Looking back at 2007

Continuing the tradition I started last year, here is this year’s list of favorites, notables and sometimes just plain weird occurrences from 2007.

Best adventure: Moving out to California! Born and raised a Kansas girl, it has been a great experience to move away, and we picked a quality destination. It has been a fun adventure so far! And it helps that I haven’t gone more than a couple of months without going home or seeing family.

Worst addiction: 7-Eleven coffee. Back in my carpooling days, Jenn and I would treat ourselves to QT every Friday for coffee. Now, 7-Eleven is on the way to campus, so on the days Alan doesn’t bike and I drop him off at work (which is RARE and only when it’s RAINING, cough, cough), we stop and get some java. It’s a surprisingly expensive habit when you do it every day. Thank goodness Santa brought a coffeemaker!

Craziest first, well, kind of: First earthquake. Alan called me frantically, reporting a 5.6 just near San Jose, which means right near us. I was actually in Phoenix, so I didn’t get to experience it. The earth definitely rumbled, according to Alan, and while I kind of wish that I would have felt a minor earthquake, I’m not going to go wishing for one any time soon.

Best extracurricular activity: A self-defense class. I’d always wanted to take one, so when I got a brochure in the mail I signed myself up. It was definitely worthwhile and I’m glad I took it. I highly recommend for all the women in my life. Gouge the eye! Slap the ear! Knee them in the groin!

Best purchase: A new bed. Having always slept in hand-me-down beds, it felt great to go purchase a brand-new bed. Plus, Alan and I felt very grown up.

Most welcome addition: Reagan Jean! Now I have an adorable niece to call my favorite. What a cutie!

Favorite nephew: Kenny gets the grand prize again this year. He gets to be more fun by the day. He’ll chat on the phone, sing Jingle Bells and count for me. Plus, he’s shaping up to be a great big brother. Hopefully he won’t throw pickles at Reagan's head when he grows up.

Most shocking display of flesh: A lady breastfeeding at our apartment complex’s garage sale this summer. With no cover up and full breast exposure. I did a double take because I didn’t believe what I’d seen.

Most interesting neighbors: We live next to an assisted living facility, and I think most of them have Alzheimer’s. There’s a fenced in patio, so they’ll say hi on occasion and I get to see some of the strange goings-on. It’s really quite sad. Elmer yells “help” for hours on end because he thinks that’ll get him home to his wife; one guy talks nonsense to himself in what he thinks are actual conversations; another asked me if I was Glenda because she said she’d be there. It makes me sad, but sometimes you just have to laugh. Such as when one of the guys was walking toward the fence and me, I thought, to say hi to Marti. But instead he doubles over, says he has to “go” in rather colorful language, and drops his drawers on the patio. I didn’t know whether to go get help for him or just ignore it completely, but he ended up shuffling, pants around his ankles, back inside. You never know what you’re going to see at ALF, but I do know that the nurses there are saints.

Cutest couple: Alan and Marti.

Most embarrassing Netflix confession: I’m watching The O.C. I never watched it when it was on air, but I’m “renting” it now and am super hooked. It’s interesting to watch it now that it’s a couple of years removed though, because I recognize actors that are now in bigger roles on bigger shows. Such as Grey’s Anatomy’s Denny Duquette, who played a guy in jail; or Alex, who is now on House.

Craziest work day: My magazine held an equipment showcase in November. The manufacturing guys were all pestering me to go up in a boom lift, and I finally complied. I’ve never considered myself afraid of heights, but my heart was sure racing at 45 feet up in the air. That doesn’t sound like much, but let me assure you, it’s HIGH.

Most embarrassing moment(s): It’s a close call between 1) the day Marti ran into our neighbor’s apartment and I had to run around and trap her in the bathroom to catch her and 2) the day that Marti pulled her leash out of my hand on a neighborhood side street acting all tough to a dog half her size. I then had to stop traffic while the other dog owner helped me capture Marti. It lasted all of 30 seconds, but it felt like 10 minutes.

Best pug: Marti! Marti almost had some competition this year as Alan and I considered rescuing a pug, but Alan couldn’t be convinced. Marti just earned another year as an only pug.

Marti’s list

Marti’s biggest challenge: She’s adjusted nicely to California living, but hasn’t adjusted as well to our new bed. It’s quite a leap for the little girl, so we occasionally have to help her out.

Greatest accomplishment: Being famous. The pug blog that I’m obsessed with makes a calendar and donates the proceeds to a pug rescue in Florida. A Marti picture was chosen to be on the back cover. Next year I’m going to send in more pictures sooner in the hopes of getting on a month, but I was a little tickled to see Marti on a calendar.

Best new friends: It’s a close call between the dog park pups and the mailman. Marti LOVES the mailman—at least she loves the one that’s nice to her. She even knows what the truck sounds like and whimpers to try to get me to let her out to see him.

Best honor: Being the mascot for the Turkey Bowl football game on Thanksgiving. Marti the Moose was even given a spot on the team T-shirt. Yay!

Be on the lookout for my New Year’s Resolutions!

Merry Christmas!

A Complainer's Blog

So the holidays are approaching and I thought I'd get into the holiday spirit by complaining and getting some annoyances off my chest. I don't know if I've mentioned it previously, but the walls in our apartment are pretty thin. It hasn't really been that bothersome because our bedroom has closets and clothes insulating it and I don't have a problem sleeping. But the living room is another story. Almost every morning I can hear our neighbor – let's call him Scott, because that's his name – let out the rip-roaringest belch you've ever heard. I could set my watch by it and only be off by 30 minutes at most. He burps consistently between 8:00 and 8:30.

Scott has also been renovating his apartment for the past month. I assume he has permission from the landlord to be doing this, but he hasn't asked for permission from my ears. He did warn us ahead of time that he was going to be ripping out his carpets and refinishing the hardwoods. I thought, "How bad can it be?" Well, I don't know if he got bit by the remodeling bug or has watched too much Flip This Apartment, but he's been running all kinds of machinery and loud equipment for weeks now. And, working from home, I hear every bit of banging, drilling, sanding and belching that's going on. Currently it sounds like he's sanding something very large because it's taken two days.

Ok, I feel better.

On another note, remember the anti-dog-pooing sign? The other day it turned into this:



Marti does not grace this area with her presents (ha!), but we do regularly walk by it. I don't know who the sign is aimed at, but even if a dog were pooing every day in this area, I don't see why it's bothering anyone. It's all dirt, on the side of a building, where no one walks, ever. It just kind of irks me.

And finally, the dog park is in its 7th week of being closed. Marti is beside herself; she doesn't understand what's going on. The grass is looking much better though – meaning, there is actually grass again – so maybe Marti's Christmas present will be going to the dog park once we're back after Christmas.

Oh, Christmas Bush

Alan and I gave away our artificial Christmas tree before we moved to California. It was just one more big and bulky item that we didn't want to take with us. It was still a good tree though, so I donated it to the Walters household. Click here to see it in its decorated glory! I'm glad to see it found a good home.

Space in our apartment is limited, and while we had room for a tree, we didn't want to get a giant tree that would take over our apartment. I was thinking about one of those little evergreen-plant-in-a-pot types, but when Alan and I got to Safeway we saw these little 2-foot trees and had to have one. We took off the tag and went into the store to pay, with the idea that we would come back out and pick the best tree because they were all the same price. But when we got back out to pick the tree, we got it in our heads that the tree had its hopes up and was thinking that it was going to be the one coming home with us because we'd taken its tag off. We didn't have the heart to let it down, so off we went with the short little tree.

You know how usually you get your tree home and it's way bigger than you thought it would be? Not the case here. Once we got this little guy in the apartment it seemed way smaller than it did outside. We bought a tree stand at Target, and the tree stand is practically bigger than the tree itself. But once we got it decorated, I must say, it's pretty adorable. I love our Christmas bush!

Perfect Timing

I've come down with bad colds for each of the past three years. I can't just get a normal cold though; they inevitably turned into bronchitis and a cough that lasts a month. It hit me last week, and I'm unfortunately still feeling the effects. This cold had the worst possible timing though. I went to bed abnormally early last Tuesday, and Wednesday morning I just didn't feel quite right. Throughout the day I just kept feeling worse and worse. Add in a flight to Kansas City, and by midnight I was ready to curl up in the fetal position. What was this virus thinking? I had a niece to meet!

I did get to meet my adorable little niece, although I was super paranoid about getting her sick (as was her pa). I washed my hands like a germophobe and even covered my mouth bandit-style the few times I did hold her. That's ok, I was perfectly happy just watching her. Everyone had better brace themselves though. I've been deprived of baby snuggling and at Christmas she's all mine!

What a cutie pie!


As comfy as can be.


With big brother. They even have the same haircut!