Working out?

So this last week I became the newest member of World Gym. Goodbye, Chubby Shannon....Hello, Hot Stuff!!  Well, that is my intent anyway.  I went to work out for the first time on Saturday.  I did really well for not being to a gym for a while.  I got on the elliptical for thirty minutes at a really good pace!!!  I wanted to stop after about twenty minutes or so, but the machine has a digital display of how long you have been on it, and there was a girl that got on the machine right behind me and another girl that got on a machine two down from me, and I didn't want to look like a loser!!  So I stuck it out for the full thirty.  Then, I sprayed off the machine with the antibacterial spray stuff, gathered my things, and went home.  Where I promptly began heating up the oven an making some mozzerella sticks!!!  MMMMMM good!!  I had some with ranch and some with marinara sauce.  Yep, true story.  Don't judge me.  

Bring It Here

Have you ever wondered just how much your pets understand of what we say?  Last night Deuce, our six and a half month old weimeraner got a hold of one of my hair elastics.  Again.  He is constantly finding these somewhere and then he likes to slobber all over them.  I am afraid that one of these days he will swallow one and who knows what that could do to his little tummy.  Anyway.......so I look over and he has one that he is busily munching on.  Deuce!!!!  NO!  He looks up at me and cocks his head to the side.  Sometimes he can be so very cute.  NO I say again.  He happily pops up, leaving the hair elastic on the rug by the door and comes over to the couch where I am sitting and sets his head on my lap.  We don't chew on my hair elastics.  Now go get it.  Deuce cocks his head at me again like he is processing what I just said.  "Go get it" is not in his vocabulary.  He knows sit, stay, lay down, shake, and no, but that is all we have taught him.  I say it again for good measure.  Go get it.  Deuce turned around and went straight over to where he had left the elastic and picked it up in his mouth and then turned around and looked at me again.  I couldn't believe it.  So I decided to take it one step further.  Bring it here.  Okay, I KNOW he doesn't know this one.  Deuce does not play fetch at all yet.  Part of the reason is it's too cold outside to take him out and teach him.  The other is that he is still young and has such a short attention span.  Molly didn't do really do fetch very well until she was about a year.  Back to the story.  Bring it here.  And he brought it straight over to me and put it in my outstreched hand.  WHAT!?!?!??!?  Good job!!!!  So proud of my big boy!! 

Dental Humor

So the other day I get home from work and I go to wake Jake up.  And he says, "You stink."  "I do not stink, Mister-Sometimes-I-Don't-Take-A-Shower-For-A-Couple-Days." "Well, you smell like a dental office."  "You smell like you need to be in one!!!" I retorted, referring to his morning breath.  Love you, honey!!

Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering??

...so says Brain to Pinky before every one of his fanatical plots to take over the world.  Did you ever watch Pinky and the Brain?  I loved that show.  I kinda feel like them to crazy lab rats sometimes.  They run around with a crazy plan to accomplish the impossible.  Once Brain said, "This is the earth. And this is Pinky. You can tell the difference quite easily. One is a lump of inert matter hurtling blindly through the void. The other... is the earth."  Right now I feel like Pinky in this quote.  I don't know what the future will bring for my husband and I and our two dogs, and although it may seem exciting to some people, it's also quite frightening.  I have been working full time for the last month as a co-worker recovers from cancer.  She is an amazing woman, and I know that if I were in her shoes I could not be as strong and courageous as she has been.  Fingers crossed, she will be back to work after next week, and I.....well.... I will be back to my 8 hours a week.  There haven't been as many opportunities as I had hoped for here when I graduated from dental hygiene school.  I was confident that I would move back to Idaho and be employed very quickly, but that hasn't been the case.  Jake has been wanting to move to Oregon for quite some time now, so I have been checking the job boards for dental hygiene jobs there.  It seems like there are always jobs being posted there, a stark contrast to southeast Idaho.  So last week I applied for a license in Oregon, and once it goes through (assuming it does!!) I will start to apply for jobs there and see what the future has in store.  Can anybody make me feel better about this?  Because I really don't want to move....but I do really want to help out with the finances.  The Brain: "Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?" Pinky: "I think so, Brain, but if they called them "sad meals" no one would buy them."

Happy 2011!!

Happy 2011!! Jake and I rang in the new year with our great friends Chris and Patti.  I have some memorable pictures on my phone, but I am struggling to figure out how to transfer said pics to my new laptop.  So I guess I will just keep them all to myself.  This year I have decided to do new year's resolutions.  And in order to try to hold myself more accountable, I will post them on this blog for literally anyone in the world to read.  I only have three, and they probably sound typical, but I really want to try to actually accomplish these things this year.

1. Work out more.  Notice that I didn't commit to every day or a certain amount of time per day.  Such restrictions would definately hamper any progress.  I have an eliptical machine downstairs, so there is no excuse for me to not be getting on that at least a couple of days a week.  I bought stickers today to put on my calender every time I get on this or exercise so I can keep track of my progress.

2.  Floss.  I know half of you are screaming "WHAT?!?!?! AREN'T YOU A DENTAL HYGIENIST?!?!?"  Correct, my friends.  I am a dental hygienist that is well aware of the sheer havoc that not flossing is doing to my teeth.  And yes, I do tell my patients that they should be flossing every day.  I admit it.  I am a hypocrite.  Which is why I really want to try to tackle this resolution this year.  I also bought stickers for this on my calender.  Hopefully I will soon see at least one sticker every day for flossing, and at least a couple of times a week for exercising.

3.  Be a better wife.  I don't know how to explain how I will accomplish this.  Because I don't really know.  I do most (or all) of the cleaning of the house and the dishes, and I do all the laundry, but I never EVER cook dinner.  My wonderful chef (aka Jake, my husband), does ALL the cooking.  He's good at it.  But I don't know if it's always fair for him.  So tonight actually I am making dinner.  I'm cheating a lot (I got a frozen lasagna at the store), but it's a step towards this resolution.  This summer I want to be a better wife by keeping up the yard better too.  It's kind of embarrassing to look out the window and see the neighbor mowing your lawn for you.  On the other hand, I think Kevin and his dad like the little goodies I take over there when I catch them doing this.  But that still doesn't make it right.

Those are my resolutions for 2011.  I'm trying to make a better me.  And that's what it is all about!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

We have our tree up and the stockings have been hung!!! From left to right: Jake, Me, Molly, and Deuce!! We got each dog a new toy and a gourmet sausage treat to put in their stockings, and then we got one bag of treats for them to share. Can't wait for them to enjoy them at Christmas!!

It's a snowman stocking family!!!!! 

Puppies!

Molly is our two and a half year old yellow lab mix. I weighed her last week and she is 46 pounds. Small for a lab, but our vet says she is just fine. Deuce is our 6 month old pure bred, papered Weimeraner. He is just as tall as Molly and weighs 43 pounds, as of last week. And this both shocks and scares me. The boy is only 6 months old and is the same size as our two and a half year old!!! He's gonna be one big boy......

At the end of this month it was time to renew my license plates. I thought for sure I would lose by 8B (Bonneville County!!!) status and have to get 1B plates (Bannock County). This would be very disappointing, but I have been expecting it ever since I moved back to Pocatello. But.....I used my parents address in Idaho Falls (Bonneville County!!) and am still for the next two years the proud owner of 8B plates!! Hee hee......