Neat Links

Notice under my list of friend's blogs, I have a new section called Neat Links. These are some of the websites I use a lot for different types of information. Some are really cool.

Movie Database is one of my favorites. It has solved a lot of arguments between Russ and I. If you ever need to know the name of a movie, or who was in that movie, then go here. We use it a lot to see what year a movie was made, or how old a certain actor is.

Rotten Tomatoes rates movies. So before we go rent a movie, we check it out on Rotten Tomatoes. It gives a score like 85% Fresh. Or 27% rotten. So far, they have been right on with our taste in movies.

Woot is just funny. They sell something everyday. It can be anything from really nice stereo speakers to a bag of crap. Not literally- just a bunch of junk for $.01. It is fun to read their description of stuff. I bought cool headphones on 2 for Tuesday.

Creative Memories. Well, the name says it all.

K-Love. I listen to them a lot. I love looking up artists and their songs. I also look to see who is coming in concert.

My Coke Rewards. Russ drinks a lot of Diet Coke. So we started saving the lids and the boxes. I opened an account and go and type in the code on the lids. I am now up to 700-something points. You can get all kinds of stuff with your points. I'm shooting for 8,000 points so I can get a trip.

The Scrappin' Pad is where my friends and I go for a scrapbooking weekend retreat. It is awesome!

Web MD. Russ calls me a hypochondriac. So I can go look up my "symptoms" and see what new disease I have. :)

Soap Opera Fan. Ok, so I watch Days of Our Lives. I have since I was 8. I blame that on Mama Pat. I even scheduled my classes around it my freshman year of college. So I go to this website to get a sneak peak of what is coming up in the next couple of weeks.

E-plans. An addictive site. This is one of the sites I go to, to look for house plans. It's fun. You type in your square footage, how many bedrooms, bathrooms, garages, etc. and they show you plans. Try doing a really big house. It is crazy to see the layouts on some of them!

I hope you all try some of these. And let me know if you have any cool sites you go to on a regular basis.

Black Friday

People are crazy!! I had never gotten up on Black Friday before (and never will again), so I thought I would try it. There were about 5 things in the Toys R Us ad that I wanted to get the girls for Christmas. So why not try? But I was too tired to get up at 5:00 am. Big mistake. I got up at 6:00, brushed my teeth and threw on some clothes. I got to Toys R Us by 6:20. I found a girl to help me find the 5 things on my list. But they ALL were gone. One hour and 20 minutes after they opened. Wow. The line was ridiculous! It went from the checkout stands, straight back to the back, across the back, back down to the front of the store, wrapped around and went back towards the back and across the back again- going the other way. That was the line. It had to be at LEAST 45 minutes-hour wait. CRAZY!!

So I left there with nothing and went to Bed Bath and Beyond. It was much better. Everything was 20% off. I liked that! Then off to Wal-Mart. Another crazy place! Don't even try having a cart in the electronics or toys section. Then Best Buy. So many people!

The craziest I saw was at Target. I was not crazy enough to go there myself, but in driving there, I could see the parking lot. The cars were backed up all the way down the road leading to Target. They were all parked in the grassy area next to Target because there were no more places to park. I even overheard two people at Wal-Mart talking about it. They said it was so crowded you could barely move. They said they will never go there again on Black Friday.

I just heard that Russ' nieces, in Iowa, went shopping at an outlet mall. Now, let me say, it is a GREAT outlet (Williamsburg). We go there almost every time we go home. It's awesome. But the funny thing is, they opened their doors at 12:01 am. CRAZY! So our nieces shopped from midnight-6 am. Nutty girls! I almost think shopping at midnight would be easier for me than getting up at 5:00 (or 4:00 like at JcPenney)

But I now know, I will never waste 2 hours of sleep again, just to save $20.

Reality TV

I admit it. I love reality tv. The last two days has been awesome!

Dancing with the Stars- oh my goodness! I can't believe Marie is still there! I don't think she was better than Jennie. I am cheering for Mel and Max now. It is all so exciting to watch!

The Bachelor. What the heck was Brad thinking? He didn't choose either girl in the end! They were completely in love with him! Why didn't he just say, "let's continue to date outside of this fantasy world and see where it takes us?" But nope. He dumped them both. I didn't like DeAnna a whole lot. And it looked like he would have chosen DeAnna over Jenny!

The Biggest Loser. I LOVE this show. It's so inspiring! I can't believe I had never really watched it until this season. It completely changes peoples lives, and I love watching that. Kaye went home last night. I would have voted her out too. She was such a threat to everyone else. I am cheering for Hollie. I really like her, Neil and Bill. (or is it Jim?- whichever twin is left) And Isabeau is going to be a knockout when she loses more weight. Just 4 more weeks of this show. Then we get to see all of the kicked off contestants and how much weight they've lost. How awesome! I need to sign up for the Biggest Loser Club online. Maybe that will motivate my big 'ol booty!

I can't wait for Survivor on Thursday. Will they get rid of anorexic Courtney all ready? She really bugs me.

Well, off to my reality world of cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning! Not as much fun as dancing, going on fantasy dates, or fun survivor challenges. But I think it might be tied with working out!

Update

So I have been going between 161-164. Back and forth I do this dance. It doesn't seem to matter what I eat or how much I exercise. I don't know what is going on. But I had to buy another pair of jeans because I was so tired of wearing the same two all of the time. But I bought jeans with NO stretch. So if they start to get tight, I'll know to run more.

I obviously haven't been working out like I should be. But we've had a lot happen since fall break.

Becca fell and hurt her head. Maddie had pneumonia. She was home from school for a week. Becca had an ear infection. Becca ran a fever and then had a sinus infection.

I watched my friend, Cindy's baby, Evan. I had to go to the Pumpkin Patch for a field trip with Maddie's class. This was one of the days I was watching Evan. Do I really want 3 kids? A LOT of work!

I had a dentist appt., a few meetings and was running the girls to the doctor for all kinds of things. I ran a fever and was worn out from everything. I had a sinus thing. It started in my head (major headache) and worked it's way down to my chest (lots of coughing). I even lost my voice for two days. These two days just happened to be two days of my scrapbook retreat. Which was awesome by the way! I got sooo much done! I can't wait to go back in June! Oh, and then Becca fell on her face at school. She bruised her gums and the inside of her top lip. It was so swollen. I didn't know your gums could swell like that! She might end up losing one of her teeth, but it's a wait and see game with that.

So needless to say, through all of this, I haven't been to the Y but maybe twice. Yesterday was one of those days. But I ran a mile and walked a mile and a half. I thought that wasn't too bad for not doing much of anything for nearly a month! And here I sit today, because I have too much stuff to do to "waste my time" working out! I'll get back to it next week. At least Monday and Tuesday since IT IS Thanksgiving and all.

Addicted

I have an addiction. It is a recent one. I am addicted to looking at houses online. I go to our local area and look at open houses. I look at every room in the house. I get decorating ideas, and I get ideas for if we ever build a new house. I also love looking at house plans. This has become an obsession. I have even taken a plan and changed a few things, making my own "perfect house". I've had this plan for about a year and a half now.

Click on the house to see the layout. (I would have a study instead of a dining room. I'd put a closet inside the study and one on the outside of the study wall for a coat closet. And the fireplace would be on the window wall because we need a huge wall for our huge entertainment center. And on the back of that wall would be all storage. Blankets, games, etc. )

But this "obsession" escalated 2 weeks ago when looking at an open house. We ran into a realtor who is great. We really liked her. So we told her what we were wanting and she started looking. So even though we are not ready to move, we have been looking at houses. Why do we do this to ourselves? I blame it on Terry and Carla. They are building a new house. It is going to be beautiful. So I'm a little jealous. Excited for them, but just a wee bit jealous.

Goodness, I'm only 32. I can't expect to have EVERYTHING I want right now, can I? What would I have to look forward to? I need to learn to be patient. We have a great house. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful house. We built this house 8 1/2 years ago. I was only 23 when we moved in. My taste and style has changed a LOT since then. Back then, I wanted a big fluffy denim couch with a big plaid chair. Thank you Russ for not letting me get that.

So if I'm patient and just wait, then in time, we'll have a new house. There's no rush. Until then, I'll keep looking at houses and house plans. If any of you are wanting to find a house, just tell me what you want and I'll be more than happy to look for it!