening. What is the most useful thing you own? That one is so easy. My iPhone. I don't know how I function without it. I left my phone at home when we went to church tonight and I really felt like I was missing an appendage. I can't believe how much I rely on a silly phone to get through my daily life. But I need access to twitter so I can follow the news, weather and traffic in my area. I need the Facebook App to keep up with my friends. I need the calculator, the tip calculator, the clock, the banking apps...everything that is on there that I use regularly. To think, 3 years ago the iPhone was a fairly new gadget and I swore I didn't need a phone that would do anything more than text and make phone calls. Now I do just about everything with my phone. Administrative Note: I received several comments about not bei...

One thing I realized I hadn't mentioned was how Maverick was adjusting to having two new people living in his house.  Since my divorce, Maverick has been the "man" of the house and took his job of protecting me very seriously.  The Sheriff was concerned about how Kiddo would react to Maverick, especially since Maverick is basically the same size as Kiddo.  He was pretty scared of Mav at first because Mav tends to be a little hyper and doesn't know the difference between 0 and 60.  Kiddo has never had dogs as pets.  His mom owns a couple of cats but everyone who has owned a cat knows, cats would typically rather leave you alone while dogs just want love from their humans.  I was worried that Maverick would be jealous or protective and wouldn't react well to having the Sheriff and Kiddo in the house.  However, I was wrong (and should have known better).  Maverick has loved having two extra people to take care of him and give him love.  Fortunat...

Our church hosts Parents' Night Out once a month and tonight was the night.  The Sheriff and I always take advantage of this because we don't get a lot of time alone thanks to his odd work hours.  Even tonight we had to cut the evening short because he was off to work around 9.  We headed to the Melting Pot for dinner this evening because we had a coupon and stuffed ourselves silly.  The food was amazing.  They are featuring a French themed fondue right now and we selected the special.  I highly recommend the White Chocolate Creme Brulee fondue for dessert.  I don't even like white chocolate and this was the best dessert fondue I have ever eaten there.  I would list Melting Pot high on my list of favorite places to eat.  The meal at the Melting Pot usually takes close to 2 hours to complete so I was worried about being rushed to get the Sheriff off to work and for me to pick up Kiddo.  However, tonight we were able to finish in less than...

Veterans' Day is a day set aside to remember those who have served in our Armed Forces and have fought to protect our freedom. I have watched my brother deploy three and we have been lucky enough to have him return home safely every time. One of the local radio personalities reads the following poem every year and I thought I would share it with you. What is a Veteran? Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg – or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul’s ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can’t tell a vet just by looking. He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn’t run out of fuel. He is the ba...

Apparently balancing my checkbook had me so consumed that I almost forgot to blog today.  I committed to 30 days so I am going to do 30 days.  I had planned to write about the crazy fog driving in to work this morning.  I can't believe how bad it has been the last couple of days since DST.  I thought the drive would be easier when it wasn't pitch black out but the fog is worse.  The Sheriff has warned me it will get worse.  I also debating writing about how our gas bill has doubled this last month since I have started commuting.  That is killing me!  Instead I am going to babble on for a few minutes because I really don't have any thing interesting to say.  So...there you have it.  My feeble attempt at blogging this evening just to be able to check the box.  Sorry, readers.  I promise to do better tomorrow.

I mentioned recently that my company relocated to a new building about 20 miles away from our previous location which increased my commute from 10 miles to 33 miles.  This isn't the longest I have ever had to commute but it has been a while since I had to make a long drive to work.  My longest commute, from Killeen to NW Austin, was nearly 60 miles and only lasted 6 weeks since I was in the process of moving to Austin.  I am one of those people who likes to live in close proximity to everything I do, especially work.  I knew the drive to Austin was temporary which is why I was willing to make it.  I was relieved when I settled in my apartment 4 miles away and only had to do 2 u-turns to get to work instead of taking the highways and toll roads.  This new commute has been rough getting used to.  I take the toll way to get to the office because it cuts down on the traffic and is an overall faster route to the new location but it is expensive.  ...

So I am cheating tonight because I am tired and I can't get the creative juices flowing. I know it is only day two but the end of Daylight Savings Time is kicking my butt. I passed out on the couch last night watching Pirates of the Caribbean. I nearly jumped out of my skin when the Sheriff suggested we go to bed and then I was out again in about two seconds once my head hit the pillow. Maverick even put himself to bed last night because he was so tired. I don't think it helped that we spent most of the weekend cleaning. And by cleaning, I mean moving furniture to sweep and mop behind it before we laid down our new rug in the living room. With the living room and dining room being conjoined we can't clean one without the other. And then the kitchen had to come next because we needed dishes to eat off of and well before we knew it we were almost done with the whole house. And worn out. (and I wrote a lot of ands there but it's my blog and I say it's OK!) So...

Tonight was H.Y.M.N at Awana at church.  We didn't go.  H.Y.M.N. stands for Honor Your Mother Night.  I had been thinking about this night ever since we got the Awana calendar.  I wasn't sure how to approach it or what Kiddo would think.  The Sheriff and I hadn't discussed it so I assumed he thought we would just go and not think anything of it.  The truth was I knew it would be a rough night for me.  I am not Kiddo's mother and I get subtle reminders of that on a regular basis.  Kiddo also frequently tells anyone who mentions his mother that she is far away.  Usually the people are referring to me because they have no way of knowing that I am actually the step mother.  So then I get a strange look from the person who made the original comment and have to explain our situation to a complete stranger.  I didn't want to go to church on a night that was focused on mothers and risk hearing Kiddo tell everyone that his Mommy wa...

"Some people think football is a matter of life and death.  I assure you, it's much more serious than that."  ~ Bill Shankly I am a woman who loves college football.  In most places, that is rare unless you are from the South. Southern women know as much if not more about their team of choice as well as all of their opponents.  Men are surprised when they start chatting me up about football because I am actually pretty knowledgeable on the subject.  Someone made the comment to me while I was waiting in line at Kohl's yesterday that football was the new religion.  I turned to him and said you must not be from the South because if you were you would already know that football is religion.  This comment came after a conversation with his buddy about the Alabama shirt I was wearing.  Sure enough the guy confirmed that he was in deed from California.  You see...college football is a whole different beast when you leave the South. That bei...

A couple of my friends commented on my Christmas post on Facebook which made me realize there were a couple more things I wanted to say on the subject.  I believe that I can thank my mom for being such a planner.  I remember watching her run around like crazy the last few days leading up to Christmas and staying up all night to get everything wrapped and under the tree.  This was all before cell phones and she would be gone all day with no way for us to contact her or know when she would be home.  She was exhausted on Christmas day and that lead to a lot of frustration and annoyance in our household.  My mom's procrastination caused me to not have a spontaneous bone in my body.  Everything has to planned and detailed so that I know when it is going to happen. On that note, I am hosting Thanksgiving for the Sheriff's family at my house this year.  That means I have been picking out recipes and planning out the layout of the food and how everything is...

I spent most of my day being annoyed today.  It started last night after I got home from dinner with the Sheriff.  I got a text when I was leaving work that they were doing work on the road in front of my house.  It should be a problem for me to get into our driveway but it was just a head's up.  Apparently a water pipe in front of a neighbor's house busted and they were repairing it.  They had been working for several hours already when I arrived home because Maverick had to be left in his room so he wouldn't keep barking at the noise outside.  We were fortunate to have a night to ourselves without Kiddo thanks to his grandmother so we decided to go on a date.  When we returned home around 8:30, they were still working on the road.  An hour later I could still hear them out there and so could Mav and he was letting me know it.  At 10:15, still there.  All the while I was worried about Kiddo waking up from the noise because it was right ...

It is that time of year where I start to panic about Christmas gifts for my family.  I know most people don't worry about Christmas until Black Friday or later but I am not one of those people.  I am way too much of a planner to wait that long to shop.  I have been known in the past to start shopping for Christmas as early as July.  That has not been the case this year.  I do, however, have a plan of attack for the majority of my family.  My oldest brother and his wife are always a little difficult but I am sure I will figure them out.  The sheriff's family is different story.  I have no idea where to begin with them.  Plus I am shopping for the Kiddo this year.  That is fun and stressful all within itself.  I want to make sure he has a nice Christmas but I don't want to go overboard at the same time.  He does have 3 sets of grandparents and his mom to buy gifts for him on top of what we are getting. Christmas is going to be ...

O K...so I am cheating a bit today. I am relying on a blog prompt on day two mostly because I don't have the time to try to be creative today. I mentioned in yesterday's post that time constraints are going to be the biggest limiting to factor for me completing an entire month of blogging. Well, Tuesday is my busiest day both at work and at home. I have several deadlines for customer requirements that are due on Tuesdays and our small group from church meets Tuesday nights. I don't even get to go home first before small group. I just head straight there and pick up food on the way. Needless to say, I spend most of Tuesday run around like a chicken with my head cut off. Today is of course no better than normal when you add in two additional meetings and handing out packets to the Race for the Cure participants. So I am going to use a prompt I stole from the NaBloPoMo page that is actually one I could write about for hours. What is the first play you ever saw li...

November is finally here and that means so is NaBloPoMo.  Ever since I committed myself to this, I have been wondering what I got myself into.  I love writing.  I love having a blog.  On any given day, I probably have 2 or 3 posts running around in my head.  The writing portion isn't the hard part.  Finding time to write the stuff in my head is.  I just flipped my calendar at work over to November and it is deceiving.  My weeks look uneventful.  My days not busy.  But they don't tell the true tell of my life.  I have always been one of those people who is happiest when I am busy.  I don't like having down time because I feel like I should be doing something important, not just sitting around.  But then, I am exhausted when I do get a moment's break so my house doesn't get cleaned, my clothes don't get washed, and I am frustrated by the state of everything around me.  The truth is the calendar in my office hasn't been...