I'm awesome, I know. You're jealous, I know.

What am I doing?
Oh, just sitting here with Hubby waiting for Josh Groban to come out.
I know, you're jealous. It's okay, I understand. I would be jealous of me too. I just can't contain my awesomeness very well.
We didn't really love the opening act. She was really loud and didn't seem to fit Josh's style, so we're glad that's over. Now just to wait for the man of the night!
If you need me, I'll be here buried in the awesomeness and beautifulness that is Josh.
I might not come of that cocoon for awhile.
But I'll try to contain my awesomeness.
Just for you.

I'm alive!

Well, school started

and is already kicking my trash

Hubby is still waiting for word on some of his interviews

And I AM SO READY for summer to be over

(yeah....I started this post a few handful of weeks ago...)

We don't have A/C, and our house faces west

Needless to say, we're a sink hole for heat

It's awful

I put up some blackout curtains, and that helped a *little*, but not enough

I have literally lived in basketball shorts this whole summer 

And we stick a fan out in our living room to help cool it down a few degrees

I can't even sit on my couch without getting all hot and sweaty

First world problems...

Hubby had an interview with a data center up near Salt Lake and is waiting to hear back from them, and also had an interview with IBM...up in Iowa

Needless to say I'm hoping for the Salt Lake one, but we'll see

(and he didn't get the job in Salt Lake....they didn't have the niceness/respect in them to tell him themselves, he had to find out from someone else...which is not cool)

Not that moving wouldn't be an adventure, and fun, but we're just starting to get settled into our apartment hear, so moving again isn't really a thrilling idea to me

Plus I'd be far away from my family, and I've only lived in Utah, well, besides the brief Brazil stint with my parents and my mission, but I just don't count those

I was with my parents in Brazil, and...well, the mission just doesn't count

So this would be hard for me

But, really, I'll go where the job takes us because I just need him to get a job

There just might be a few tears if there is a move involved

****

So, we have 3 tomato plants just outside our front door

We didn't have a space for a garden, but I wanted something, so we brought home 3 pots and planted the tomatoes in those

We planted them a little late, but I was still really hopeful that we'd get enough to make it worth it

The Roma that we planted had a little bit of a rough start, with a lot of blossom end rot

ie

image via

We sprayed it, got it taken care of, and waited for the little babies to grow

Finally, a cluster of 3 started to grow on the back of the plant

No problems were seen, so I watched them every day when I left for work and came home, just waiting for them to start turning red

And then they were just gone

Vanished in thin air

I don't know what happened to them, but they did not exist anymore

Some little tomato gremlin must have come and stolen them when we weren't looking

Rude

So imagine my surprise when I get back from taking Hubby to work and I saw this

What the bite?

Seriously? 

And that was still on the plant, if you can't tell

It was this huge, beautiful tomato that we were waiting to ripen so we could dig in and eat it

And it has been desecrated

Destroyed

So sad....

My wondering is if it's a deer, but I haven't seen any around recently, so I have no idea

(for the record, it was a deer....they have since eaten more of the beauties...not cool!!)

I just know it's not nice

****

Once upon a time Oreo came out with a new flavor for the summer

Watermelon

A Target exclusive

And the nearest Target is about 15-20 minutes away, depending on traffic, so we don't go very often

Which is sad because they get a lot of the exclusive Oreo

Anyway, I didn't find out about this Oreo until a little late in the game, apparently, because by the time I found out about it they were already out at both Targets near me

I was so intrigued by this flavor and wanted to try it so bad that I called the Target up near Salt Lake and they had some, and poor Hubby I was going to make him go with me all the way up to Salt Lake to buy some, but I was venting about it on Facebook and Hubby's sister came to the rescue

They had them at her Target

So she went and bought me 4 packages and mailed them to me

How awesome is that?!

 Anyway, I had some friends that wanted me to tell them what I thought about them, because they were intrigued as well, so I told them I would

And I had these grandioso ideas about creating this elaborate review for them on my blog so I kept waiting and waiting and waiting to say something...

And then my life kind of blew up in my face and it has never happened

But it has been hanging over my head like a ridiculous 50 ton brick, and the rope that is holding it up keeps fraying more and more...

So I figured I'd review that, and all of the other Oreo cookies that have come out this year that I have been able to try

I will try not to bore you

I promise

To start off with...

I am not a huge fan of lemon flavored food

Some of it is okay, but I don't love the tang

Give me chocolate over lemon any day!!

However, these cookies were actually not too bad

The lemon flavor wasn't too strong, and the cookie helped balance it out

All in all, it's Oreo and I should never doubt them

It's not even close to being my favorite, but it was decent

I give it....a 5/10

Next on the list....

This flavor is not new, it came out last year

But it is one of my favorites

I don't know what it is about the ice cream flavors, they're just sooo delicious

Oreo always does such a great job at blending flavors

I give this one a 9/10

Coming up next...

So this one if by FAR one of my favorites

I'm a big strawberry fan

And I'm a big fan of fruit and creme mixed together

Soooo yeah

The strawberry flavor is not overbearing, and the cream with the chocolate cookie just adds the perfect touch

Needless to say, one of my favs

10/10 for sure

Next?

This one had me a little cautious

Because, banana split? In a cookie?

BUT....it was actually pretty good

The flavor was really good

And I love that they did both cookies

It just seemed appropriate

Anyway, I think they did a pretty good job at pegging the flavor

So I think I give this one an 9.5/10

And last, but certainly not least...

Oh where do I even start...

I was both very skeptical and intrigued to try the watermelon

I knew if anyone could pull off watermelon it was Oreo

But still.....watermelon?

Luckily, because Hubby's sister is awesome, I was able to try them

And let me just say...

I LOVE THEM!!

They are now one of my new all-time favorite Oreo's

The flavor is perfect

The watermelon is not too strong, and while I normally don't like the "golden" Oreo's, they really did pick the perfect cookie combo

In fact, most of the specialty Oreo that have the golden cookie are pretty well paired

Anyway, I love the Watermelon

My favorite of the summer collection

I'm really sad they didn't bring out the Creamsicle Oreo that they brought out 2 years ago, that is one of my FAVORITES!!

They better bring them back next year, or else....

I'd say that one and the Watermelon are my definite favorite limited edition Oreo's

And there you have it

The summer limited edition Oreo cookies brought to you by yours truly

So, if you ever find a new Oreo, you are more than welcome to send me a package or 4

I promise I'll give them a good home

I know life isn't supposed to be easy...but seriously...

I know, two posts

Within a short amount of time

Try not to die of shock, please :)

It's been a rough, long month here for Hubby and I

We found out at the beginning of the month that Hubby and all of his co-workers will be out of a job at the end of September

Apparently Convergys, who his company (NetApp) runs their UT location through, doesn't want NetApp anymore and is closing it's doors

MEANING....everyone that works there is toast and out of a job

Unless they want to move to South Carolina or something like that

Because NetApp has another location there

But we don't necessarily want to move to South Carolina

And Hubby doesn't necessarily want to continue working for NetApp

(and we don't even know that they're hiring right now)

Because even though Convergys is pushing them out and it's their fault that Hubby will be out of a job, NetApp is not the best company to work for

And he would like to move on with his life and find a better working environment

Hence the reason he decided to find a job outside of NetApp

There was a company he wanted, really wanted, to work for called Pure Storage that had great benefits, great pay, great everything to be honest

Too good to be true, truthfully

He applied, got selected for an interview, went in for the interview

Interview was great, we both felt good about things

He was probably 90% sure he was going to get the job

Fast forward to 2 days ago when I was talking to him at work and asked him if he had heard anything from them

And that's when he told me that some of the people he knew that had applied had received emails from the company with a job offer

4 of them

And there were only 6 positions available

And one of the guys who got the email told Hubby that his friend who had also applied also received an email

Meaning that the 6th person probably did as well

And we know that at least 4 of them accepted the offer

1 of them is on the fence, waiting for the company to counter the offer that his current job gave him to get him to stay there

And we have no idea who this illusive 6th person is

So unless one of those two people turn down the offers, and the company offers it to Hubby, he will not be getting that job

And let's just say I didn't handle that very well

I had to go and hide in the bathroom at work for a minute because all of the sudden all of the pressure of the world was on my shoulders and I became stressed to the max and what were we going to do?!?!

I don't make enough money at work to support us

Not even close

He's definitely the breadwinner in this relationship

And even if my parents wanted to they couldn't afford to give me a raise

So I sat in the bathroom for what felt like an eternity crying because I didn't know what we were going to do and this job was the answer

This job that he probably didn't get

This job that was too good to be true

He had another interview set up with a different data center

Which isn't a bad job either

The only major problem with it is it's only contracted out for a year

And then what?

And it doesn't offer as much as the other job did

If he were to get the Pure Storage job, I could have cut back to part time and gone to school more than just the piddly that I'm doing right now and actually finished school

And I was so excited to be able to do that

And now I don't know if I will be able to

His interview with the other data center went well, he thought, but they had more interviews to do and so he won't know for another week or two whether or not he gets the job

And we are slowly running out of time before he doesn't have a steady paycheck anymore

And it's been really stressful

At least for me

It hasn't seemed to phase him at all

But since, a. I don't make enough money to support us, and b. my paycheck isn't always the most stable this time of year, and c. our family business is going through a rocky, who knows what is going to happen, period...it's been really stressful for me

I know, have faith, it will all work

That's all anyone says to me

And that's all I tell myself right now

But that doesn't make it any easier

There will be random times throughout the day when I will just feel the need to break down and cry

And sometimes I do

When I get on Facebook and read statuses of people who "got the job" (whatever job that might be), especially when it was their dream job and they'll be making so much more money and life will be great now that they have their dream job, it's really hard

When I see people have babies, or say that they're going to start trying to have a baby, that's really hard

Because we were waiting until he was bringing in a little more money until we started to work towards kids so that we could actually support the future family we want

And we were hoping to maybe start that in January

And now it looks like we'll have to push that back

And that has been hard for me

And so it seems like all I do is cry right now

That must be my body's way of coping

You'd think with all of the tears it would have been coped enough for the entire United States

Or so it feels

And so that is what we're dealing with now

I have a friend from Arizona that is getting married the first weekend of September and I REALLY want to go down for her wedding, but can we justify that when we don't know if Hubby is going to have a job by the time September ends?

I've been taking this Medical Billing/Coding class online this Summer and I wish I could just sit down and finish said class in one day so that I could get certified and get a job in said field so that I could more easily support us in case he doesn't find a job

Why can't I make 1 day last 168 hours? (a whole week) I could finish it really fast if that were possible

So yeah

Life hasn't been easy on us for the past few weeks

Which is ironic because I've thought that, besides Hubby's health problems, our life was pretty great

And it felt like we were headed down the right track

And then life threw us a curve ball

A nasty, mean, awful curve ball

And I don't even a baseball mitt to catch it with

Rude!!

So we just keep trying to "go forth with faith", as Mama Smurf always says, and I will just keep a box of tissues next to me for the random oceans my eyes are producing

The one where I actually get semi-serious for once

Why is it that with progress there is usually a negative impact?

aka the opposite of progress

We get big box stores, like Wallie World, that make shopping easier and faster and cheaper, but then the "little man" gets pushed out and usually ends up going out of business because he can't compete with all of the perks that go with the big box store

Like in Alan Jackson's song, The Little Man (link embedded to see the video of the song)

Every time I hear that song I think of all that businesses that no longer exist because of a box store

Or in the movie You've Got Mail with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks

And maybe I'm just a little sensitive to that point because my business is a little man business

It's something that Papa Smurf built, from a little 2 acre lot to where we are now with what feels like 5 million times the space that we had

and yet it still sometimes doesn't feel like enough room

at least in some parts of the business

Luckily we were here long enough before Wallie World that we're not impacted too much by them

But we still are

Wallie World, Home Depot, Lowe's, Costco...

But we do have a loyal customer following, which is nice

And there still are plenty of people out there that would prefer to buy plants from an actual nursery, which is nice

And it's people like that that keep us "little men" in business

And for those people I am very grateful

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I never shop at Wallie World or those kind of stores

I do

I'm a big fan of Amazon

And I know a lot of times there are no other choices

 I just hate seeing all those business getting kicked out because of another store

S O R R Y...

I'll get off my soap box

That is so not where I was going when I started this post

and I hope I didn't upset anyone with my little rant....

They're doing road construction on our main road in this area right now

It just so happens to be the street our business is on

They're widening the road, fixing it up, etc

And while I'm all for a bigger road because then I don't have to deal with traffic as much 

or at least that's what they train us to think....I really don't believe it makes that big of a difference

I hate what usually comes with it

Lining State Street (the road they're widening) were these HUGE trees

I mean really

They've been there for a very, very long time

...

Well, thank you Google Earth

I can show you what I mean

Big, tall, happy trees that helped shade those houses and businesses from the setting sun

But they no longer exist

And it just makes me sad

It makes the street look naked

My niece was here the other day and said: "Why'd they chop down all those trees? It looks so empty"

And then my nephew said: "They cut down wildlife for roads. Nice"

I get that progress has to happen

I get that it's good and important

I just hate the negative side effects

Remember how I used to post every day??

Welp, Google Reader is officially dead after today

I hate that

I really liked GR

I found Feedly, which is pretty nice, but it's hard to go from one to the other, especially when GR is the only thing I've used

So, if any of you who use Google Reader are looking for an alternative, you could try Feedly

Click here and it will take you to a page that explains a bunch of stuff they've done to help us GRs transition to Feedly

****

Once upon a time a long time ago I was given an award 

Essentially you give this award to people that aren't very well known to help them get their name out there and so more people can discover how totally awesome said people are

So, the rules of the game:

1. Share 11 things about yourself

2. Answer 11 questions given to you

3. Choose a few (it was suppose to be 11, but I don't think I'll make it to 11) fellow blogs to nominate. They have to have under 200 followers

4. Let your peeps know they received the award in a comment on their blog

5. Think of 11 questions to ask the peeps you nominate

6. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog

Now to the part I hate

11 things about me:

1. I love pretty much anything mint flavored (even dark chocolate stuff sometimes)

2. My eyes will change colors...depending on a lot of things

3. I can wiggle my ears

4. I love baking

5. When I'm stressed or frustrated, I clean. It helps me work out my frustrations

6. I have ridiculous movie, CD, and book collections

7. I can twirl my tongue

8. I used to have really, super thick hair, but because of illnesses, a lot of it has fallen out and it's having a hard time growing back. And it's annoying

9. I'm a lover of Oreos. Even the limited edition ones. Even though I hate that they're limited. I think my all time favorite limited are the Creamsicle Oreos. Oh I loved those!! I hope they bring them out again...otherwise I don't know how I'll get over it

10. My nose moves when I talk

11. I talk in my sleep. Apparently a lot, according to Hubby. And sometimes I walk in my sleep. Or end up with my head at the other side of the bed. Apparently I'm a strange sleeper

My 11 questions to answer:

1. Chunky or creamy peanut butter?

Most definitely creamy!!

2. Name one food you just can't stand:

That's hard. I'd say sea food

3. If you could have three wishes, what would you wish for?

Hmmm. Well, first one would definitely be a new house, completely paid off. My second is a new car, completely paid off. Third would have to be enough money to get everyone in my family out of debt. Especially the business. That would be nice

4. What is your usual order at Starbucks? 

Well, I don't drink coffee. So, my usual mixture of hot chocolate is chocolate mint. So delicious!!

5. What was the last movie you saw in theaters?

The new Star Treck movie. It was sooooo good!!

(although, if updated, this would be the new Superman movie. Which was AMAZING!!)

6. Would you rather be an Olympian athlete or win American Idol?

Oh this is hard. I'd really love to be both. But my heart of hearts would say American Idol

7. What book do you think everyone should read, but no would would you ever share your own copy?

Humm. Probably Lord of the Rings. I love those books!

8. Have you ever gone vegetarian or vegan? If so, how long did it last?

Nope. I don't think I could or would ever want to do that. That's great that there are people that choose to, but it's just not for me

9. Skiing or boarding?

Honestly, I've never done either. I know, I live in Utah, that is just messed up. I love snow, but I've just never gone. And at this point in my life I don't think I'd ever dare to go

10. Who taught you to drive?

Papa Smurf. Mama Smurf was way too scared to even be in the car with me when I started to drive for awhile. And I learned on a stick shift. Very frustrating, but it sure paid off when my first car was a stick

11. Do you have a favorite item of clothing for any reason?

Maybe not ONE thing in particular, but I love my hoodies and my sweat pants (not the ankle hugger kind) from Utah State. They are all SO comfy!!

Okay, now for the people I give it out to....

Well, I'm just going to say Merry Christmas to all of you

I think you are all awesome and deserve recognition and I don't really want to pick people

So, you are all picked

As for the questions:

1. Ice cream cone: Chocolate, Vanilla, or Twist?

2. What is your favorite beverage?

3. What is your favorite season and why?

4. Cookie Monster or Elmo? Why?

5. If you could change one thing about your past, would you? And why or why not?

6. What is your favorite movie?

7. What is your favorite book?

8. If you could sit down and talk with anyone in the world, dead or alive, who would it be? Why?

9. What is your favorite chocolate treat?

10. What should I choose for my major?

Okay, that doesn't really count...

10. If you could be a famous athlete, which sport would you be famous in?

11. If you could have your dream house built anywhere, would you rather live in the country, or the city? Why?

Obviously I don't expect all of you to do this, but I really would like to read your answers :)

****

Moving onward...

I find it ridiculous that it takes me so long to finish a post lately

I'm hoping life will settle down one of these days...

The good news is we're almost done with thank you cards

Yes, thank you cards from our wedding

Yes, I realize that was 7 months ago

(7 months??? Crazy!!)

But, at least they're getting sent out

And they're just about done

We only have a handful left

We went through last night and matched each thank you card with each card we had received

Hubby probably would have rather poked needles all over his eyeballs, but it needed to get done

And now we know exactly how many we have left to do

Which I am all for

Because our living room is currently overrun with wedding card/thank you card items

And I've told myself I couldn't work on this puzzle until we were done with thank you cards

(yes, that puzzle is still not done....school, wedding, and work all got in the way...rude, I know)

(I know I have a more recent picture of the puzzle than that...but for the life of me I can't find the post....maybe blogger has been deleting random posts behind my back)

There was something else I was going to talk about, but, yet again (as is becoming my m.o. lately) this has taken far too long and I just need to get it done

One of these days my blog will be showing up more

And then I hope it will be more entertaining

I feel like it's SO boring lately

Sometimes I just wish I could be an adult with all of the privileges and not hardly any of the responsibilities 

Wouldn't that be lovely?

I bashed my skull in and all I got was a stupid little dinky mark

(2 weeks later...these stories are old, but seeing as how I actually have it written...I'm going to post it anyway...)

It's been a rough week for this Baby Sister

And it's only Thursday

I am so ready for Saturday night when I'm done with work and I know I don't have to go back the next day

On Monday I was helping a customer load some planters in her car

They weren't very heavy, so it really wasn't that big of a deal, but I was the only one at the register, so I was in a bit of a hurry

The first one went in without any incident

The second one?

I misjudged the distance between my head and the hatchback door of her car

I pretty much flattened my skull when I smacked it

Or at least that's what it felt like

She kept asking if I was okay, which I was very grateful for, but really all I wanted to do was tell her to go away so I could go inside and cry

And that is exactly what I did

And this is what I saw

annoyingly, that's all it ever was...if it's going to hurt like the dickens, I should at least get a cool bruise or something of the sort

"My brother went to mexico and all I got was this stupid shirt "I bashed my skull in and all I got...." well, you get the idea

As soon as I was able to stop, I left the bathroom, and then found Mama Smurf

And the waterworks commenced yet again....

Just goes to show I'm not very good at math and the whole measuring between point a and point b thing

Fast forward to Wednesday

I was carrying a large, awkward box at work, not really paying attention to where I was walking, because, well, I'm in that parking lot every day

I know it like the back of my hand

Apparently not

Apparently I thought I was in a different part of the parking lot

Or something

I really think that this thing jumped up and tripped me

I tripped, the box fell out of my hands, and I rolled along the ground, landing on my hand and knee

And now that I'm thinking back, I fractured the wrist on that same hand when I was living in Spain

that's a whole different story...

Apparently my left hand really likes to try and protect me

My toes also got smashed by something super heavy later that day

I don't remember what it was

Obviously that was the last straw and it became too traumatic for me and I blocked out the memories

Obviously

One of the main things that made the week even remotely better is what was in the box

*cue to a line from one of my favorite movies, UHF:

"I'll take the box"

"The box! She wants the box! Let's see what's in the box!!"
....

"Nothing!! Absolutely nothing!! You so stupid!!"*

Except there was something AWESOME in my box

My birthday present from Hubby came :)

We had a gift card from our wedding we hadn't used yet, and we had a 20% off coupon, so we were able to afford the nice one that I wanted

It was very much a welcome sight after such a long week

To celebrate, I did any normal thing that anyone would do

I made chocolate chip squares, of course!!

And they turned out perfectly

Probably one of the best batches ever

And I owe it all to this beautiful piece of machinery

I was going to make cookies last night to wind down after a long week (which is actually a week later than the one I just finished telling you about) but the dough on both recipes required chilling, and I was WAY too tired and impatient for that

I was in the mood of a quick cookie/cookie dough fix

None of this 30 minute/2 hour chill dough stuff

****

Hubby and I went on a little road trip to Idaho this weekend for his cousin's wedding

We come back home tomorrow, and I'm kind of dreading going back to our very warm apartment

The basement here is like the basement in Mama Smurf's house

Very nice and cool

It's been a nice "welcome home" for us

And a nice mini-cation

But we are both excited to go back home to our bed and little home

I'm just going to miss the slightly cooler weather of Idaho...

It'll be hard to go back to the heat of Utah

Which is really humorous (to me, anyway) because Utah is really cool compared to a lot of other places at the moment

I was going to post about a couple of awards I got, but this post is already old enough, cause I seem to be really talented at that as of late, so it's just going to have to wait

Plus I didn't sleep very well last night and I have to drive back home tomorrow, so off I jet

Assuming I can drag Hubby into bed with me...

May none of you bash your heads and trip and fall with a brand KitchenAid in your hands

I would send you good vibes, but I'm thinking that would only bring you bad luck...