The Things We Do For Love

"Just put your fingers at the 4 and 8, feel for something pea sized and milk it."

"How far do I have to put my finger up there?"

"I'd rather you just do it from the outside."

"Oh, thank God!"

This is the conversation I had with my veterinarian on Friday.  I had to take Phoebe in to get her anal glands checked.....again.  This is the 3rd or 4th time she's had to go in to get them "expressed".  She didn't have a problem with this for the first year we had her but then one night the glands were full and just exploded all over our bed.  If you have a dog who takes care of this business outside or just doesn't have a problem, count your lucky stars.  It's possibly one of the nastiest smells that has ever entered my nose! It's the rankest smell EVER!! I can't even explain to you in words what the scent it because it would make me feel unlady like to describe it to you :)

There has been a couple of nights were it's happened in her sleep and it wakes Zach and I up because it's so strong.  A couple of weeks ago Zach moved to the couch because he just couldn't take it.  I, on the other hand, sprayed some body spray and stretched my little self out.  It's rare that I actually get room in the (king size) bed because I sleep around Phoebe who will only sleep on my side of the bed. (She loves her momma.)  A couple of months ago one of her accidents led to me getting a new cell phone case because mine was ruined during the process.  Totally gross!!  (I did get a new pretty one though.)

So, if your dog is giving off a smell that you know good and well is not gas or if they are licking the air around their tail you may want to get them checked out before it goes too far.  (The vet said they could also scoot their butt to let you know it's a problem.  I'm glad Phoebe doesn't do this.)  I don't know how uncomfortable it makes Phoebe but I know it bothers her and let's be honest, it bothers me too :)

I don't want to have to take her in every month and pay to have it done so I learned how to do it myself.  I'm pretty sure Zach will not take part in this so wish me luck about a month from now.  I'm so going to need it!

Have an awesome day!

April

...just watching a little television, that's all...

Sticking to it, kind of :|

Oh, my! I need to stick to my new year's resolutions and do better about getting at least a few blog posts in a week.  I have not totally stuck to my resolutions so far but I'm definitely trying.  I have made 2 new recipes this month so far.  Okay, so I didn't exactly make anything spectacular but me putting effort into anything that isn't just tossed in the microwave is a big step for me. (In case you haven't paid attention before, I DON"T cook.)  

It's been a little hard for me to stick to my daily reading.  Sometimes I'm just so tired and when I put myself to bed I'm just ready to sleep.  I want to read 2 books a month but I'm still on the first book and the month is quickly coming to an end.  I have a day off this Friday so maybe I will wrap up in a blanket, put my feet under my ma'am to keep them warm and get lost in the words of Lauren Conrad. (Love her!)  

I've been pretty good about putting money away in my envelopes.  So far I have put some back for Christmas, birthdays and vacations.  I really want to find something neat to put them in and not just a boring ol' white envelope.  I found something in a magazine that I think will work but it just doesn't have enough "slots" for my categories.  I may need to purchase it anyways because it's way cute.

I hope you are sticking to your resolutions or at least trying.

Happy last week of January,

April

This is not one of the recipes but I wanted to share with you my new dessert that I made up.  It's like an ice cream sundae without the ice cream (calories)

Zach Rowell said it looked gross but it's actually really good. 

Bananas

Oranges (Cuties)

Low fat chocolate syrup

low fat whipped cream

Give it a try, you might really like it!

 I discovered these last week in the Valentine's Day aisle at Wal*Mart.  They are soooo good if you like cherry flavored candy and jelly beans.  They won my heart!

I found this recipe in Woman's World magazine (have I mentioned how much I LUV this magazine)

If you like Rib Crib's Smokin' Chicken Nachos then you will like this simple recipe.

What do you need.....

Tortilla Chips

Chicken

Cheese

BBQ Sauce (any flavor but I like the honey)

Sour Cream (optional)

Chives (optional)

(I like to use this Tyson's Grilled & Ready chicken and cut it up in little pieces.)

spray cookie sheet

spread chips out

mix together chicken and BBQ sauce and pour over chips

sprinkle cheese on top

bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes

add chives and sour cream 

eat!

I've eaten this at least 5 times in the last 2 weeks. :)

LOVE IT!!!!

This week in History

It's a Saturday night and I'm just sitting at home so I would like to give you a little glimpse of my week.  Nothing too interesting happened. We had our first snow of the year.  It wasn't anything to get the sleds out for but it left a pretty little frost on the grass.  My husband has been enjoying the Chili Bowl all week. It's a racing thing that comes here every January.  Definitely not something I want to attend.  I'll let him have his fun because come July, I will be having my own fun when the New Kids come to town.  SMILES!!!  My brother turned 31 this week which means just a few more months for me to be in my 20's. Watch out 30 cause here I come!!  Speaking of The New Kids on the Block, I (or should I say my sweet husband) purchased my ticket for the big summer show.  I cannot wait! We got floor seats right at the end of the catwalk in the 4th row.  Close enough that if you wanted to throw some piece of garment at them, they would get it.  Don't worry, all clothing articles that enter the building with me will be leaving the building with me. (Did you hear that husband?  Just so you know.)  The week is ending with a quiet evening at home watching the Goonies with my ma'am.  Last night was kind of a late night for me so I'm enjoying the coziness of a sweatshirt and my flannel jammies.  I'm looking forward to this week even though I have to work Saturday. Boooooo! My friend Sarah is having a little girls night at her house on Friday and I'm excited to meet some new people.  Hope your week is everything you want it to be!!

God bless,

April

My mammie enjoying the snow.

"It's cold mamma."

My brother Adam on his b-day and sister Lindsey

My sister Amber and cousin Kaycee

My friend's Lindsi and Jerrah

You may recognize Lindsi if you follow her at The Hancocks -Keeping the Home Fire Burning.  If you're not following her, well you should be! Cute blog!

Us with people we don't know.

Crazy in the Hood

Everyone's had one at some point in their life I'm sure. They may be the topic of some of your backyard barbecue conversations or the person you tell people about if you want to give them a good laugh. This person scares you. This person weirds you out. This person is your crazy neighbor lady.

The first encounter I had with Crazy was last summer. I was pulling into my driveway and she was walking down the street in front of my house. At first I thought she was just taking a walk. As I waited for my garage door to come up I noticed her out of the corner of my eye just standing in the street staring at me. Maybe her car broke down and she needed help. But as I looked down the street there was not one car to be found. Not even in the driveways. What was this lady doing? I pulled into the driveway, a little creeped out, and continued on with my day.

Encounter #2 - A few weeks had gone by and I hadn't even thought about Crazy again. Little did I know that she was about to become a part of our neighborhood family, kind of. My brother came over one Sunday afternoon and he always parks his car at the end of the driveway, he never fully pulls up to the garage. I was looking out the front storm door and noticed her walking by my house. I didn't think it was weird until she stopped behind is car and just stared. You would think when she saw me watching her she would keep on walking but that's not what she did. We had a staring contest as I was telling everyone in the house to come look at her. She just kept staring. Let me paint you a picture of this creepy creep. She is petite, blonde pixie haircut, very pale and thin. She usually wears a sundress with a floppy sun hat and carries a box of tissues. And I think the box is empty. I've only seen her pixie hair a few times. For a short while I wasn't sure if she had hair. If you have ever seen Poltergeist 2, she looks like the preacher who comes to their house. If you have not seen this movie then go google old preacher from Poltergeist 2. It will scare the s#@t out of you!  Zach went outside to see what she wanted and she approached him and told him he had a nice yard. Not sure why she was checking out my brothers car.

We started seeing more of her after this. Always in a sundress and always carrying her empty box of tissues. She always stared at us, even as she was walking away. Her head completely turned around. Creepy. We found out she lives about 6 or 7 houses down from us. If she's not walking around you can find her driving, very sloooowly, sometimes driving as she turns her head to watch us. Real safe.

We had a face off one day when I was running. I was out for my after work run and I was waiting for what Pandora was going to surprise me with next. I tend to look behind me from time to time when I run just to make sure some creeper isn't coming up behind me. I turned around and there she was. I kept running. She sped in front of me and stopped at the stop sign. Just sitting there watching me in her rearview. I didn't want to run by the drivers side in case she tried to grab me so I side stepped it and went around the passengers side. I turned the corner to head down the street and I kept looking back and she was just sitting there. As I got to the end of road to make my next turn, there she was speeding fast, turning around in the cul-de-sac and facing me as I ran towards her. Is she going to run me over? Is she going to follow me when I turn onto the next street? Is she going to follow me home? I called Zach and it was less than a minute when he came driving up to me but she had already taken off. When I passed my house again I went ahead and stayed.

Zach quickly became the neighborhood watch (just watching for her) and informed all our neighbor friends about her. Turns out, she was quite famous. We heard that she had been caught stealing mail, letting her dog poop in other peoples yards and sitting in her car at some restaurants near our house. I feel a little sorry for her because there's obviously something wrong with her but I for sure don't want to be near her.

Ever since we found out what house was hers I can't help but look in the window every time I drive by. She always has her curtains open and the lights on. I tell myself not to look cause I'm scared I will see her standing there naked or holding a head or something. Geez, I pray I never see that!

Zach and Crazy got into it a few months ago. She was creepin' by and he simply told her to keep on and quit staring at our house. She started yelling and cussing him out and drove down to her house and continued to scream at him from her driveway. The sheriff was called and a report was filed and it wasn't the first time the sheriff's department received a complaint on her. I guess she is famous with them too.

Last night tops all her craziness. We were on our way home from dinner and as we pulled into the neighborhood we realized the car waiting to turn in after us was Crazy. Zach pulled in off the street but stopped to look back and see if it was her and all of a sudden.....vrooom! She put the gas on and acted like she was going to ram the back of us. What? I got so scared! Was she really that crazy? I told Zach to move on and just go home. We continued to drive and she stay stopped in the road. All of a sudden she took off and turned down the other road that leads to our house. She must have sped like a nut because when we got to wear the 2 roads meet up there she was, driving in front of us and slamming on the breaks and then taking off again. I made Zach drive past our house so she wouldn't see us pull in. I don't want her to visit us. Every time I pull out of the garage in the morning I have this image in my head of her popping up at me from our front porch. Oh, I hope she moves out of the neighborhood soon. There's my story. I know it's long but I just thought you should know.

Your uncrazy neighbor,

April

P.s. She just put her Christmas tree up 2 weeks ago. After Christmas was over.

"Listen up everybody if you want to take a chance"

Oh, yeah! NKOTB, yeah!!!! So, it is that time again in my life to take a step back into childhood and get all girly boy crazy! It's official, New Kids on the Block are coming to Tulsa!  I am so freaking excited about this.  Not only are they coming but they are bringing the Backstreet Boys with 'em.  NKOTBSB! They were just amazing on New Years eve and I can't wait to see the whole show.  This will be my 4th New Kids concert in the past 3 years and my first BSB concert.  I'm ready to be taken back to my high school years with some I'll Never Break Your Heart and Larger Than Life.  It stresses me out a little to talk about it because I want so badly to have good seats. I'm never fully ready to talk about it until I know exactly where I will be sitting standing.  Wish me luck on getting my tickets this Friday.  I'm hoping for a good pre-sale. Enjoy some of the pictures below from my last amazing concerts.  I'm just pretty sure Jon waved at me at one of them. ;)

My New Kids crew 

Just Hangin' Tough

Hello, Jordan!

Dirty Dancin'

Concert #3

My boy Jon

Little angels from Pop Music Heaven

"We love you, April!"

that's what they were saying but obviously you can't hear that through the picture :)

I'll be lovin' you forever,

April

Happy New Year!!!

Oh, my goodness!! I feel like I haven't done a blog in forever!!! This nonsense about not checking in to my blog is going to stop.  I promise this year I will do better.  There are a lot of things I'm going to do better so let's just make the first blog of the year my list of new year's resolutions. 

Growing up my family always did resolutions.  We would read the ones from the previous year and make new ones for the next.  We all wrote 10 of them and at the top of our index card we wrote who we thought would win the world series.  My dad always put the Cubs and I always put that for him.  I think one year we started writing down what was on the t.v. while we were all busy thinking of what to write.  In school I always wrote the same resolution every year, "to pass the 4th grade. to pass the 5th grade. to pass the 6th grade." And so one.....I wasn't a dumb kid and I knew I would pass to the next grade but it's nice to know that at least one of your resolutions will come true. We would seal away our lists in a gold Dillards gift card box and it would be tucked away in my parents dresser drawer and there it lived for a whole year. I wish I would have kept all of mine over the years but I didn't.  Maybe from now on I will, and look back in 20 years and get a good laugh.  

So here they are and I hope I stick to 'em.....

2011 New Year's Resolutions

1. Be a regular at church. -We are going to attend Church At Battle Creek in Broken Arrow.

2. Read 2 books a month. -This month I will be reading L.A Candy by Lauren Conrad and Getting the Pretty Back by Molly Ringwald.

3. Watch less television. -I need to be busy reading and scraping. We will see how this one goes.  I feel like my whole last year's schedule was based on what shows were on t.v.

4. Read "Read my Bible through in a Year." -I've been trying to do this for the past 2 years and I just haven't stuck with it.

5. Try a new recipe at least twice a month. - I cut them out of my magazines but I never do anything with them.

6. Recycle - I really want to get some bins and start recycling but I don't have any where to store them.  But, I'm sure going to try.

7.  Read my 5 plus magazines I receive monthly/weekly before the next issue comes out. 

8.  Eat healthy and exercise and hopefully shrink to a size that I am happy with.

9. Save money $$$$$$ -We really want to build a deck and take another trip to NYC.  I should be too busy reading all my books and magazines to have time to go spend money right?

10.  Finish my book I'm writing.   -I think my days are starting to become really full :)

11. Keep in touch with my friends better. - I'm  the world's worst at doing this.  I'm just not a phone person and it can be hard to set aside time to do this but this year I want to change that.

12.  Plan for a baby. (maybe)

13.  Keep on top of my scrapbooking. - I'm still working on my 2008 scrapbook. : -/

14.  Do at least one load of laundry during the week so that my weekends aren't spent washing and folding and folding and washing. Ugh! 

15.  Finish painting rooms in my house.

16.  Be better organized.  

I think I could keep going but I have books and magazines to get to and a load of laundry to dry so I will leave it this and be done.  Hope that you are able to stick to your resolutions and 2011 just might be the year to do it!

Happy New Year,

April

My brother Adam and my sister Amber