Romance

I have never really been that into Valentine’s Day.  It has always seemed to be a bit of a made up holiday and if I’m going to get lovey-dovey cards and presents from someone I want it to be because they are feeling it, not because Hallmark told them they had to.  So, hubby has always gotten off easy.

Since I don’t have any grand Valentine’s Day stories to share with you, I wanted to tell you about the most romantic thing my hubby has ever done for me.  It wasn't on Valentine’s Day, it was on an incredibly cold & snow Monday in upstate New York.  Before we begin, let me set the stage…

The hubby and I met while we were both in the army.  Shortly after we were married we were transferred to Fort Drum.  If you aren't familiar with it, Fort Drum is the home of the 10^th Mountain Division and is located about 30 miles from the Canadian border.  I am a native Texas, so it is no stretch to say that I was woefully unprepared for months on end of snow and sub-freezing temperatures. It seemed like the sun never shined. It was always gray outside and my mood matched the weather.

One incredibly cold Monday afternoon in January my hubby came home with a dozen yellow roses in his arms.  It wasn't my birthday, it wasn't our anniversary, it wasn't any special occasion whatsoever. He had stopped by the florist because he wanted to bring me some flowers, and he said that when he saw the yellow roses he thought that they would bring me some sunshine and that they would remind me of Texas.

That day was over 15 years ago, but I still get a little misty eyed when I think about it.  He has brought home flowers many times since then (he is a big fan of “just because” flowers), but I still think that bringing me home sunshine in the midst of the worst winter I had ever known was the most incredibly sweet & romantic gesture of all time.

Happy Valentine's Day!  Please feel free to share your romance stories in the comments.  I'd love to hear about them!

Why I Love Working From Home, part 2

Today is the second part of my “What I Love About Working From Home” series, and it is all about food.  Managing to have a healthy breakfast and lunch was darn near impossible when I worked in an office.  I always intended to get up early enough to have a light, sensible breakfast and pack my lunch, but I was much too fond of the snooze alarm to make that happen.  So, I wound up skipping breakfast and grabbing fast food for lunch. Bad, bad, bad.

Now that I am working from home I have so many more options when it comes to my food choices. I’m not limited by what can be reheated in the microwave or whether there is room in the breakroom fridge.   I’ve never been much of a breakfast eater, so most days it is just a hard boiled egg and a piece of fruit or maybe a toaster waffle.  Sometimes I just wait and make myself an omelet and have brunch.  That is definitely something I couldn’t have done in my cubicle!

For lunch I try to have leftovers whenever possible.  On days that I don’t have leftovers I usually just heat up some soup or have a sandwich.  Yeah, I know that is all stuff I could have done in an office, but I was always so bad about forgetting to pack them along. 

Another great thing (especially in the winter) is that I can put on a pot of stew or chili or pop a roast in the oven during the day. My house stays toasty warm and dinner pretty much cooks itself while I’m working.  I get to feel like both super employee and super wife.  Can’t lose situation!

My favorite stew. Nothing but meat and potatoes.

Making Friends

So, yesterday I learned the quickest way to make friends with your neighbors in the wintertime. It is really quite easy.  All you need is a snow shovel on your back patio and a townhouse complex that didn’t plow the parking lot.  Almost immediately you will have neighbors beating a path to your door to borrow said shovel.

The view from my back patio

Random Thoughts on Super Bowl Ads

Overall, the commercials during this year’s Super Bowl were really not that exciting.  Of course, there are always a few that get people talking and set social media buzzing.

One of the most talked about is the Coke ad that featured “America the Beautiful” sung in multiple languages. While I was first watching it I thought that the song was incredibly beautiful in some of those languages. I was also reminded of the old “I’d Like To Buy The World A Coke” commercial and its message of harmony.  I was completely shocked when this commercial turned out to be controversial.  I am flabbergasted by those that assumed that every non-English singing person in the ad represented a first generation immigrant who refused to learn English.  What?  My assumption was that they were bilingual.  You know, it is quite possible for someone’s family to have been in this country for many generations and yet they still know another language.  Heck, I know Spanish and to the best of my knowledge there is not a drop of Hispanic blood in me.  Get over it people!

Another commercial that caused quite a bit of buzz, but in an entirely different way, was the Budweiser puppy commercial.  I always look forward to the Budweiser Super Bowl ad, and this year they really hit a home run (oops, wrong sport).  I am a dog lover, so it made me all kinds of squishy inside. Heck, even non-dog lovers found this one adorable. I detested the Bud Light ads, but Budweiser comes thru as usual.

One of my personal favorites was the GoldieBlox ad where the little girls take all of their pink girly toys, put them on a rocket, and blast them into space.  I love that there is a company that doesn’t assume all little girls are alike in their love of pink and/or fluffy toys. When I was a little girl, I was quite stereotypical in my choice of toys, but there wasn’t a whole lot of choice way back then. Congrats to GoldieBlox and thank you for giving today’s girls greater options in their play.

So, what about you?  Were there any Super Bowl ads that really struck a chord with you?

Why I Love Working From Home, part 1

As I was logging onto my computer this morning I was thinking about how much I like working from home.  In fact, I was so grateful for my work situation that it inspired me to start a series of short posts about all of the things I enjoy about working from home.

I’m going to start this series with the single best thing about working from home…  the weather.

It is currently -13 outside.  I am sitting inside of my nice warm house with my central heat going and a space heater pointing right at me. I am comfy and warm. I didn’t have to bundle up in a thousand layers of clothes just to get to my car, then pray that my car would actually start. I didn’t have to worry about packing a lunch so that I could avoid getting out in it again just to get food. The only time that this weather will impact me at all is when I take my pups out for potty breaks.

On the flip side, it will eventually get warm again (at least I hope!). When it does I can take the dogs for walks in the sunshine on my lunch. I can open the windows and have cool breezes. I can even work on the patio if I am so inclined.

So, on this horribly cold day that is why I love working from home.

Signing off from the warm, cozy cocoon of my desk.

Changing Focus

I was looking back at my last few posts and realized that this blog has become a very sad place.  Sure, the last six months of my life have been very challenging, but I have just gone overboard with the gloom.  My intention when starting this blog was for it to be a fun and happy place. Recently it has turned into the exact opposite.  So, it is time to shift my focus.

I hereby resolve that I will stop trying to send the internet into a black pit of despair.  I will stop my whining and start celebrating the joy that is in my life.  I will no longer be that cartoon character with the personal rain cloud that follows me everywhere.  I can’t promise that I will always be little Mary Sunshine, but I will start sharing the fun parts of my life and not just the sad ones. 

Overwhelmed

We aren’t even two weeks into 2014 and it has already been a very tough year.  There have been so many things happening and so many things changing. I feel like a leaf in a windstorm – completely at the mercy of events beyond my control.

My father-in-law passed away last week. Although I am heartbroken to lose him, I am so glad that he is no longer in pain. Pancreatic cancer is awful. Nobody should have to go thru what he did, and he handled it all with dignity and grace. I am in awe of his strength.  My husband’s family is not really into verbalizing their feelings, so I don’t know that I ever told my FIL how much I love him. I hope that he knows.

My FIL had a beautiful Australian Shepherd. We have adopted her and she has been such a joy. The poor girl was incredibly traumatized by the loss of her daddy. Luckily, she has settled into our home very quickly.  We have shown her lots and lots of love and she seems to understand that she is safe and that this is where she belongs. She has had a wonderful time playing with my Jack Russell puppy. They bonded as sisters in about 24 hours.  

I have had two important lessons seared into my brain the last couple of weeks. The first is to never take for granted your time on earth because you just never know when it will be over.   The second is to always let the people that you love know how you feel.  Someday it will be too late.