Our Pug

Look at that adorable face!!

Wish it was our doggie!

A few months ago I mentioned that Carlos bought me a pug puppy. We had to wait 8 weeks for the puppy to be ready to leave its mother. I was counting down the weeks until we could bring our little baby home.

Finally the week came to get our puppy and coincidentally the family that breeded the dogs all came down with the swine flu. The boy that worked for Carlos (who was the son of the breeder) never showed for work that week and ended up getting fired. He wasn't happy that he got fired so he sold our puppy to someone else.

In my opinion, somethings sounds a little suspicious about this story. I think we got scammed but whatever. Luckily we only gave them $100 for a down deposit on the puppy and not the full amount.

So in closing, we never got our puppy but at least we still have our little girl!

Family Dinner

On Sunday I went to my grandparents for a Family Christmas Dinner.

Originally I didn't want to go because I have some personal issues with some of my extended family. At first it was a little awkward because everyone wanted to catch up. Everyone wanted to know if I was still working at Macy's and then they wanted to know what my plans were now that I was no longer employed.

Everything got better after dinner. My Grandma wanted to have a Christmas program where everyone sang solos. None of the adults or teenagers wanted to participate. So the program started with my niece, Kaelynn, singing Joy To The World.

Everyone thought that was precious. She knew almost all the words. Then my nephew sang Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and my other 2 year old nephew sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with his older sister and brother. It was all so adorable. After some awkward silence we all decided to sing a song together. After some begging from my Grandma, I finally agreed to sing a duet with my sister. We picked Angels We Have Heard On High and I thought we did a marvelous job. I felt my lip twitching from the nerves and I hope no one caught that on camera. Any whose....a couple of my cousins finally came around and sang some songs too. Overall I warmed up to my family and had a wonderful time. I'm glad that I forced myself to go. Everyone was really nice to me and I'm excited to see them again next year.

Happy Holidays

The Holidays haven't been so pleasant for me this year! I've felt very lonely and completely forgotten. The past 4 years I was married and I spent my holidays with my in-laws. They had a very warm and inviting home and the holidays were great. This is my first year spending the holidays alone. I wasn't expecting to lose my job and so my parents bought me plane tickets for October since retail employees can't take days off in November or December. I lost my job and my parents couldn't afford to fly me back in November or December. I was a little sad but I figured I would be able to spend the holidays with Carlos. His mother bought him a last minute ticket to LA for both Thanksgiving and Christmas...leaving me alone for the holidays. I do have some family here but everyone kinda cut me off after my divorce. Really sad actually. My sister just started coming around a few months ago. I spent Thanksgiving alone in my apartment with Kittie. When my sister found out that I had been alone, she felt horrible for not checking to see if I had had plans. So she offered to let me hang with her and her family for Christmas. I took her up on the offer and spent last night and most of today with them. It was nice not being alone and I did enjoy spending time with her and all her in-laws. But something was lacking. This wasn't my family and I still felt a sense of loneliness. My grandparents are having a Christmas dinner on Sunday and my grandmother couldn't find it in her heart to call and invite me. Instead she invited me through my sister. Not one of my relatives sent me a Christmas card but they all managed to send one to my sister. It's been a pretty emotional day and I feel like a worthless loser. At least my sister was there to save the day for a bit. I've spent most of December recording Christmas movies and watching them. I forced myself to watch two movies that I've never liked.

It's a Wonderful Life

and The Nightmare Before Christmas
I actually enjoyed both for the first time in my life. I guess I needed to watch them as an adult to appreciate them.

Every year my Grandma takes me, my sister, my aunt and one of my cousins to see the Nutcracker. We've been doing this for the past 6 years and I look forward to it. But we couldn't go this year. My aunt didn't have any weekends available this December and my Grandma didn't want to drive alone in snowy weather. I asked Carlos if he would take me but he never got around to purchasing tickets and sometimes I would like him to take some initiative.

:-(

Yesterday I went to see Princess and the Frog with my sister, niece and some other people.

It was cute but not my favorite Disney animation.

Last night my sisters kids did the nativity for us. It was cute to see them all dressed up. I volunteered to be a sheep cause there weren't any sheep costumes.

The kids woke me up early this morning to open presents and that was fun to watch. They got lots of nice gifts from Santa and mom and dad.

Santa even brought me a gift!

A gorgeous aqua marine necklace (really from my sister).

My mom got me this pretty Nutcracker figurine!

It has a lit up scene on the back! It's very special to me!

And the most special gift this year was the one from Carlos! He thought that I deserved to have some diamonds so he bought me this gorgeous necklace.

Only mine isn't yellow gold! Pretty huh?

I got a few more gifts but those are my highlights! I hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas!

I Love My Girl

I love my little girl!!! I don't know what I would do without her company. Now that I'm a stay at home girl friend, I can get pretty lonely being at home alone all day. Some days I'm fine just chillin and do the cleaning but some days I get stir crazy. If it weren't for this adorable bundle of joy I would literally go insane. Carlos is currently managing 4 different locations and he travels a lot between the gyms. I figure it is just easier to let him have the car to get around and do his job.

Kittie follows me everywhere I go. I absolutely love that about her. She doesn't let me hold her in my arms or carry her, but she is a lap cat and she loves to rub her body against my legs. She is my sweetheart. I've become addicted to snapping shots of her cuteness!

There she is kickin it with me on the couch!

I love it when cats do cute positions with their bodies when they sleep!
A close up of my precious while she slumbers!
And a close up of my naughty girl exposing herself!

So in closing, I love my adorable little baby girl!

*Don't be jealous of her cuteness*

Survivor-Samoa

The finale for Survivor-Samoa was tonight!

I didn't start watching this season until after it had been on for a few weeks already. The two tribes had just barely merged into one tribe when I started keeping track of the show. I grew to really like the strategic moves of one of the characters in particular. This was an amazing season. I could go on forever about everything that I witnessed but that might get long and annoying. The two tribes at the beginning of the season were Foa Foa and Galu. Galu dominated at the beginning and 8 of the original 10 merged into tribe Aiga. Team Foa Foa only had 4 left at the merge. Most would assume that those 4 measly Foa Foa's would be the first to be voted off of tribe Aiga. Those people were wrong. The strategic Foa Foa leader was able to manipulate some Galu members into voting off some from their own tribe. Week after week a Galu memeber was kicked off. To every ones amazement, 3 of the 4 Foa Foa's made it to the finale.

Russell Hantz

The most strategic player the whole season and my particular favorite,

Natalie White

The goody goody tag along, and

Mick Trimming

Mr. Nice Guy!

Russell wasn't the nicest guy at the beginning of the season. At night he liked to wreak havoc! He would burn peoples socks, spill out their water canteens and let the chickens out of the coop. But he also managed to find 3 out of 4 hidden immunity idols WITHOUT any clues! The guy was a genius! He was a jerk at the beginning but he really knew how to play the game and he made it to the top three.

So who did the jury decide deserved to win the million dollars?

Natalie!

I was a little upset with the outcome since she really didn't do anything for the tribe. She was an extremely weak link but the jury favored her since she didn't cause any havoc like Russell had done. But on the good side, Russell was voted on by America as the best player this season awarding him with $100,000!

This was an amazing season with lots of twists. The next Season starts in February and I can't wait. The next one is Hero's vs. Villains of past favorites from the last few seasons. Should be exciting.

Kitten Trauma

Sometime last month my sister contacted me and told me that her kids had found a kitten. She asked me if I wanted it but I needed to ask Carlos for permission since the kitten would be staying at his apartment. A picture of the kitten was sent to me and I thought it was super cute.

My sister kept telling me that the kitten was really sweet and affectionate. I really wanted it. After about an hour of convincing, Carlos finally told me that I could have the kitten. I immediately contacted my sister and told her I could have him.
To my surprise, my sister told me I couldn't have it anymore. I was pissed. Apparently my niece didn't want to give the kitten away so they decided to keep it in a box on their porch. WTF? It was snowing! The kitten ended up running away.....go figure.

Yesterday my little brother, Chaz, told me that a kitten ran into his store and they were trying to catch it. I told him that I wanted it since I didn't get the kitten that my sister's kids had found. They finally caught the cat today and about an hour ago Chaz brought the kitten over. It was really cute. We took it out of the cage and..........

Demon Kitten emerged!!!

That kitten was everywhere quite literally. First she ran into the kitchen and jumped on top of the counter and then on top of the cabinets. I had never seen a kitten jump so high in my life. It was running all around the top and fell into a hole which scared us. Luckily the hole on top of the cabinet lead to the kitchen counter top so it wasn't long until we saw the kitten again. However, the kitten landed on a container full of cooking utensils scaring the poor thing even more. It wasn't long until the kitten was in the bathroom. Chaz was able to shut himself and the kitten in there. I was relieved to find out that my other cat, Kittie, was shut in the bedroom and was unable to see what was going on or she would have been going crazy too. I joined my brother in the bathroom and discovered the kitten on top of the shower curtain balancing on the pole. I brought Chaz some heavy duty leather gloves and he tried to put the kitten in the box I provided. It took longer than you think it would have. The kitten was jumping and darting all over this tiny bathroom. It was running up the shower curtain. Jumping off the bathroom walls in the bathtub. At one point it even jumped onto the wall and grabbed onto the loofa hanging in the shower. It was climbing up the towels. Chaz finally grabbed one of the towels and threw it on top of the kitten and we were able to get it in the box. The kitten is currently in a closed box in the living room. I'm a little worried about it but I refuse to open the box. I don't want a demon kitten causing problems with Kittie so I've decided not to keep her. Since all animal shelters are closed till Monday, Carlos has decided to find a home for it tonight.

I've just never seen a kitten move like this before in my life and I've always had a cat in my home since I've been born. This kitten is seriously possessed with evil!! ;-p

Iron Chef America

Carlos likes to watch the Food Channel Network sometimes and he got me into

The show originated in Japan when this rich Japanese man picked three amazing Japanese chefs to challenge other chefs from Japan and around the world.

The show was known as Iron Chef. It was later brought to America by Mark Dacascos, the nephew of the rich Japanese man above.

There are currently 6 Iron Chefs on the show!

Iron Chef Bobby Flay

Bobby is my favorite. I kinda have a crush. Nothing sexual. I just think he has a sweet face and a sweet personality. He seems like someone who would be really nice in person if you were ever to meet him.

Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto

He is one of the original Iron Chefs from Japan.

Iron Chef Mario Batali

Iron Chef Cat Cora

Carlos' favorite cause he thinks she is kinda hot.

Iron Chef Michael Symon

My other favorite cause he has a nice personality too.

and Iron Chef Jose Garces

the newest member of the cast. He just won The Next Iron Chef competition.

So basically a chef from America comes to the show to challenge the Iron Chef of their choice. Each chef then has 60 minutes to cook and plate 5 courses. There is always a secret ingredient that needs to be incorporated in each of the 5 dishes in some way. The secret ingredient could be anything as simple as sugar or something complex as eel. The chairman decides what the secret ingredient will be.

60 minutes to cook and plate 5 courses? Crazy! How do they do it? Each chef has 2 sous chefs to help with the preparation.

There are 3 judges that will award points in 3 categories: Taste, Plating, and Originality of the secret ingredient. The Iron Chef almost always wins.

Sometimes there is a twist where they will have two Iron Chefs battle each other or sometimes they will team up Iron Chefs and battle each other. It's fun. I love this show. I watch it on Sunday. It's made me want to cook more and more. Check it out! You'll love it too!

Don't watch hungry!

I'm Back

WOW!!! So much has happened since I last blogged!! Most of you have probably stopped checking my blog. Want to know what happened? Sure you do!

One day I discovered that our computer no longer had Internet access. I had Carlos come look at it and he isn't exactly a computer genius so he couldn't figure it out. Some how we got kicked off the wireless connection we had been using and we needed a password to get back on. It only took about 3 months for us to finally get a wireless router! Carlos is super busy with his job and never had time to get one. I finally asked my little brother to buy one and voila....I'm back!!!

I don't even know where to begin. For starters, I lost my job at the end of October! After two years of excellent service they fired me over one bad customer complaint. The crazy thing is I can't even remember a time when I was rude or unhelpful to a customer! Oh well! I hated my job anyway. My time was limited there since the Store Manager hated me because I had boobs!

This is my most recent look as of November 4th! I needed a new look so I got fringe bangs. I really like them. Carlos thinks I look 13 but he still kisses me so all is good! I even had my lady add some red to the blonde. It is hard to see cause she only put in a little but it is really pretty. I want more red next time!

I haven't gotten a new job yet! I haven't looked actually. Carlos assures me that he makes enough money to pay both our bills! He tells me that he wants to take care of me and that I just need to relax. I spend my days at his apartment doing his laundry and dishes and sometimes I even cook him dinner for when he comes home. He has a big screen TV and comcast so I like to watch my shows in the evening when I'm done cleaning. I've been playing a lot of wii too. I pulled out Mario Party 8 and became addicted again. Then my little brother let me borrow his Super Mario Brothers for the Wii and I'm horrible. It took me an entire day just to get through world 4.

I gave up and pulled out The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, my all time favorite! I hadn't played it since I was in High School so it took me a while to finish the game and get through the Temples but I did it! My little brother came over today after his finals and he started playing Twilight Princess. It got me in the mood so I started a game after he left. I hadn't played since September 2007.

I went home to Texas for a few days back in October. It was fun for me to visit my parents and just relax and watch movies with my mom. We spent our days watching Avonlea and BBC movies like Wives and Daughters and Northanger Abbey!

I love that time period! Mostly the clothes!

All my shows are ending! Sadness! Dancing With The Stars ended last month and So You Think You Can Dance ended last night. I have nothing to watch on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights now. I still have Survivor and Fringe on Thursday and Sunday is Food Network day. I started watching The Vampire Diaries this week. I didn't want to watch the show when it started because I thought they were copying Twilight! Wrong! The Vampire Diaries is even better in my opinion. They started a marathon this week and I decided to watch it. I'm addicted now. The new season starts in January!! Yipee....I can't wait.

Speaking of Vampires.......

I've seen New Moon twice and I love it! I think it is so much better than Twilight. The make up and the special effects are loads better. Bella and Edward still suck at acting but Jacob's hot body make the movie worth watching. My only real complaint about the movie is when Bella is having her nightmares and screams in her sleep. I think Kristen could have done a better job on her acting. I also think they should have had ALL the werewolves work out and get buff. Jacob is the only one that looks buff in my opinion. The others are skinny and Sam had a gut which is totally unacceptable in my opinion since he is the current Alpha.

On Tuesday night I watched Julie and Julia with my sister and brother.

I thought it looked stupid but I decided to watch it with them anyway and I loved it. I absolutely adore Amy Adams and will watch just about anything she is in. I recommend that everyone see this movie. There is an occasional swear word but nothing horrible. I loved the story. There is some blogging in the movie which really got me in the mood to start again. So you can thank this movie for getting me back in the blogging world.

So just a little catch up on my life! I plan on blogging regularly again so be sure to check in from time to time.

PS: Carlos tells me that he LOVES me more and more everyday. The first time he said it I don't think he really meant it. But now he definitely does. He is my sweet cheeks and I love him.

HE LOVES ME!!!!!!!

Carlos just told me that he LOVES me!!! I can't believe it!! This is the first time he has told me that and we have been dating for a few months now!!!

HE LOVES ME!!!

Yeah!!

So You Think You Can Dance starts again tomorrow night!!

I'm so excited!! I have a habit of forgetting about my shows when I'm off work (which I'm off tomorrow) cause I get involved doing other things. So hopefully I don't forget to at least set up the DVR to record it.

I'm also excited for Dancing With The Stars which starts in about 2 weeks! Yeah for that too!! I was sad that Nurse Jackie and Weeds were over but now I have something else to watch until they come back on.

Oh Where Oh Where Could Cottonwood Be?

I was asked to attend a Sofft Shoe training that was being held at our Cottonwood location last Thursday. I had never been there but I was sure that I could find the place if I googled or yahooed some directions. My department manager lives over in that part of town and used to work as HR for the Cottonwood location. I politely asked her for directions and she willingly drew me a map. She didn't have time to explain her map but I was able to read it and I figured I could get better directions online anyway. When I got home from work the first thing I did was get a yahoo map. It seemed simple enough....take exit this and then take exit that. Turn left on street blah blah blah and so on. The last direction it gave was: Bear right on street blah blah blah and arrive at destination. My managers hand drawn map kinda showed the same thing. My manager urged me to give myself an hour and 15 minutes to get there because of the morning traffic. Easy enough right? So I told Carlos that we needed to be backing out of his apartment complex no later than 7:30 am. I needed to drop him off at work before I headed up to Salt Lake. I knew that dropping him off first would only give myself an hour to get there but I was sure I would have no problem finding the place and I happen to have a lead foot too. After dropping Carlos off at his workplace I quickly got on the freeway and headed to Cottonwood. The traffic wasn't that bad and I wove through the traffic with ease. I was making better time than I thought I would. I took all the exits that were indicated in the directions and I finally turned left onto street blah blah blah where I needed to bear right. I thought for sure I would see the mall on the side of the road. The address was 4800 South (or something like that) and I kept going through lights that were 6500 S and then 6300 S. I kept going expecting to see a light sign that read 4800 something with the mall coming to my view. It was a nice area and there was a nice newish looking Gold's Gym on my left. I thought fondly of the gym as I drove past it (Carlos works for Gold's). I kept on driving until I noticed that the next light read 1000 East or something weird. Then I noticed that I was on Van Winkle instead of street blah blah blah (I can't remember what the street was really called). When did my street turn into Van Winkle. Where the heck was I supposed to bear right? I never saw a mall on the side of the road. My managers map made it look like I would run into the place. I turned around and tried to find the place. I kept going back and forth of street blah blah blah trying to figure out where the heck I was supposed to bear right. Feeling extremely frustrated I texted my co-worker who was going to the same training. He had just barely pulled into the mall parking lot when he received my text. He called me and asked where I was. He tried to figure out where I could possibly be but he really had no clue. We finally agreed to find a place to meet. We found each other and I was able to follow him to the mall. I would have never found that place without his help. The spot where we were supposed to "bear right" was actually 6100 South. Then you drive down that street for miles before you even see the stupid mall. I was pissed! Why the heck didn't the directions say turn right at 6100 South and arrive at destination? What the heck was "bear right" for? That was stupid. It would have been so much easier for me if the directions had said which street I was actually supposed to turn on. Luckily I do drive fast and even with the time I lost being lost we were only 5 minutes late. Not too bad! At least I will now where to bear right the next time I have to visit Cottonwood! I'm a pro now!!

Successful Cooking and Another Good Book

I'm sure I've mentioned in the past that Carlos is a really good cook! He makes just about everything that I eat and he likes feeding me. I've encouraged him to go to culinary school. I think he would do great! Carlos likes to cook according to how he is feeling. He has never used a recipe ever! He reminds me a lot of Ratatouille! Me on the other hand....I'm a horrible cook. I don't know what spices can be mixed together and all that jazz. I'm a recipe follower all the way. Several days ago he told me he was hungry and he asked me to make him some eggs. My eggs have never turned out good and I don't mind eating my own catastrophe but I would never subject anyone else to them. So of course I declined to make him some eggs that day. I don't think he was too happy with me cause I think he wanted me to take care of him for a change. On Sunday he asked me if I would make him some breakfast and I declined again knowing all we had was eggs or cereal. He didn't seem too happy with me yet again. I felt bad and so I stormed into the kitchen and cracked him some eggs. I added some milk and cheese and a pinch of garlic powder and started to scramble away. He came into the kitchen and asked me what I was doing and I told him I was cooking his breakfast. The biggest smile spread across his face. I warmed up a tortilla and slapped the eggs on top and served it to him with a glass of juice! I was super nervous that they would taste horrible and so I grabbed a small portion of the egg to taste before he ate the disaster. It was delicious!! I was surprised that it was good...my eggs turned out great. Carlos loved them too!! He practically breathed them in! Later that night I cooked lasagna for dinner and invited my little brother over. My little bro had really helped me out the last few weeks when my car was getting some repairs done and I wanted to thank him for his help. I decided that my brother would enjoy a little taste of home so I pulled out my moms lasagna recipe and got to work. My mom is not a gourmet cook or a good cook at all really but her spaghetti sauce (which is used for the lasagna) is the best sauce I have ever tasted. I grew up with it and I will never love another sauce as much as my moms. But being a little biased I was nervous that Carlos wouldn't like it with his gourmet taste buds. I served up the lasagna and to my surprise....Carlos had 2 more helpings after the first. He loved it. He even took a few pieces to work the other day to feed one of his employees and everyone at his work wanted a bite! He has begged me to make it again but add some more vegetables. I'm so happy that my meals satisfied him so much!

A while ago I mentioned that I read a book called The Girl Next Door. It was so good that I finished it in two days. Right after I finished the book I started reading another one by the same author, Lost Innocents!

This one took me a while to get into and I didn't read it as fast as the first. The other book captivated me on the first chapter but this one was a little slower in introducing the characters. In fact there were too many characters and each chapter introduced someone new. But by the middle of the book in started to get really good. I was finally satisfied with the book and I

couldn't put it down. I finished it last night and I loved it.

PS I started this post on Monday but finished and published on Wednesday Sept. 2!

Nurse Jackie

One of my favorite shows, Nurse Jackie, just had its seasons finale earlier this week and I'm very sad. I have to wait until 2010 for the next season to start. Not only do I have to wait until next year but I don't even know what month it will be starting. I guess I could always google it and find out. Carlos really likes Weeds and I like to watch it with him. Some days he doesn't get off work until midnight and so I have to record it for him. Nurse Jackie is on right after Weeds and I decided to watch it one night. I became hooked and now I enjoy it over Weeds.

Jackie is basically living a double life and sometimes I just want to slap her. She is married and has two young daughters. She seems to have a loving husband and it appears that she loves him too.

But at the hospital she is dating the pharmacist Eddie,

and the only person that works at the hospital that knows about Jackie's marriage and children is Dr. O'hara.

I love the characters but I don't always like what they do, especially Jackie!